New Zealand Listener

Swiping right

EMMA.

directed by Autumn de Wilde

The full-stop that comes with the title to this Jane Austen adaptation marking an impressive screenwriting debut for Eleanor Catton makes its own small point of difference. It’s a device also used in the film’s seasonal chapter headings – “Summer.”, “Autumn.”, etc. But it also shows that after all the (at least four since 1995, counting the likeable 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow one and the amusing Beverly Hills rich-kids makeover, ) and the many efforts to bend Austen stories into odd and/or modern shapes, here’s an film about Emma, the character from the book in all her flawed, self-deluded, funny glory. Fullstop.

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