And while for the purposes of this review, I'm pretty much sticking to the classic part, the ending which I believe was added in the 70s, was not horrific. Unlike the PBS series which started out promising with a few odd sections (like what is going on with those "siblings" and why does the heroine never wear her hair up!) and within a few episodes was cring worthy. Then the ending made a bad situation worse. Just don't. Don't. It was so bad I just couldn't even make it my Classics Challenge selection because I need to pretend that adaption doesn't exist.
So because that was so vile, I had to get the taste of bad Austen out of my mouth and started re-reading some of her other works. Some in written form, some in audio. While I often struggle with audiobooks for initial reads, I find them great for re-reading books I love and know well. Because I'm not totally lost if it gets loud for a second or I zone out and it prevents me from skimming and forces me to really take in the story at a slower pace. And with the quarentine, I went ahead and got Emma. so now I can at least have a good adaption to ponder for my real Classics Challenge selection.
Emma. My first Austen. My favorite Austen for many years . It might be surpassed by Persuasion now. But nostalgia comes back when I read or watch it so I'd actually have to say its a tie and whichever I'm currently reading is my favorite.
It really does hold up to repeated reads. It's so witty and funny. The characters are both amusing but also not dickensian. You can imaging actually meeting these people. A lot of time you might not want to, but you can! I was struck by how different Emma feels from other Austen's works in that it was so very home centered. Emma didn't travel to Bath or London. It's all about her home and community which seemed very relevant right now.
I've heard others say it isn't the best introduction to Austen but I think for teens, it's great. At least it was for me. I totally felt like Emma as a teen. I wanted to do something, to be somebody and at times, I thought it all figured out. As does Emma. But as a teen (or 30-something) when you figure out that maybe the world still wouldn't be perfect if everybody just acted the way you want them to and you don't have all the answers, it's nice to have the idea of Emma and the family and community that still love her, faults and all, to depend on.
Now onto the movie. It was surprisingly good. I'll admit I was skeptical.
I knew it would be beautiful. And it was.
I knew the costumes would be aamzing. And (with a few oddball pieces as exceptions - Why was Frank Churchill wearing stretchy pants?), they were.
It was just so enjoyable to see onscreen. And hear, the music was delightful. It features a bit more prominently than I was expecting but I did like it.
But my worries were that the previews had portrayed it almost farsical. And besides knowing Miranda Hart would make an excellent Ms. Bates, I wasn't so sure about some of the casting.
Johnny Flynn did not strike me as Mr. Knightley. But, it was kind of amusing but at the time I was watching it, I was also reading Mansfield Park and it struck me as similar - although I'm not sure that's a compliment to myself!
Her brother was not handsome: no, when they first saw him he was absolutely plain, black and plain; but still he was the gentleman, with a pleasing address. The second meeting proved him not so very plain: he was plain, to be sure, but then he had so much countenance, and his teeth were so good, and he was so well made, that one soon forgot he was plain; and after a third interview, after dining in company with him at the Parsonage, he was no longer allowed to be called so by anybody. He was, in fact, the most agreeable young man the sisters had ever known, and they were equally delighted with him.
So he did grow on me. It's a very different sort of telling of Mr. Knightley's part of the story than Gwenyth Paltrow version that I am also fond on, I really liked him in the role. He played the line between showing his emotions and frustrations and being a bit more privately bumbling and still being the dignified gentleman in public. He might have been my favorite actor to play him which is saying a lot because Mr. Knightley is my favorite male book character. Yes, he beats Mr. Darcy. Now, I still really like the Jeremy Northam's Mr. Knightley a lot too. Neither is quite the book Knightley but there is room in my movie life for both versions.
Ms. Bates and Mr. Woodhouse were as expected, wonderful although they didn't get a lot of screen time. In fact, I can't say I disliked any of the cast. Emma herself wasn't my favorite part of the movie but she did a good job and Anya Taylor-Joy does a good job with her faces.
But my one disappointment was that it really did rely on the facial acting and the scenery and costume to tell a lot of the story. They did the job well but I found it didn't have the verbal wit I love about Austen's works. I am pretty flexible with my views on adaptations in that I don't mind them changing lines or scenes as long as they stay true to the book's ideas and don't stray towards obnoxiously anachronstic. I like both the the movie and the books endings of North and South for example. I didn't mind the nosebleed nor have a problem with Mr. Knightley's tuches making an appearance and I don't really fault this version for not having the verbal wit because it just went a different direction, I just missed it. On of my favorite scenes is when Emma and Mr. Knightley have there little verbal spat over Harriet and I think it is so because its on of the few where the words are really flying in a way that reminds me of the book.
Emma/Sandition is (are?) my Adaption Classics for the Back to the Classic's challenge.
No comments :
Post a Comment