Retro Film Review: Emma (1996)

Gwyneth Paltrow perhaps isn't the best Hollywood actress of her generation, but she is definitely one of the more interesting. She owes it to her ability to handle British accent with ease and later comfortably slip into prestigious roles most Hollywood starlets would pass. One of the first displays of such talent is Emma, 1996 period melodrama written and directed by Douglas McGrath.

The script is based on the novel by Jane Austen - the very same one that was adapted into Amy Heckerling's Clueless a year earlier. Unlike Heckerling, McGrath remained faithful to the text and set the plot into now all-too-familiar early 19th Century rural England. Film's heroine is Emma Woodhouse (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), local aristocrat's daughter who fights monotony of country life by arranging marriages between her friends and acquaintances. After successful marriage of her governess (played by Greta Scacchi), her next project is young, passionate but not particularly clever Harriet Smith (played by Toni Colette). Emma's attempts to match her with Rev. Elton (played by Alan Cumming) end disastrously while Emma becomes aware of her own romantic inclinations.

Emma is burdened with many problems. Being released shortly after Clueless and Sense and Sensibility is least of them - viewers could easily overcome familiarity with the plot and setting. Main problem is in McGrath's script which is too faithful to novel which, like in many similar cases, resulted in plot being too complicated, having too many characters and film itself being too long. Paltrow's great charm and talent nevertheless help this film, just like the rest of cast (which includes names like Ewan MacGregor and Jeremy Northam), but viewers would be nevertheless left with an impression that such mighty resources should have been spent elsewhere.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on October 22nd 2003)

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