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A strong heroine +  scandal + a romantic/marriage scene at the end = a Jane Austen novel

Meet Emma Woodhouse. Jane Austen wrote the first sentence describing Emma in a way every one could be envious: “I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like. Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich.” Envious of Emma? I am!

A new adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” premiered on the BBC on Sunday, October 4. This version was spaced out over a four-hour span staring Romola Garai as Emma Woodhouse and Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley. The miniseries begins with Emma as a small child being pushed in a stroller by her mother. A few years later, the woman dies, leaving Mr. Woodhouse with two small children to raise. As Emma becomes older, she is obsessed with dolls and matchmaking – her favorite pastime. Even as a young adult, Emma conspires to make couples out of her friends. She blindly charges into the frontier of matchmaking without considering the disasters of meddling in other people’s lives.

I found this version to be closely aligned to the original Jane Austen novel. At first I found Romola Garai’s portrayal of Emma exhausting because the woman is so flighty and spoiled, but she grows not only as a character, but in the depth of her persona. Garai brings the character life through her temper tantrums, broken promises to cease her matchmaking and her gossiping ways. Emma is a very flawed character, and through Garai’s performance, it shows. I had seen Garai in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights as the young Katie Miller. She plays the innocent roles very well, but I want to see her break out. I was delighted with Louise Dylan’s portrayal as Harriet Smith, the sweet but slightly dim friend of Emma’s. She played the role with perfection, acting with airheadness when needed and was overly emotional when Mr. Elton, her potential lover (or so she thought), didn’t want her.   Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley has been my favorite yet. His chemistry with Garai is flawless and makes the viewer think, “What a good-looking couple.”

The filming, as most BBC productions, are lovely and fluid. I was a bit hesitant to watch this version because there have been so many Jane Austen adaptations being released the past few years. It seemed to start with the “Pride and Prejudice” release in 2005. From there came PBS and more BBC adaptations of the Georgian era. I’m getting a bit Janed out, and so are many other viewers. In this article at the Daily Mail, viewers were turning off by the millions. The first episode raked in 4.4 million viewers and by the second only 3.3 million viewers tuned in. Are people really getting tired of Austen or is there another component missing?

This is my favorite Emma adaptation. I suggest to anyone who wants a Jane Austen fix or who wants a display of white-hot English chastity to see it.

♥ – Erin