Focus Feature’s EMMA.

Welcome to TAC’s dedicated EMMA. page! Anytime there’s a new Jane Austen adaptation released – be it for film, television, streaming or stage – it is cause for celebration at The Anglophile Channel. We are so excited to share our love of the latest Austentacious movie, Focus Feature’s EMMA, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Miranda Hart and Josh O’Connor, written for the screen by Eleanor Catton and directed by Autumn de Wilde.

Emma Woodhouse, as Ms. Austen wrote, was handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition… and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. Life can get rather boring at Highbury if one is not ever distressed or vexed, so Emma decides to put her talents as matchmaker to good use. Feeling she’s achieved somewhat of a success matching her former governess, Miss Taylor with Mr. Weston which resulted in matrimonial bliss, Emma decides to next turn her attentions to her new friend, Miss Harriet Smith and the local vicar, Mr. Elton. And how does that go, you ask? Let the distressing and vexation begin!

Director Autumn de Wilde takes a much beloved novel and beautifully transforms it into a fresh, new and pointedly comical adaptation. Staying true to the novel’s main plot points while highlighting the absurdities of Regency-era society, de Wilde gives us a satirical Emma. made for a 21st-century audience. Taylor-Joy’s Emma as Highbury’s irrefutable Queen Bee delights us with her effulgent presence while Flynn’s rock n’ roll background gives this Mr. Knightly a more rugged, sexier feel – not to mention a peek at his naked bottom, which de Wilde says was incorporated to show that nothing came between 18th century men and their jodhpurs. Mr. Darcy would blush. But it’s Bill Nighy’s brilliantly comedic take as Mr. Woodhouse, Emma’s valetudinarian (read hypochondriac) father, that was the real treat. Nighy’s sprightly portrayal of Woodhouse and expert comedic delivery breathed new life into a role that was previously relegated as minor character and passing plot point. Nighy’s presence in this film was a real gift. There’s also a cameo, of sorts, by Miranda Hart as the chatty Miss Bates. We say cameo because there was not nearly enough Miranda in this film but every time she was on screen we howled. She’s Miranda.

Production Designer, Kave Quinn and Costume Designer, Alexandra Byrne, have created a visual feast in Emma., transporting audiences into the Regency Era like it was a big tub of rainbow sherbet ice cream. We could not get enough of the lush scenery and gorgeously detailed costumes. This is a film you’re going to watch again and again.

Emma opens wide on February 21st. And if you need any further reason to grab your bonnet and head off to the cinema….check out our: TOP 25 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SEE EMMA.