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Emma (2020)

Stream It Or Skip It

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Jane Austen‘s most devilishly comic work, Emma follows a beautiful and clever heiress who thinks she has a talent for matchmaking. Of course, what she doesn’t know is her own heart. Photographer Autumn de Wilde makes her directorial debut with this decadent retelling of the classic story starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, and a slew of British up-and-comers.

EMMA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Emma takes place in the idyllic Regency community of Highbury, where young Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) reigns supreme. She is her hypochondriac father’s (Bill Nighy) youngest daughter, and the apple of his eye. The Woodhouse family’s closest friend is Mr. Knightley (Johnny Flynn), an even wealthier aristocrat who often ventures over from his massive Abbey to check in on Mr. Woodhouse and tease Emma.

After Emma’s governess marries a local widower, Emma decides to befriend a foundling named Harriet Smith (Mia Goth). Emma convinces the sweet girl that she is of more importance than she is, and dissuades her from a good match with a kind farmer. Instead, Emma sets Harriet up with a pompous vicar Mr. Elton (Josh O’Connor), unaware that he is a fortune hunter aiming for Emma herself.

Everything changes for Emma when Highbury gets a few new visitors: the perfect Jane Fairfax (Amber Anderson), whose beauty and accomplishments threaten Emma’s self-esteem, and prodigal son Frank Churchill (Callum Turner), whom everyone assumes should be paired with Emma. However, could it be possible that Mr. Knightley and Emma have feelings for…each other?

Emma and Frank Churchill in Emma — Photo: Everett Collection

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: As many critics humorously pointed out, Emma feels a lot like the ’90s classic Clueless. That’s in part because Clueless is in fact an adaptation of Emma. However, it’s also because Autumn de Wilde has an aesthetic eye that puts fashion front and center and because the script leans hard on the rom-com vibes of the story.

However, Emma might also remind a lot of viewers of a recent Jane Austen adaptation, Sanditon. The two projects eschewed the subtext and gave audiences a saucy interpretation of Regency England. We see Johnny Flynn’s Mr. Knightley stripped down to his birthday suit before a valet gets him suited up, and in one scene, Emma herself lifts her dress to give her bum some heat from the fireplace.

Performance Worth Watching: While Emma is full of brilliant performances — Josh O’Connor’s fastidious Elton, Mia Goth’s facile Harriet, Bill Nighy’s quirky Mr. Woodhouse — Johnny Flynn is the standout here. The musician and actor has already generated a feverish following for his work, but here he seems to break through with wild intensity. He gives Knightley an earthy charm, while still being the picture perfect gentleman.

More than anything else — and I’m going to get hate mail for saying this — Johnny Flynn’s Mr. Knightley is the sexiest Austen hero I’ve ever seen on screen. There’s a real erotic energy and desperate romance to his performance that just explodes on screen. His chemistry with Taylor-Joy is electric. He will make you swoon!

Memorable Dialogue: Comic actress Miranda Hart’s delivery of “Such news!” is such an ear worm that it’s been a huge part of the film’s ad campaign. It pops up in radio ads, Twitter trends, and almost every trailer. That’s probably because Hart’s version of Miss Bates is one of the sweetest and funniest ever put on screen.

EMMA, Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma Woodhouse, — Photo: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

Sex and Skin: As mentioned, this Jane Austen movie isn’t a prudish one. There is bare butt, but more importantly, Mia Goth’s Harriet Smith straight up orgasms in one scene. It’s ridiculous and hilarious and truly out there.

Our Take: Emma is an exquisite gem of a movie. Beautiful to behold, sweetly sensual in tone, and full of great performances. While it might be a little racy for some Jane Austen fans, it’s a worthy entry into the Austen canon. While it doesn’t totally re-invent the wheel, I can’t say enough swoon-y things about it.

Our Call: STREAM IT! It’s exactly the kind of movie we need right now!