Kymm Zuckert Thinks There's Always Room for Another Emma (2020, dir. Autumn de Wilde, UK)

"Emma, you should not make matches or foretell things. Whatever you say always comes to pass! You must not make any more."

There are many, many versions of Emma: there's Gwyneth's, Kate Beckinsale's, a couple of BBC miniseries, and, of course, Clueless. But the thing about Jane Austen, like Shakespeare, is that there is always room for a new version.

Emma Woodhouse is handsome, clever, and rich as both the title card and the first line of the book tell us. She has no issues of poverty, or the house being entailed away from the female line, or difficult siblings, or parental death as the heroines of Austen's other books tend to have to deal with. I mean, she does have an idiotic sister - but she only appears briefly - and a mother who died long before the film started. So she has had some issues in her life, just none recently.

As this film takes place long before television or films, when people really had to entertain themselves, Emma has taken to matchmaking. Her first match, of her governess and a local widower, comes off a treat, so she tries next on Harriet Smith, a pretty local schoolgirl (on the older side, nearly of age) who knows nothing of her parentage, which Emma is sure means she is the daughter of a gentleman. She decides to fix Harriet up with the local vicar, which doesn't go quite as well as her first try, I must admit.

This newest of Emmas is absolutely charming, with Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role, Johnny Flynn (and his nekkid butt eight minutes into the film, trying to outdo Colin Firth's swimming scene in Pride and Prejudice, no doubt) as Mr. Knightly, Mia Goth as the sweet and easily led Harriet Smith, Josh O'Connor as the jackass Mr. Elton, Callum Taylor as the odious Mr. Churchill, and Bill Nighy and Miranda Hart as Mr. Woodhouse and Miss Bates respectively, each stealing every scene they are in.

My friend Blake complained that the problem with this film is that there is not enough Bill Nighy, and of course there isn't, because it is not possible to have enough Bill Nighy, but every time he is on screen, terrified of any chill, or of anyone getting married and leaving him, it is such a wonderful gem of a performance, you almost wish you could follow his character around, watching him hide behind screens.

Miranda Hart has never given anything but a splendid performance, it's just not in her nature, and she is equally brilliant in drama or in comedy. She has the kind of looks that can be made pretty or very plain indeed, and she seems to have no ego about it. Poor Miss Bates is a ridiculous character, silly and boring, and Miranda Hart just breaks your heart in the picnic scene. Oh, that picnic scene. It's a killer.

But if you don't have an Emma, in Emma, you don't have a movie, and that's all there is to it. Anya Taylor-Joy is quite a favourite of mine, ever since Split. Though it actually took me a while to realize that dark-haired American girl was the same as the blonde British girl in The Witch. She is not only striking-looking, with those astonishing eyes, but is a really strong actress, with a light enough touch for Austen. She makes a marvelous Emma, where we see her faults, but love her anyway.

Now I must watch or rewatch all of the other Emmas! Stay tuned.

Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog