Emma.
Directed by Autumn de Wilde
Screenplay by Eleanor Catton, based on the novel by Jane Austen
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth and Josh O’Connor
MPAA Rating: PG for brief partial nudity
Running time 2 hours 4 minutes

by Audrey Callerstrom

There’s a moment in the latest adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. when we witness George Knightley (Johnny Flynn) getting dressed. Mr. Knightley, nude from the waist down, tucks in the long tails of his shirt, slips his pants over his bare butt and puts on his boots and top hat. How often in these Austen-era films do we even get to see a man going about his day-to-day in such an intimate manner? Small moments like seeing Mr. Knightley get dressed are novel in this regard. After all, this adaptation, called Emma. (or as Twitter calls it, “Emma period”) is directed by a woman, photographer Autumn de Wilde (who photographed the album cover for Beck’s Sea Change, among others). Still, aside from this fresh approach, and aside from the rich textiles, this is an adaptation of Emma that limps from moment-to-moment, almost as if each character anticipates the next development in the 200-year-old story.