Diarmuid Lawrence’s Emma 1996 Movie Review
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Lawrence’s Emma 1996
Runtime- 1hr 47min
Air date- February 16th, 1997
Director- Diarmuid Lawrence
Writers- Andrew Davies
Filming locations- Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Where to watch- Stream on Tubi or purchase DVD on Amazon
Starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma Woodhouse
The second of the two Emma adaptations in 1996, how does this one fair?
Thoughts
I have to admit, this was not my favorite adaptation. I really did want to love it as I greatly admired Kate Beckinsale. It seemed like they cut out or altered some scenes from the book that were important to the overall story.
For example, when there was a party being thrown and Emma was waiting for Frank Churchill to show up. Frank shows up and is irritated mostly due to the heat. This is the scene where Emma gets the ick from Frank, but it doesn’t expand from it or convey that. Just that Emma is confused at the sudden change of behavior, and then nothing is mentioned or comes of it.
Emma Woodhouse
I thought Emma was just a snobby mean girl, which is fair depending on who you speak with about the book Emma. But it does not make sense when Mr. Elton is trying to woo her by showing his kindness to impress Emma, who herself doesn’t show any kindness.
I think what irked me the most was when Harriet introduced Emma to Mr. Martin. Her literal nose is so high up and barely acknowledges him. She does this twice to Mr. Martin. To me, it just showed awful character. In the end, she changes her tune, but I still cannot shake that.
Another thing I thought weird, is that she does not show any kindness except to Jane Fairfax. I thought it was out of character. Granted, all the conversations with Jane did have a selfish undertone, but it seemed like her conversations were very friendly. The only time I would consider her mean to Jane was when Frank Churchill influenced and encouraged it.
Mr. Knightley
I do not like this Mr. Knightley. I did not see any friendship between him and Emma at all. All of the main conversations I see with them two are when Mr. Knightley is harshly scolding her. Even when his scolding is supposed to affect Emma the most, after she makes a rude comment to Miss Bates, it is so diluted and soft compared to all the times he has scolded her.
He also seems to be brash and gets upset over other’s silly reasonings. It started to seem like a trait where is just hated everyone he was surrounded with. Though his thoughts might be logical and right, the way he handled it made it just seem like he had a temper.
He has shown kindness in this film, but with his attitude, it just did not seem like a fluid mix.
What do you think? Share your thoughts and comments below!
