Emma

In rural 1800s England things go bad for a young matchmaker after she finds a man for another woman.

• Director:Douglas McGrath
• Genre:Comedy / Romance
• Runtime:116 minutes

Cast

Gwyneth Paltrow : Emma Woodhouse
James Cosmo : Mr. Weston
Greta Scacchi : Mrs. Weston
Alan Cumming : Mr. Elton
Denys Hawthorne : Mr. Woodhouse

The film describes a year in the life of Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow), a congenial but naïve young lady who thinks of herself as a romantic matchmaker in her small community in early 19th-century England. Emma fails horribly as a matchmaker, but things ultimately end well for her and her friends.

When her governess gets married and goes to live with her new husband, Mr. Weston, Emma proudly takes credit for having brought the couple together. Her father and their old family friend George Knightley (Jeremy Northam) dispute her claim and disapprove of her trying to make more matches, but she ignores their warnings and sets her mind on setting up Mr. Elton, the minister who performed the Westons’s marriage ceremony, with Harriet Smith (Toni Collette), an unsophisticated young woman just entering society.

As a close friendship develops between Emma and Harriet, it becomes clear that Harriet is being courted by Robert Martin, a farmer who has known Harriet since she was a girl. When Martin proposes to Harriet, she is inclined to accept, but she has come to rely heavily on Emma’s advice, and Emma persuades her to reject the proposal.

Meanwhile, Elton has been expressing a desire for Emma by taking an interest in a picture she drew of Harriet and by giving her a riddle for a book of riddles being compiled by Harriet. Emma misinterprets this as interest in Harriet, but when Elton and Emma are alone, he fervently declares his love for Emma herself, and she finally realizes her mistake. She rejects his pleas, and he later marries another woman, who turns out to be a vain socialite who competes with Emma for status in the community. Read more

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