Emma. (U.)
Directed by Autumn De Wilde.
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Mia Goth, Bill Nighy, Josh O'Connor and Miranda Hart. 125 mins.
It is my wish that there be bagpipe music played at my funeral. The sound of the highland pipes is, of course, the most godawful honk ever to masquerade as music but I won't be there to hear it and it is my most fervent desire that I leave a little misery behind when I'm gone. But my efforts in this regard will be as nothing to those of Ms Jane Austen.
It's a truth universally acknowledged that any being in possession of testicles and an interest in the observation of football finds her work to be the purest torture. Many a long dark decade has passed since I struggled with A level English Lit but the memory of what a turgid assault course Mansfield Park was remains keenly felt. Every page a struggle; even Chaucer was light relief in comparison.
A period version of Clueless, the story of an idle pampered girl (Taylor-Joy) who passes her time as a matchmaker for the well off and slightly less well off occupants of her village, may seem like a meagre offering for Valentine's Day. But as dollops of Regency toss go, I suspect this is well done: at points, particularly in the second hour I could almost get what people see in Jane Austen.
The usual film approach is to offer a Soft Austen, a slightly mellower more romcommy vision suitable for modern tastes. De Wilde's direction and Eleanour Catton's adaptation seem to be pushing for a Hard Austen, with no concessions or sweeteners, the full 19th century, and as a result, the characters are sometimes hard to like or relate to.
The visuals are often that little bit too neat and ordered, and the whole thing comes over as quite prissy. Is Austen's celebrated comedy of manners, the forensic dissection of the mores and rituals of the social pecking order, really so very witty and clever? Much like, say, The Thick Of It, it's appears to me to be too immersed, too embedded in the system that it is supposed to be critiquing. The arrangement is all too cosy.
What this version does have though is new blood, fresh faces unaccustomed to the bonnet and bustle and they are all excellent. O'Connor makes Rev Elton into a kind of demotic chimp bent on social advancement, while as Knightley, Flynn looks like he could burst free and go full Heathcliff at any moment. But in the title role, Taylor-Joy is the big deal. After being outstanding in a series of supporting roles (Split) or indie leads (Thoroughbreds), this is her first mainstream lead. Previously she has been quite a detached presence but here she has to become a genuine star, a personality that people can relate to. She has seemed best suited to playing extra terrestrials assigned with observing humanity and initially she comes across as too detached here but that probably works for her. It makes her more relatable when she softens towards the end.
Directed by Autumn De Wilde.
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Mia Goth, Bill Nighy, Josh O'Connor and Miranda Hart. 125 mins.
It is my wish that there be bagpipe music played at my funeral. The sound of the highland pipes is, of course, the most godawful honk ever to masquerade as music but I won't be there to hear it and it is my most fervent desire that I leave a little misery behind when I'm gone. But my efforts in this regard will be as nothing to those of Ms Jane Austen.
It's a truth universally acknowledged that any being in possession of testicles and an interest in the observation of football finds her work to be the purest torture. Many a long dark decade has passed since I struggled with A level English Lit but the memory of what a turgid assault course Mansfield Park was remains keenly felt. Every page a struggle; even Chaucer was light relief in comparison.
A period version of Clueless, the story of an idle pampered girl (Taylor-Joy) who passes her time as a matchmaker for the well off and slightly less well off occupants of her village, may seem like a meagre offering for Valentine's Day. But as dollops of Regency toss go, I suspect this is well done: at points, particularly in the second hour I could almost get what people see in Jane Austen.
The usual film approach is to offer a Soft Austen, a slightly mellower more romcommy vision suitable for modern tastes. De Wilde's direction and Eleanour Catton's adaptation seem to be pushing for a Hard Austen, with no concessions or sweeteners, the full 19th century, and as a result, the characters are sometimes hard to like or relate to.
The visuals are often that little bit too neat and ordered, and the whole thing comes over as quite prissy. Is Austen's celebrated comedy of manners, the forensic dissection of the mores and rituals of the social pecking order, really so very witty and clever? Much like, say, The Thick Of It, it's appears to me to be too immersed, too embedded in the system that it is supposed to be critiquing. The arrangement is all too cosy.
What this version does have though is new blood, fresh faces unaccustomed to the bonnet and bustle and they are all excellent. O'Connor makes Rev Elton into a kind of demotic chimp bent on social advancement, while as Knightley, Flynn looks like he could burst free and go full Heathcliff at any moment. But in the title role, Taylor-Joy is the big deal. After being outstanding in a series of supporting roles (Split) or indie leads (Thoroughbreds), this is her first mainstream lead. Previously she has been quite a detached presence but here she has to become a genuine star, a personality that people can relate to. She has seemed best suited to playing extra terrestrials assigned with observing humanity and initially she comes across as too detached here but that probably works for her. It makes her more relatable when she softens towards the end.
