Emma.

2020 • 124 minutes

About this movie

Jane Austen's beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending, is reimagined in this delicious new film adaptation of Emma. Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse is a restless queen bee without rivals in her sleepy little town. In this glittering satire of social class and the pain of growing up, Emma must adventure through misguided matches and romantic missteps to find the love that has been there all along.

Ratings and reviews

Being honest I haven't read the book or really any of Jane Austen, but watching this with no prior knowledge or expectations I was still disappointed. I actually thought the trailer was more entertaining, having said that it is charmingly shot! The colouring, location and costumes were really well executed but overall it just wasn't as fun/quirky as I was hoping...bit of a snore really.

Though I usually like the actress who plays Emma in this film, she missed the mark with her performance here. Her Emma is too hard, spoiled and selfish and her good nature and warmth does not shine through, making her a terribly unlikable character. The actor who plays Mr Knightley is much too young for the role and there is no chemistry between him and Emma. The music is oddly chosen and jarring (pastoral choir songs?) Overall, too much style, not enough substance.

Played entirely as farce and driven by the most relentlessly histrionic and intrusive soundtrack, even Taylor-Joy's usual excellence disappears beneath the high-key pantomime direction. Glad to have paid only $7 to rent on Prime, but the film isn't worth even that. Atrocious.