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Post by orokiah on Sept 4, 2009 20:09:25 GMT
Might as well kick off this thread, since today's Baz Bamigboye column suggests the new Emma serial, co-starring Christina Cole and Laura Pyper, is now just around the corner. Only four weeks to go if this holds true: Starting on October 4, Romola will be seen as Jane Austen's Emma in a four-part BBC TV drama.Source |
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Post by orokiah on Sept 21, 2009 17:11:08 GMT
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Post by fenris on Sept 25, 2009 19:45:27 GMT
Jane Austen's 'Emma' is mentioned in the 'Next Issue' box in the current edition of Total TV Guide magazine, which indicates that it's going to start in the seven days following 03/10/09.
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Post by orokiah on Sept 25, 2009 19:55:41 GMT
Jane Austen's 'Emma' is mentioned in the 'Next Issue' box in the current edition of Total TV Guide magazine, which indicates that it's going to start in the seven days following 03/10/09. According to the Beeb, it starts on Sunday 4th October at 9pm on BBC One: Episode One synopsis // Episode Two synopsisNot long to go now - I'm really looking forward to this. I loved Sandy Welch's adaptation of Jane Eyre. |
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Post by orokiah on Oct 6, 2009 12:36:09 GMT
'Emma': Episode One
On the whole, I really enjoyed the opening episode of Emma. Great cast, great music, gorgeous setting, and a lively, lighthearted feel to it all. Romola Garai made a very likeable Emma, which was partly to do with her performance and partly to do with the care they took to portray her isolation and the tedious repetition of village life: when she complains about Miss Bates (Tamsin Greig in fine form) constantly prattling on about Jane Fairfax's accomplishments, it's easy to sympathise with her, and her delight at Mr Knightley's arrival after the wedding is difficult not to share. Even at her most selfish and meddlesome, she's utterly charming, and very funny with it. I always pictured Mr Woodhouse as somewhat less hale and hearty than Michael Gambon, but his concern about the evils of cake was hilarious. Also liked the mirroring of Emma taking Harriet under her wing, and Mr Knightley advising Robert Martin, which culminated in their argument at the end.
Downsides: while it's nice to get a version of Emma that has time to fill in the backstory, the narration didn't sit right from the opening line, which was no match for that in the novel. I liked the sparky exchanges between Emma and Mr Knightley, but not the lack of an obvious age gap between them. And Emma's clunky, over-dramatic line about her life being tied to the lives of Jane and Frank was very jarring.
Hex star-spotting: neither made an appearance this week except in the trailer for episode two, where we caught a glimpse of Laura Pyper as Jane Fairfax. Christina Cole isn't in next week's cast list so presumably she doesn't turn up as Augusta Elton until episode three.
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Post by orokiah on Oct 10, 2009 16:26:21 GMT
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Post by orokiah on Oct 13, 2009 10:18:01 GMT
'Emma': Episode Two
This seemed like an episode of two halves, with the first focusing on Emma's continued efforts to matchmake for Harriet and Mr Elton, culminating in his rather desperate proposal to Emma, and the second on the arrival of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill.
Things I loved this week: Blake Ritson's splendidly smarmy performance as Mr Elton - he stole every scene and I can't wait to see him acting opposite Christina Cole next week - Mr Knightley and Emma's sweet scene with their baby niece and their later spat over the invitations to the Coles' party, and the fantasy sequences, where Emma imagines in melodramatic style Mr Dixon saving Jane's life and Mr Knightley marrying Jane, and being bored to death by Miss Bates thanking him for it ever after.
I also liked Laura Pyper's Jane Fairfax, with her not being overly sappy and drippy but showing some spirit in chastising Miss Bates for relating her letters to Emma when she's there in person to tell the tale. Also enjoyed the glimpse of her looking out from the window on Frank and Emma, hinting at the turbulence and seething emotions under her serene exterior.
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Post by fenris on Oct 18, 2009 16:25:02 GMT
My life is several kinds of hectic these days, and with so much going on, I not only totally forgot about the initial broadcast of the first episode of Emma, but I neglected to either watch or record either of the repeats as well. Having remembered to tape the second episode, I finally got around to watching to earlier today.
Have to confess that I'm not as familiar with Emma as I am with Austen's other works. I've never read the novel, nor seen any of the previous film/television adaptations, but I am aware of the general gist of the story ('Spoilt young woman fancies herself a matchmaker, gets it horribly wrong, eventually learns her lesson and realises that her own true match was in front of her all along'), and therefore I was able to make sense of the various plotlines and relationships between the characters, despite having not seen the opening episode.
Really liked the scene in which Emma - in order to take Harriet's mind off of Mr. Elton - dragged her into Miss Bates' on the pretext of asking after the latest news about Jane Fairfax, only to be ushered into a room where the oft-mentioned Jane was actually sitting. Laura Pyper fits the role like a glove, giving Jane a demure smile and calm demeanor, and it's completely understandable why someone like Emma (who can't help but interfere and gossip) would instantly regard her as both infuriating and a mystery.
I can't fault Johnny Lee Miller's performance as Mr. Knightly, and he has some nice, understated chemistry with Romola Garai, but he's clearly too young for the part (or at least too young-looking). This is clearly a case of 'name-casting', where a well known actor has been chosen to increase a project's marketability, as opposed to someone who better suits the role.
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Post by orokiah on Oct 19, 2009 22:03:05 GMT
'Emma': Episode Three
Easily the most enjoyable episode yet. Loved Emma's continuing flights of fancy (she again imagines Jane Fairfax as Mr Knightley's wife, but later in the episode we see a similar scene showing his thoughts are actually occupied by Emma herself), her stomping about ranting about Mrs Elton, and her uncertain preening in the mirror as she tries to determine how a woman 'in love' should look. Jonny Lee Miller came into his own in this episode, with Mr Knightley's polite but determined brush-off of Mrs Elton and his kindness and civility to Harriet and Jane. His chemistry with Romola Garai gets better by the week, with their dance at the ball a particular highlight. And his delivery of 'Badly done, Emma!' in the trailer gave me goosebumps.
