The latest Emma

Those who read this blog regularly probably know I'm a Jane Austen fan. I just watched the 2009 four-part BBC version of Emma with Romola Garai and loved it. I've seen just about every version of Emma made and have read the book twice. I've always wished I could take the best of each screen edition and put them together. I never particularly liked the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma because it seemed to focus on her to the near exclusion of the other characters. Mr. Woodhouse and the Westons in that version seems like cardboard cutouts. I did, however, love Knightley played by Jeremy Northam.

The 1997 A & E version with Kate Beckinsale as Emma was my former favorite but Knightley (Mark Strong) was too old and too severe. He needed a softer touch to make a believable tradition from older brother to tender lover. I did, however, love Mr. Woodhouse in that edition who is kind and sweet, but never cloyingly so. And there were some lovely scenes added that were consistent with the story like the engagement party at Donwell Abbey at the end where Emma shows a newfound graciousness toward farmer Robert Martin whom she convinced her friend Harriet to spurn earlier in the story. I also loved the link at the beginning and end of chicken thieves getting into the hen house. I'm sure this version will remain a favorite.

But I have to admit, the BBC production is so good it almost makes all my imagination's rewrites unnecessary. I particularly liked the beginning because it focused on an element that Austen doesn't highlight - the fact that three of the main characters were victims of sad circumstances with the loss of parents, and two of the three (Emma being the exception) were removed from home in Highbury as young children to be raised by others, in Frank Churchhill's case his aunt and in Jane's a rich military family. It makes Mr. Woodhouse's determination to keep his family together particularly heartwarming. Is it any wonder the family estate is called H(e)artfield. It also provides an interesting connection among the characters.

The cast is uniformly excellent and their interpretations of their roles delightful. The setting is beautiful and the staging masterful. The house and grounds used for Hartfield and Donwell Abbey were beautiful. And the views from Box Hill remind me of my own beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

If you need a brief break from the economic woes of 21st century America, enjoy a respite in the 18th century English countryside. It's a light-hearted story that, as Shakespeare might say, is "much ado about nothing."