BBC Emma 2009, episode #3 out of 4

[cimorene]

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. :(

Comments

[wildestranger]

I agree. I love that their bickering includes Mr Knightley being in the wrong and being a little selfish - none of that unassailable superiority of intelligence and judgement which most adaptations (and the book) tend to suggest. The chemistry between them is so much more visible here, and you actually get a sense of their relationship as quasi-relatives, all of which produces the most delightful romantic tension. I've not been this thrilled by an adaptation in a long time.

[copracat]

There is a lovely sense of a relationship between children, or at least young people, transforming to a relationship between adults being remarkably well done.

[bookshop]

I've always held that the most authentic & best Mr. Knightley is Paul Rudd, so I'm really really excited to hear this. I know you told me where to find the first eps but now i have forgotten and i am dearly regretting this. :(

[cimorene]

#1 is on Youtube & #2 can be found streaming if you search "bbc emma" on Google videos. (#3 just went up on the private tracker last night, so there might be some wait yet.)

Paul Rudd was always my favorite too. I don't like Knightley feeling too OLD, and Rudd was mature but still youthful. Clueless was the only version until now where you saw a glimmer of them interacting as equals, and it's important that that coexists with the ways in which Knightley is more mature and cognizant.

[cimorene]

yesyesyes! In the past, family scenes in the film versions have seemed rushed and cheap to me, as if the screenwriters were throwing them in to hint to us that romance was coming. I think in the Beckinsale version there's a bit with baby Emma that just made me go UGH. And of course nobody is always right, and part of the disagreement is obviously due to Knightley. I like that he admits it easily and with grace when he acknowledges that he was wrong about Harriet. (Another side-note, this is my favorite Harriet. She's not being played for comedy, and there's subtlety at work so you see her slight dimness as funny, but you really see the good qualities Knightley is talking about too, and not in an uncomfortably condescending way which it can so easily go in.)

[cimorene]

Yessssss. Ooh, I hope we get more flashback later. And I loved that playing in the snow scene where he's all puzzled because she won't come outside. :(

[copracat]

Oh dear, my sentence. Your English comprehension is most superior!

[msilverstar]

Ack, I had a reply and it evaporated.

It took me a little while to parse the post because every time I read "Knightly," I would think of Keira first, and only then the character. Fandom has done me in :-/

Your enthusiasm is contagious and I'm going to put it on my queue.