Review of Emma

I didn't know the story prior to watching this film. Unfortunately, for the first half hour I was struggling to understand what was going on. Characters were introduced too quickly and without much explanation (Miss Bates and the other lady? Knightley proves eventually to be super rich? Who was Harriet again? Who was Jane? Knightly held Emma when she was 3 months old? How and why? Was he a child himself or adult?). The editing is very poor, with too short scenes that hardly make sense in very quick succession (Jane cries and Martin watches her for 5 seconds, why? What happened? Jane quickly leaves a party, why? Next day she seems fine. Frank is frustrated for a scene of 20secs and in the next scene he is fine, why?). There are hardly any reaction shots or close ups that can allow the viewer to understand the characters' feelings. So for most of the film, I had no idea who fancies whom. Only at the end I came to know that Knightley fancies Emma and vice versa. Ironically, the ending felt too long.

Compare this to the brilliant direction of 1995 P&P, where numerous reaction shots allow viewers to understand the characters' feelings (and progression of feelings). Also, each character is fully described to the viewers (background, wealth, connections, age and personality).

The script and cinematography are good and the actors did what they could. But without a solid direction, the movie seemed disjointed, the characters not fully understood (I could not describe the personality of either Emma or Knightly after this) and both the humour and the romance were not there.