Anastasia Kharlamova I have hesitated for a long time before watching this version. I couldn't choose between it and the one with Gwyneth Paltrow: both versions include actors I know and admire, both seemed to be adequately faithful to the book, etc. But the cover illustration of the edition of "Emma" I have shows a dark-haired girl, so I have always imagined Emma as a brunette - that's why I chose this version after all.And I'm INCREDIBLY glad I did.It is really very faithful to the book, and, what is more, it captures the book's spirit. We see quite a complicated drama, with confused human feelings and a very vague good guys-bad guys distinction, and yet everything is in the 19th century style, one can see no traces of modernization.The main heroine is portrayed perfectly, with all the contradictions of her nature. Kate Beckinsale shows us a girl who is full of good will but can be quite arrogant, who is rather clever but too self-assured... And, furthermore, we see Beckinsale's Emma changing and maturing as the film goes on.Mark Strong, too, gives a great performance as Emma's ever-faithful friend Mr. Knightley. He always conveys the emotions his character's supposed to feel - sometimes with only his facial expression, as Mr. Knightley is not a talkative person.The other actors are wonderful as well, so I think the characters look and behave just as Jane Austen must have imagined. My favorite among the minor characters is Harriet Smith, a naive sweet-natured girl whom we can't help but pity as she struggles to sort out her feelings. She is so realistic in the movie! After watching it, I sometimes find myself in situations similar to Harriet's - even though I live two hundred years later!

mjarvis0 The minute I started watching this I realised that I was watching a quality production so I was not surprised to find that the screenplay was written by Andrew Davis and was produced by Sue Birtwhistle both of these brought us the excellent 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice! So my only gripe here is that Emma did not run to 3 or 4 or maybe even six episodes like Pride and Prejudice. The acting was superb with I think Prunella scales excellent as Miss Bates but I loved Kate Beckinsale and Mark Strong just as much. The language is a delight to listen to, can you imagine in this day and age having a right go at someone without actually uttering a swear word? Samantha Morton was excellent as Miss Smith in fact the casting was spot on much as it was with Pride and Prejudice. I liked it so much that I watched it twice in two days!! So once again thank you BBC for another quality piece of television. I have seen the Paltrow version and it is okay but I do think the BBC version is far superior. An excellent production that I am very happy to own on DVD!!!

toast-15 This is the best Emma in existence in my opinion. Having seen the other version (1996) which is also good, and read the book, I think I can safely say with confidence that this is the true interpretation and is the most faithful to Jane Austen's masterpiece. The 1996 movie with G. Paltrow is good too, it's just that it's almost like a different story altogether. It's very light and fluffy, you don't see the darker edges of the characters and if you just want a pleasant movie, that one would do fine but the intricacies of some of the plot points, such as the Churchill/Fairfax entanglement is so much glossed over as to be virtually non-existent. But if you want the characters fleshed out a bit, more real and multidimensional, the 1996 TV version is the superior. Emma is a remarkable person, but she is flawed. Kate Beckinsale is masterful at showing the little quirks of the character. You see her look casually disgusted at some of the more simple conversation of Harriet Smith, yet she shows no remorse for having ruined Harriet's proposal until that action has the effect of ruining her own marital happiness at the ending. You see her narcissism and it mirrors Frank Churchill's in that they would do harm to others to achieve their own aims. For Emma, it was playing matchmaker and having a new friend to while away the time with after having suffered the loss of her governess to marriage. For Frank Churchill, it is securing the promise of the woman he loves while treating her and others abominably to keep the secret. In the book, she realizes all of this in a crushing awakening to all the blunders she has made. Both Kate Beckinsale and Gyneth Paltrow are convincing in their remorse but Paltrow's is more childlike and stagnant while Beckinsale's awakening is rather real and serious and you see the transition from child-like, selfish behavior to kind and thoughtful adult. Both versions are very good but I prefer this one.

Roxanne7179 The script is nice.Though the casting is absolutely non-watchable.No style. the costumes do not look like some from the High Highbury society. Comparing Gwyneth Paltrow with Kate Beckinsale I can only say that Ms. Beckinsale speaks British English better than Ms. Paltrow, though in Ms. Paltrow's acting lies the very nature of Emma Woodhouse. Mr. Northam undoubtedly is the best Mr. Knightley of all versions, he is romantic and not at all sharp-looking and unfeeling like Mr. Knightley in the TV-version. P.S.The spectator cannot see at all Mr. Elton-Ms. Smith relationship's development as it was in the motion version, so one cannot understand where was all Emma's trying of make a Elton-Smith match (besides of the portrait).