Handsome, clever and rich, with nothing much to trouble her, Emma Woodhouse decides that other people's hearts are a hobby worth taking up. Autumn de Wilde's Emma. turns that premise into a candy-coloured comedy of manners.
What is Emma about?
The setting is an English country village at the turn of the nineteenth century, where a small circle of families visits, dines and marries within itself. Emma, the daughter of a fretful widower, has sworn off marriage for herself but takes great satisfaction in arranging it for everyone else. Her first project is a pretty, impressionable new friend whom she steers away from a perfectly suitable farmer towards a match Emma considers more fitting. The plan goes wrong in ways Emma does not foresee, and each correction she attempts produces a fresh tangle: a vicar with the wrong idea, a charming newcomer whose attentions are hard to read, a chatty neighbour whose kindness Emma treats as a nuisance. Watching all of it with raised eyebrows is a family friend who has known her since childhood and is the one person willing to tell her when she behaves badly. The comedy comes from Emma being wrong with total confidence; the drama from the moment she finally notices.
About the cast
Anya Taylor-Joy leads the ensemble, joined by Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Callum Turner, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy and Rupert Graves. The cast mixes rising names of British screen with long-established comic performers, and the film gives nearly every one of them a set-piece scene of social embarrassment to play.
Context & significance
Released in 2020 and produced in the United Kingdom, this version of Jane Austen's novel is listed as comedy, drama and romance and runs about two hours. The full-stop in the on-screen title Emma. is intentional, a small joke signalling that this is a period piece with a wink. Autumn de Wilde came to directing features from photography and music video, and the film's attention to colour, symmetry and framing reflects that background. For audiences who know Austen chiefly through earnest costume dramas, the brisk pace and open comedy here offer a different way in.
Watching Emma on Ktime
Emma. is available on K-Time with a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so families can watch together whether or not everyone follows the original English. Log in with a K-Time account to play it, and use the Farsi interface to find it on your TV, phone or computer.