Emma (1996) on Netflix
In 19th-century England, Emma Woodhouse takes credit for a match she arranged and pairs her friend Harriet Smith with the clergyman Mr Elton. Mr Knightley warns her against interfering.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.6/1044,427 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
Emma Woodhouse, a young woman of high rank and wealth, considers herself a matchmaker in her small community. When Miss Taylor, her governess, marries Mr Weston, Emma takes the credit, and she dismisses the doubts of her father and of George Knightley, a family friend whose brother married Emma's sister. Emma then turns to Harriet Smith, a good-natured young woman whose parentage is uncertain, and tries to arrange a match between Harriet and the village clergyman, Mr Elton. The farmer Robert Martin proposes to Harriet, who is fond of him and inclined to accept, and Emma presses her to refuse, believing a better prospect awaits. Knightley tells Emma to leave the matter alone.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Emma (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rachel Portman, who scored Emma, became the first woman ever to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score when she took the prize on 24 March 1997.
- Real-life mother and daughter Phyllida Law and Sophie Thompson were cast to play mother and daughter characters Mrs and Miss Bates purely by coincidence, since the casting director had put their names on separate lists without realizing they were related.
- Ewan McGregor later regretted appearing in the film, saying his decision-making was wrong and that he learnt his lesson: “It's a good film, Emma, but I'm just... not very good in it,” adding that he also wore “the world's worst wig”.
- Writer-director Douglas McGrath first wanted a modern version of the novel set on the Upper East Side of New York City, and did not know that Amy Heckerling's Clueless was already in production until plans for Emma were well underway.
- Douglas McGrath brought in American actress Gwyneth Paltrow to audition for Emma Woodhouse after seeing her in Flesh and Bone; what sold him, he said, was her perfect Texas accent, since he grew up in Texas and had never heard a non-Texan sound remotely like one.
- Toni Collette had to gain weight to portray “the Rubenesque Harriet”, explaining: “I think it's important for people to look real in films. There's a tendency to go Barbie doll and I don't agree with that at all.”
- Ruth Myers, the film's costume designer, was given just five weeks in which to make 150 costumes, and she stayed working on the set throughout the shoot.
