Emma in Greenwich

So, last night we went to see Emma at Greenwich PictureHouse. 

The film was a light piece of froth - tonally, I thought very different from the book.  My test scenes are those when Isabella and Mr John Knightly visit Mr Woodhouse and Emma.  These correspond to the astonishing and groundbreaking chapters 11 and 12 of Emma. 

The detailed subtlety and behaviours described by Austen were replaced by broad activities, and much of the nuance was - quite often - lost.  This was particularly true in the case of the character of Isabella, which was clumsily depicted, I thought.

That being said, Emma, Harriet and Knightly, and Mrs Elton, were pretty good.  But the character most like the novel Was Mr Weston (LeStrange from Sherlock!).  And that being said, the scenes on Box Hill were excruciatingly well done, I thought.

We may have had a rather odd viewing, however.  As there were problems with the air conditioning in screen 5, and it was freezing!  As cold - if not more so - as the wintry weather outside.  They provided some (thin) blankets and pillows, and we kept our coats on.  But, every so often a blanket would slip down and I would feel chilly.

So when Bill Nighy as Mr Woodhouse asked if anyone else could feel a chill draught, someone in the audience said 'I can!' - and there was a sympathetic laugh from all around them.

Odd that the character we most sympathised with was the valetudinarian Mr W.