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Day 17 - Favorite mini series.
Jul. 18th, 2014 06:07 amDay 17 - Favorite mini series.
I’ve already written about this! Desperate Romantics, all the way.
But my second-favorite miniseries is probably the 2009 BBC Emma, with Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller, which is simply perfect in every possible way. It is, in the first place, just beautiful: the costumes are stunning, as are the sets, as are the actors (the young lady playing Harriet is absolutely lovely).
It’s so beautiful that it might be worth watching even if it was awful, but in fact it’s amazing. The miniseries gets Emma, which (as Emma Approved and the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma both demonstrate) is a difficult task. Emma is neither an incompetent Machiavellian nor an airhead; she’s a competent, intelligent, and often kind social leader, whose very real abilities have given her a slightly overblown self-regard. She’s usually right, but she’s come to believe that she’s always right, and therefore never considers the possibility that she might make a mistake.
And Romola Garai plays this to perfection. It’s easy to see why everyone in her circle adores Emma. Not only is she funny and vivacious, the life of every party, but she smooths the conversation over rough patches and makes sure everyone has a nice time. One of those people is invariably her fussbudget father, which makes it an even more impressive feat.
(Emma’s relationship with her father is one of the highlights of this miniseries. He realizes, at least on some level, that Emma has grown up so well as much despite him as because of him and his overprotective instincts - there is a really touching scene where he apologizes to her for his failures. But Emma realizes that his limitations are not his fault, and loves him back despite his flaws.)
That’s why the scene at Box Hill where Emma is unkind to Miss Bates is so startling, because this is not at all how she usually behaves. Frank Churchill is clearly a bad influence (I like him less and less over time; I realize he needs to maintain some distance from Jane to keep their engagement secret, but there was no need for him to encourage Emma’s suppositions that Jane had a dalliance with Mr. Dixon, or to pick at Jane like he does. I don’t think he means harm; he just doesn’t seem to quite realize that other people have feelings that might be hurt by his high spirits.)
I suspect this is what makes Mr. Knightley so unusually sharp with her in the Box Hill scene: he’s envious of Frank Churchill’s influence, which he thinks goes deeper than it does.
Jonny Lee Miller’s performance as Mr. Knightley is also outstanding. His dialogue is mostly drawn from the book, but whereas in the book he often seems scolding - if not a father figure, then certainly an older-brotherly one - Miller’s liveliness, his frustration, the fact that he usually speaks to Emma as an equal arguing with her rather than an elder scolding her, all make him seem like a good match for her despite their age gap. They’re like the dueling protagonists in one of the better-made screwball comedies, all rapid delivery and sparkling wit.
I’ve already written about this! Desperate Romantics, all the way.
But my second-favorite miniseries is probably the 2009 BBC Emma, with Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller, which is simply perfect in every possible way. It is, in the first place, just beautiful: the costumes are stunning, as are the sets, as are the actors (the young lady playing Harriet is absolutely lovely).
It’s so beautiful that it might be worth watching even if it was awful, but in fact it’s amazing. The miniseries gets Emma, which (as Emma Approved and the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma both demonstrate) is a difficult task. Emma is neither an incompetent Machiavellian nor an airhead; she’s a competent, intelligent, and often kind social leader, whose very real abilities have given her a slightly overblown self-regard. She’s usually right, but she’s come to believe that she’s always right, and therefore never considers the possibility that she might make a mistake.
And Romola Garai plays this to perfection. It’s easy to see why everyone in her circle adores Emma. Not only is she funny and vivacious, the life of every party, but she smooths the conversation over rough patches and makes sure everyone has a nice time. One of those people is invariably her fussbudget father, which makes it an even more impressive feat.
(Emma’s relationship with her father is one of the highlights of this miniseries. He realizes, at least on some level, that Emma has grown up so well as much despite him as because of him and his overprotective instincts - there is a really touching scene where he apologizes to her for his failures. But Emma realizes that his limitations are not his fault, and loves him back despite his flaws.)
That’s why the scene at Box Hill where Emma is unkind to Miss Bates is so startling, because this is not at all how she usually behaves. Frank Churchill is clearly a bad influence (I like him less and less over time; I realize he needs to maintain some distance from Jane to keep their engagement secret, but there was no need for him to encourage Emma’s suppositions that Jane had a dalliance with Mr. Dixon, or to pick at Jane like he does. I don’t think he means harm; he just doesn’t seem to quite realize that other people have feelings that might be hurt by his high spirits.)
I suspect this is what makes Mr. Knightley so unusually sharp with her in the Box Hill scene: he’s envious of Frank Churchill’s influence, which he thinks goes deeper than it does.
Jonny Lee Miller’s performance as Mr. Knightley is also outstanding. His dialogue is mostly drawn from the book, but whereas in the book he often seems scolding - if not a father figure, then certainly an older-brotherly one - Miller’s liveliness, his frustration, the fact that he usually speaks to Emma as an equal arguing with her rather than an elder scolding her, all make him seem like a good match for her despite their age gap. They’re like the dueling protagonists in one of the better-made screwball comedies, all rapid delivery and sparkling wit.
