Search - Emma (A&E, 1997) on DVD

Enjoy the film(s) - whether you have read the book or not

lilibethfromsf | 03/04/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"How interesting to have two films based on the same novel be released within months of each other! "Emma" is considered by many to be Jane Austen's finest work and has a level of complexity that is more suited to a mini-series than a mere movie of two or three hours. I don't know how the screenwriters and directors decided on what to keep, what to cut, and what to re-work, but the two film versions are different enough that I didn't mind seeing them both. I do, however, greatly prefer the one with Kate Bickensale as the title character, which was originally aired on the cable channel A&E. It is a more faithful adaptation of the novel and has a more structured and cohesive storyline. Bickensale's interpretation of Emma has been criticized for being "too dark," but I believe her Emma is a more accurate portrayal of the novel's heroine than Gwyneth Paltrow's is in the other "Emma." In fact, all the characters (e.g., Jane Fairfax, Frank Churchill)in this version are handle with more care and detail, and that is enough to make this "Emma" a more satisfying experience for me."

Good but for the main characters

lilibethfromsf | San Francisco, CA | 06/25/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I thought that this adaptation showed much better the stories of the supporting characters -- most especially the Jane/Frank storyline which was quite engaging. (To a certain degree, I wish they had been the lead characters in this adaptation.) I also thought Mr. Woodhouse was a lot of fun and his characterization right on the money with the book. Also very good was the portrayal of Miss Bates.That being said, my problem with this adaptation (and it's a big one) is that I didn't particularly care for the way Emma and Mr. Knightley were played/characterized in this one. Perhaps it's the writing and perhaps its the actors (but really, Beckinsale was so good in Cold Comfort Farm, so why couldn't she have pulled this one off?), however, I just didn't very much care for the way the lead characters were portrayed. First of all, as annoying as Emma can be in the book, I always liked her (even if I didn't approve of what she was doing). In this adaptation, I just didn't LIKE Emma. She was too snooty, too spoiled and seemed much too selfish. As for Mr. Knightley, he was always the embodiment of a perfect gentleman to me. Even though he was the only who would find fault with Emma and tell her so, he was graciousness and politeness itself to everybody else. Here, his scolding of Emma was just too heated and beyond anything I would call gentlemanly and to the extent he did it in front of everyone else (as in one scene), would definitely not be gracious nor polite. Anyway, I own practically all the recent Jane Austen adaptations (A&E's -Pride and Prejudice (the best IMO), Sense & Sensibility, Emma and Mansfield Park, and this adaptation may be the only one I will not buy because I just can't see myself deciding to see it again and again like the others. Don't get me wrong, it has some good points (especially the supporting characters), but I don't really come away from it with the feeling that I want to know more about what happens to the main characters after the movie is finished."