vs.
Okay, so I'm 10 years behind (Gwyneth's Emma was released in '96 and Kate's was aired in '97) but I just saw the Kate Beckinsale version of Emma on Masterpiece and I'm interested to know what you think about the two movies. I read a few reviews on Amazon and it seemed that a lot of people preferred Gwyneth to Kate's Emma. I haven't seen Gwyneth's Emma for a long time so I am probably not a very good judge. Just having read the book, though, and from what I remember of it, Kate's Emma is so much truer to the book. Some reviewers said how they liked Gwyneth's light-heartedness and fun version of Emma and I can definitely understand that. I perceived Emma much more as Kate portrayed her however and so I preferred that version.
Mr. Knightley, of course, is another matter. Gwyneth's Knightley was much more handsome than Kate's which is always nice. :) However, there is a 16 year(?) difference between Mr. Knightley and Emma and I don't think that is very evident in Gwyneth's Emma. Kate's Knightley looks the part better and even though he wasn't really good-looking (though I think he would have looked much more handsome with a decent hair-cut), I think he grows on you more and more throughout the movie, at least he did for me.
So, for me, Kate wins this one even though I did really like Gwyneth too. Just as a side note, my husband HATES the movie Emma with Gwyneth. He thinks it is the most boring movie he's ever seen and says that it's two hours of his life that he'll never get back. Honey, would you be willing to watch the other version and see how it compares??
8 comments:
It was so much fun to read this because I just posted similar questions and thoughts a couple of months ago on my non-book blog. I preferred the Gwyneth version as a whole, but Kate better as Emma. Knightley's hair was just awful, but it is amazing how a not so good looking actor can become attractive by the end of a movie, and that is probably more true to the story. I am amazed that your husband even watched one of them!
I tried watching Gwyneth's version when it came out and lost interest really early on. But, I have plans to read Emma this summer and once I have I am going to watch both. You will probably be over it by then, but I'll still be happy to give you my opinion then. :)
I just watched that on Masterpiece Theatre also. I saw Gyneth's Emma and like it fine, back when it came out. I wasn't "into" Austen as I am now and so I didn't know the story or that Kate even did an Emma. Long story short, I preferred Kate's Emma. I am looking foward to more of those on Masterpiece! Oh, and my husband watched and snoozed beside me!
Here are some of my thoughts. This might be a bit random. Overall I think the A&E version with Kate captures the novel better except for the humor that the theatrical release captured much better. Knightly in the A&E version was too harsh in my opinion. I prefer the Knightly from the theatrical version not only for his looks but because it was a better interpretation of the character. I liked Kate better than Gwyneth except, again, I think it was too serious of an interpretation of the character. Not enough of the lighthearted humor from the book.
So I guess I pretty much agree with what you said! :-)
Just found your blog. It is going on my list. I rarely read new books anymore. The story lines sound so great but I know I will always come across something I don't want to see. I do read young adult fiction. Why is it classified for teenagers when the writing and story lines are so wonderful. Why do books need sex and violence to be good?
Another.. sorry. I just saw the TBR challenge what is that? I also like the idea of the A to Z list
It's so funny that you posted this. I too watched Kate's Emma last week for the first time. I agree that Kate's is closer to the book, especially as regards the ending. There was one scene in Gwyneth's that I preferred though. When Miss Smith is trying to get Emma to tell her whether or not to accept Mr. Martin, I thought that Kate's Emma was much more snobby/less manipulative, and Gwyneth's Emma was much more manipulative/amusing. In just that scene, Gwyneth acted much more how I would imagine a teenage girl would behave. I liked that Gwyneth's Emma seemed less mature. Overall though, I think Kate's was much truer to the book.
As far as Mr. Knightley, I liked Jeremy Northam SO much better. I didn't care that he didn't look 16 years her senior. I thought he was charming. I thought the Knightley in Kate's version was just grumpy. I couldn't understand the attraction there.
wygirl-Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. The TBR challenge is where you list out 12 books that you want to read this year with a set of twelve that you can swap for alternates if you want. The challenge website is
http://tbrchallenge.blogspot.com/2007/12/round-2-in-2008-its-here.html
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