Let me go back a month or so. I was up late one night by myself, searching for a Crossing Jordan to dvr (yes, it's true), and I came across the beginning of a Masterpiece Theater showing of Emma, so I quickly dvr'd it so I could watch it later with Miranda and introduce her to the wonderful world of period movies.
We came back to it a couple of weeks later, and as I watched, I was so delighted - it was so funny and beautiful, bright and sunny and full of wit. The acting is brilliant and clever and so full of expression. Eventually all the kids were watching with me as well, so imagine our frustration when the recording ended, but the story had not! I didn't know it was a multi-night event, so I had not recorded the next part - we were left with Emma and Mr. Churchill at the party at the Cole's trying to detect who had given Jane Fairfax the extravagant gift of the pianoforte - unbelievable!
So what were we to do? I asked the kids if they wanted to wait until I purchased the DVD myself to finish it, or should I put on the other Emma that I had - the Gwyneth-Emma. Jason was unsure, but the others said to put the Gwyneth-Emma on so they could at least finish the story.
Suddenly Gwyneth-Emma was dark and dank and not quite as witty. As much as we loved Ewan McGregor in Star Wars, he was not quite so charming as Mr. Frank Churchill - and his hair was, quite frankly, a distraction. We watched for about 10 minutes before Jason said, "I'm just going to wait for the other one. This one isn't that good," and he left. The other kids agreed. So off Gwyneth-Emma went to the shelf, never to be heard from again.
I did purchase the new version, Emma 2009 as it is affectionately called. Since that purchase, we have watched it 3 times. One of those times being today. My favorite character just slightly more than Emma and Mr. Knightly is Mr. Woodhouse played by Michael Gambon of Professor Dumbledore fame. But really, the whole cast did such a great job.
In honor of my adoration for this production, I am putting Dead Souls by Gogol aside for now and picking up Emma by Jan Austen. I have never read it, and I believe it is high time I did.
So all you Jane Austen fans, get a move on. It can be purchased from Amazon.com, but I picked mine up at Wal-mart for a bit less. I can't wait to hear what you think.
5 comments:
We caught the same Masterpiece Theatre showing upon a random channel surfing encounter. Fortunately, we saw the opening 2-part special, which was followed with two more parts in two weeks, successive.
Hannah and I both enjoyed Emma 2009 more than Gwyneth's Emma, although Hannah still likes the older one.
I've not read the book myself, and I can't recall if Hannah has (she's read at least two Jane Austen books now).
We also just picked up the 1995 Persuasion, done by BBC, and it was pretty good, but not without some flaws.
You need to let Jason watch Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and Henry V if he hasn't seen them yet. His performance with Emma Thompson in Much Ado About Nothing is also a classic (not to mention that Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves make bit appearances!!).
i really liked the new Emma too. however, Jeremy Northam really set the standard for Mr. Knightley for me. and i do agree with Joshua about Branagh's Hamlet. it is really good. but one must enjoy watching someone sink slowly into madness :) peggy
Thanks for sharing this one with me friend. It was memorable and quite a wonderfully relaxing way to end our time in Calgary... relaxing with friends in front of a great movie.
And thank you for saying that about Ewan's unfortunate "do" in the Gwyneth Emma. I could never understand how he would have tempted her with that frizzy mop. He was much more captivating (though in the end much more unnerving a character) than in the Emma version.
I also like how more like the book this newer version is. I had read several chapters of Emma way back when but Gwyneth had ruined the book for me. Now, I actually want to go back and finish it because it seems so much more like this movie!
Ooo, thanks for the recommendation and the review! I am headed to Wal Mart ASAP.
I'm so glad we got to watch this together!
Post a Comment