Regency Garden Seat

This 19th century Ackermann print of an English country seat reminded me of something...

Garden seat from Ackermann's Repository

Ah, yes. The tent in Emma, 1996, under which Gwynneth Paltrow as Emma and Toni Colette as Harriet Smith are chatting and sewing.

Emma  and Harriet sit outside stitching. Emma 1996

Emma Sings Country

Gwynneth Paltrow, who played one of two Emmas in 1996 (the other was Kate Beckinsale), sang her song, Country Strong at this year's CMA show in anticipation of her new film of the same title. Read the rest of the article here.

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

Kate Beckinsale's Emma entertaining the new Mrs. Elton and Harriet Smith

Gwynneth Paltrow's Emma in carriage

Costumes are one of the main reasons why I love period movies. They can make or break one's enjoyment of the film. Take Emma, for example. These two films were made in the same year - 1996. They followed the same Jane Austen story but took two different approaches to dressing the heroine. The clothes worn by the cast of Emma, starring Kate Beckinsale and written by Andrew Davie, were earth colored. The fabrics of velvet and satin looked heavy, but the costumes were well made and their details of pleats and sleeves breathtaking. But in my humble opinion, Kate wears some of the ugliest hats ever devised for a young heroine. (Please feel free to disagree.)

Other costumes in Kate's Emma


Gwynneth's Emma, while she looked lovely and elegant, seemed a tad too modern. Her gowns and hair reminds one more of the updo's and baby doll empire gowns popular in the 1960's. Gwynneth's Emma wore light pastel colored muslins and the details of her gowns were minimal at best. In fact I left the movie feeling that I could have made a few of those dresses myself.

Right: Gwynneth's Emma in muslin gown.

Left: Back of dresses, Kate's Emma

Our question for you this week is: which movie's costumes do you think fits the plot and characters best? Which film is enhanced by the costumes?

Which Movie's Costumes Fit the Plot and Character of Emma Best?

Two images below & at right: Gwynneth's Emma

Below: Mr. Knightley and Mr. Weston in Kate's Emma

Gwyneth's Emma with Mrs. Weston

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These costumes fit the plot and character of Emma

Kate Beckinsale's Emma Gwynneth Paltrow's Emma

Emma Cooks

In this 8-minute video, Gwynneth Paltrow discusses her love of cooking and shows you how to cook a roast chicken, potatoes and a farmer's market salad.

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

Jane Austen wrote of Emma Woodhouse, “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” In this week's movie throwdown, our question is: Whose performance as Emma do you like best? Elegant Gwyneth Paltrow, the earthier Kate Beckinsale, or uber modern Alicia Silverstone? All played the character between 1995 and 1996, a particularly fine period for Emmas.

Favorite Emma

Gwynneth Paltrow, 1996 Emma

To many, Gwynneth is the embodiment of Emma. Tall and graceful, she lends to the character an elegant, haughty, and aristocratic air. Her background as the privileged child of a director and actress resembles Emma Woodhouse's in many ways. Still channelling Emma over 12 years later, Gwynneth dispenses advice to one and all in her new website, Goop!

Her Emma quotes: "Had I not promoted Mr. Weston's visits and given encouragement where encouragement was needed, we might not have had a wedding today," and "One does not like to generalize about so many people all at once, Mr. Knightley, but you may be sure that men know nothing about their hearts, whether they be six-and-twenty, or six-and-eighty."

Kate Beckinsale, 1996 Emma

Amazingly Kate looks prettier these days than when she played Emma 13 years ago. Her interpretation of Emma is earthier than Gwynneth's and more matter of fact. The hats she's forced to wear in the film, although historically accurate, are excrutiatingly ugly, though they lend her character authority and maturity beyond her years. Kate's Emma stands up to Mark Strong's forceful performance as Mr. Knightley. This Emma was written by Andrew Davies, prolific Jane Austen script writer.

Her Emma quotes: "He is very plain, undoubtedly, but that is nothing like his very lack of gentility. I had not expected much but I had no idea he was so very clownish, so totally without air," and "Papa, I have heard that the chicken thieves have returned to the neighborhood. Not two nights ago they broke into Mrs. Weston’s chicken house and stole all the turkeys…would you not be happier knowing Mr. Knightley was in the house?"

Alicia Silverstone, 1995 Clueless

Although Alicia's character was renamed Cher and lives in 20th century LA, Amy Heckerling's adaptation of Emma remains true to the character. Alicia's performance as a rich, spoiled, bossy, materialistic Cher is unforgettable. She's simply perfect as the clueless driver license-challenged Cher. I'm still waiting for her to find another part so richly suited to her talents.

Her Emma quotes:

"Old people can be so sweet," "Isn't my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972," and " I am totally butt crazy in love with Josh."

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Whose Emma peformance do you like best?

Gwynneth Paltrow Kate Beckinsale Alicia Silverstone

Gwynneth on Emma

Yes, this 1996 video is rather old, but it is of Gwynneth - Mrs. Chris Martin, mother of Apple and Moses, and editor of Goop! - who discusses Emma with Charlie Rose for41 minutes. She is joined by director Doug McGrath.

