84. Emma; movie review

EMMA
Cert U
125 mins
BBFC advice: Contains brief natural nudity

The crowd turned around from their respective seats to see a made in his 60s or 70s lying flat on the floor in the gangway, retrieveingwhat appeared to be a cap and shout at the top of his voice: "There you are, you d**khead."
Yep, this was Chesterfield Cineworld on Saturday night, not during a feisty teenage gang movie but Jane Austen's Emma.
The juxtaposition of the behaviour in the audience (average age at least 55) and that of the aforementioned aggrieved movie-watcher could not have been more stark.
After plopping the cap on his head he grunted some more, vacated and we were back into the land of clipped English and corsets.
Let's be honest, I found the live-action pepped up the evening somewhat.
Emma is on the must-see list for my 81-year-old mum and aunt and Mrs W was quite taken with it but I have to admit it is outside of my comfort zone.
And, unlike Downtown Abbey, it fails to spread its love outside of its traditional fan base.
But Autumn de Wilde knows exactly who she is aiming to please and, boy, does she do it.
Indeed, I can report that the relatively light put-down by Emma (Anya Taylor-Joy) of Miss Bates (Miranda Hart) at a picnic brought the biggest gasp of any cinema audience I have witnessed in the past couple of years.
I haven't read Austen's novel but if the movie is is a fair reflection, it sees Emma as spoilt and naive, trying to manipulate people for her own ends.
Coming off worse from her machinations is her supposed best friend, the good-natured Harriet (Mia Goth).
Meanwhile, the men parade around like peacocks, careful not to overstep the mark with romantic overtures and, consequently, misunderstandings abound.
Johnny Flynn is the tousle-haired Mr Knightley to whose love Emma appears blind while having her eyes set on the wayward but potentially very rich Frank Churchill (Callum Turner).
Meanwhile, she invents a rivalry with Jane Fairfax (Amber Anderson) and her flamboyantly-dressed father (Bill Nighy) watches on in vague bemusement to her plotting.
In common with the recent Little Women, Emma looks great. The period costumes are spot on and the actors were even coached in etiquette to make sure each nuance is in keeping with the late 18th century.
The effort was certainly worth it in the eyes of the majority of our audience who chortled throughout.
It was a bit too twee for me and doesn't seem to have gone down too well with the man who was asked to leave.

Reasons to watch: Apparently, a fair retelling of Austen's novel
Reasons to avoid: Will be too twee for many

Laughs: A couple of chuckles for me - many more laughs for others
Jumps: None
Vomit: 
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10 (so says Mrs W)

Did you know? Only four of Jane Austen's novels were published when she was alive - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.

The final word. Autumn de Wilde: “I instructed my actors to follow the rules of the time. Nobody could touch each other until it was a really meaningful moment, because then it would be so much more exciting when they did.” Town & Country

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