On the Hex star front, Christina Cole made a brilliant Mrs Elton - infuriatingly thick-skinned, self-important and horribly condescending to poor Jane, who's helpless in the face of her onslaught. All good news for Hex fans, since it meant her sharing scenes with Laura Pyper. I've always found Jane Fairfax as hard to like as Emma at first does, and I can't say that's entirely changed in this version, even with a Hex star playing her. But I do like the fact Laura Pyper has given her a little fire to match her poise and delicacy. Glimpses of the passionate emotions under her cool, reserved exterior keep on peeping out: her (very) brusque attempt to shake off Mrs Elton, her squeaky-voiced delight at the news of the ball, her pained glances at Emma and Frank during the word game, and subsequent departure when they make fun of her supposed attachment to Mr Dixon.
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Post by fenris on Oct 21, 2009 19:34:11 GMT
The audience figures for Emma are reportedly not very healthy. Other recent BBC Austen adaptations have achieved average viewing figures of five - six million, but the first episode of Emma only reached 4.4 million, and after three episodes it's dropped to just above three million.
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Post by orokiah on Oct 22, 2009 18:01:42 GMT
Emma starts in the US on 24th January 2010 on PBS. It's a three-parter instead of the four episode UK showing: www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/The audience figures for Emma are reportedly not very healthy. Other recent BBC Austen adaptations have achieved average viewing figures of five - six million, but the first episode of Emma only reached 4.4 million, and after three episodes it's dropped to just above three million. Crushed mercilessly by Doc Martin: what a pity. I expected it to take a hit from that, but I was a little surprised by how poorly it started and how badly it's continued to rate. Personally I've really enjoyed it, and it's got better and better as it's gone along. I'm really looking forward to the final episode.
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Post by orokiah on Oct 27, 2009 21:52:56 GMT
'Emma': Episode Four
Another highly enjoyable episode, with a heartwarming ending that capped it off nicely. Really liked the scene between Emma and Harriet in which Harriet confesses her feelings for Mr Knightley, which featured a fine, subtle performance from Louise Dylan as Harriet: now much more self-important, and almost snide in her Emma-instilled belief that it's possible for Mr Knightley to return her feelings. Other highlights: Mr Elton's boredom as he marries Harriet and Robert Martin; Mr Knightley confronting Emma about her treatment of Miss Bates at Box Hill and her almost shellshocked demeanour afterwards; the lovely, very emotional proposal scene; and the powerful last image of the new Mr and Mrs Knightley at the seaside, with the whole world opening up to them.
Downsides: even clocking in at four hours in total, it managed to feel rushed towards the end, with the hasty resolution of the Frank/Jane attachment and Harriet's marriage to Robert Martin. And Frank sweeping Jane off her feet in the square perfectly captured their giddiness at their new found freedom and ability to be open about their engagement, but seemed far too informal for a public setting.
It's attracted very mixed responses and much lower ratings than might have been expected, but overall I've enjoyed this adaptation. It's been fresh, funny and lively, and although I wasn't sold on their partnership at first, the last couple of episodes really allowed Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai to shine. And of course, it's given a bigger audience the chance to appreciate the talents of Christina Cole and Laura Pyper. Even if most of them chose to watch Doc Martin instead...
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Post by fenris on Oct 27, 2009 22:26:50 GMT
Can’t help but wonder if in addition to the Doc Martin factor, another reason for Emma underperforming in the ratings is over-familiarity? It sometimes seems that the BBC and ITV have a secret shortlist of novels by Austen, the Brontes and Dickins that they’ve agreed to make new adaptations of every twelve-fifteen years or so, on a rota system. Then you have to factor in Hollywood getting in on the act and periodically producing big screen versions of those novels as well. As earlier adaptations not only remain in the audience’s memory but are now readily available on DVD for anyone who wants to see them, in effect the just-concluded series of Emma had to directly compete with two fairly recent predecessors, the 1996 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow and the BBC’s previous version with Kate Beckinsale in the title role, also screened in 1996 (not to mention the 1995 contemporary movie update Clueless). The same happened last year with the BBC’s Sense and Sensibility - I enjoyed it, but it really suffered in comparison with the 1995 movie version directed by Ang Lee and scripted by Emma Thompson, and again the BBC’s 1981 adaptation was already available quite cheaply on DVD.
When it comes to costume drama, the BBC and ITV (the latter recently gave us yet another version of Wuthering Heights) remind me of the big Hollywood studios. Terrified of failure and it’s financial repercussions, rather than attempt anything original (and therefore untried) they’d rather churn out remake after remake of works that have proven to be popular and successful in the past. But you can only go back to the well so many times. Personally, I’d like to see British channels cast the net wider and produce more adaptations of lesser-known novels that have never been filmed before, or even original period dramas written especially for the screen. For example, my three favourite UK costume drama series of the last ten years have been North & South with Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe, the wonderful Gothic horror The Wyvern Mystery (starring Naomi Watts just before she joined the A list), and the Civil War epic The Devil’s Whore.
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Post by orokiah on Nov 29, 2009 17:01:45 GMT
Emma is released on DVD tomorrow (30/11/09) in the UK.
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Post by fenris on Mar 31, 2015 22:45:09 GMT
The BBC's 2009 adaptation of Emma is being screened in it's entirety this coming Good Friday (3rd April 2015), with all four episodes shown back-to-back on the Drama channel, starting at 12:20.
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