A new adaptation of Emma is being filmed just now with Romola Garai. Before you forget Gwynneth's performance, you can watch the film on YouTube or, for better and clearer viewing, rent the movie from Netflix.

Gwynneth Paltrow the Perfect Emma?

Jane Austen wrote about Emma, the only JA heroine to have a book titled after her name,"I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." According to last Sunday's Jane Austen Character Throwdown poll, readers seems to confirm that notion. Miss Woodhouse, although her responsibilities far outweigh those of Miss Dashwood, overseeing a large house, servants, parties, dinners, get-togethers, and charity for the poor, is behind in the poll by a margin of 3:1. Is this because we lack sympathy towards a rich girl who enjoys all the advantages of wealth and who indulges herself by interfering in the lives of others? One can never feel quite chummy, can one, with someone who sets herself up to be better.

Gwynneth Paltrow played Emma with elegance and assurance. The actress's background, that of wealth, privilige and ease, reflects Miss Woodhouse's, so in playing the role she didn't have to reach far inside herself to find her inner Emma. Recently, as a mother of two unfortunately named children, Gwynneth decided to share her knowledge of the fine life on her website, which is named, of all things, Goop.

The Chicago Sun Times' Paige Wiser provides four reasons why this website is accidentally fun to read. I have used Ms. Wiser's categories to make my own observations.

1) It is economically inappropriate. In an age when people are seeing their investments slide to zero and worry about keeping their house or job, Ms. Paltrow recommends that every smart woman's closet should feature a $2,000 cashmere trench coat. (Image at right).

2) The Zen writing. And the zen feel of the site itself. It looks classy and spare and elegant, like Gwynneth herself, but the writing is accidentally funny. I say accidentally because Gwynneth doesn't seem to realize that 99.9% of the world simply cannot follow her precepts. She writes about her father taking her to Paris as a child: "On the plane back to London he asked me if I knew why we had gone, just he and I, to Paris for the weekend. I said no, but I felt so lucky for the trip. He said, “I wanted you to see Paris for the first time with a man who would always love you, no matter what.” From that time on, Paris was and continues to be very special to me. I lived there for five months in 1994 and I have made many trips back. These are the places in Paris I stay and eat and toast my dad." Now my question to those who live across the pond from Europe is, how many times have you returned to Paris to toast anything? How many of you went for the first time as a child?"

3) The tone is smug. I rest my case with the above example. In addition, there's something very empty about the site. Aside from the copious amount of white space, there's not much meat to chomp on.

4) It's painfully obvious. Looking at her site and reading her advice, I can substitute Gwynneth for Paris Hilton or any other privileged heiress. Instead of picking her own movie choices, Gwynneth asked a few director friends to do the honors, directors like Steven Spielberg and Wes Anderson. Lucky Gwynneth.

I don't want to jump on the Gwynneth bashing bandwagon merely to bash, but when a lady's response to recent criticism about Goop is a four letter word that starts with "F", which she did in an interview with Elle UK, then, well, I think I'll take a pass on accepting that lady's words of wisdom.

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

1996 - Emma Times Two: Dueling Austen Adaptations?

After a three week hiatus, Emma (1996), staring Kate Beckinsale will be the next installment of The Complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece Classic on Sunday, March 23rd, at 9:00 pm on PBS. As we patiently await the next adaptation to arrive, I was reminded of my thoughts on the film before it first aired in 1996.

When the early press announcements hit the papers, - yea, ten years ago, back in the ice age when we got our entertainment news from newspapers and magazines, - and I learned that there was to be two new adaptations of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, my reaction was surprise and puzzlement. This was a nice, but was this Austen overload? Wouldn’t the public be confused? Would it turn into the dueling Emma’s?

Who knows how and why these production decisions are made, but the success of the BBC/A&E production of Pride and Prejudice in the UK in 1995 definitely had fueled the Austen fires with producers, and opened doors to new possibilities of filming of her novels. One Emma would be filmed for the big screen and the other for television, so that should distinguish them, right?

My biggest fear was that this was an opportunity to get Emma wrong, - twice! In retrospect, the two films are so different in interpretation of Jane Austen’s irrepressible Emma Woodhouse and her Highbury world, that in my opinion, they did not conflict with each other at all. Two Emma’s, and two entirely different films. Both entertainingly flawed, but still fun.



Gwyneth Paltrow’s Emma was the fair-haired aspiring matchmaker, all long-necked and refined; not really that naughty and out of line. And then there’s Kate Beckinsale’s Emma, the total opposite; dark haired, earthily bound, who is the scheming imaginist, the naughty woman-child that Jane Austen warned her family of when she said that “I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.”



Find out for yourself which of the Emma’s you prefer, on Sunday, March 23rd at 9:00 pm on PBS.

Visit Emma Adapatations, and discover Austen authority Kali Pappas’ lovely newly re-designed web site featuring everything under-the-sun about all of the adaptations of Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma.

Posted by Laurel Ann, Austenprose