BBC Emma 2009, episode #3 out of 4

Emma and Knightley in this version of Emma are both notably unique. There's a kind of deliberate staid and stateliness to older BBC productions which has been forcibly cast off here. Mark Strong's Knightley (the Beckinsale mini version) I have found to be closest to my mental book-based Knightley in the past, though Jeremy Northam was most infectiously charming: because Knightley's maturity and dryness seemed lacking in Northam, who played him too sunnily amiable. On the other hand, though, Strong's interpretation was too heavy. He seemed inwardly tortured sometimes, and had a slight air of Rochester about him. In short, he seemed too old, and not fun-loving enough, because Knightley has a great sense of humor, even though he is also very serious in matters of duty, manners, kindness, and doing the right thing.

But back to my main point, which is trying to explain why Jonny Lee Miller's Knightley is my favorite, and why I think he is actually the best of these three most recent versions. You see his dryness, sarcasm and humor with a peculiar clarity as the distancing mechanisms they so often are with this interpretation. Everything about his affectation of uncaring and distance, where really he is mentally engaged, is echoed in his body language, where a thread of tension underlies a constant series of elaborately lounging poses. His face is serious, and you see in his eyes when he is caught in thought, but he doesn't make the kinds of exaggerated and revealing facial expressions which Emma does, young and unguarded as she is. You can sometimes see his attachment to Emma, usually if you know what you're looking for, but it's not made too obvious so as to spoil the "mystery without a murder". The acting he does, and Romola Garai's too, build on a palpable chemistry, and are so convincing and so layered, that the connection between them is really intense and moving.

Good screenwriting and directing, too, though not flawless, contribute to keeping the tension more even and providing more of a window to what's going on for Mr. Knightley's side of the story - something that is almost entirely opaque in the book until you go back searching for clues, and which different productions try to handle in different ways, but usually don't alter very much. I appreciate the alteration, though, and think it works very well for the screen. The bits of his point of view build and come together slowly, until by the end of the 3rd episode a pretty whole picture has emerged. You really feel for JLM's Knightley, and Emma starts to as well, though she seems fairly unconscious of what/why; the confusion is very well-achieved.

And the result is probably the most romantic version of Emma I've ever seen, which I really like. And can't wait for the ending. :(