When Mr Knightley proposes to Emma, in the book of that title, Jane Austen reports back: “What did she say? Just what she ought, of course. A lady always does.” That’s all nice and fine, but it’s not going to cut it in a modern-day screen version. “A word, a look, is enough,” we hear in Persuasion – but we need a lot of words in a Jane Austen film, along with white dresses, officers, and a nice big party.
I have checked out an astonishing two dozen Austen adaptations, and have reached some conclusions: the writers have all seen the previous versions (some rogue plot additions get carried forward…), they can be ruthless in missing out a sister or a subplot, and there are some of the same actors moving through the oeuvre – Edmund Bertram is suddenly Mr Elton; Charlotte Lucas becomes Elinor Dashwood.
Lastly, Andrew Davies will feature a lot, because he truly changed the nature of classic adaptations with his gold standard 1995 Pride and Prejudice. There is a “before”: the dead hand of the BBC classic serial, resembling a filmed theatre production. And an ”after”, where Davies (and everyone else from then on) actually tries to get us into the heads of those heroines, to give us the women to hold onto.
None of the adaptations is unwatchable, not even the 1970’s Persuasion that looks like the cast of Howards’ Way in Regency clothes, shot in a Berni Inn. But which ones will make you “dance in your chair” like Catherine Morland?
Is it a problem if these adaptations veer from the source material? I’d argue no. If you want authenticity, read the books. Adaptations reflect the era they were made in, rather than the publication dates of the source material. Recent films point up how ridiculous and outrageous were the lives of those surrounded by servants – not something that bothered Jane – and there’s a strange hint of The Handmaids’ Tale in the most recent Emma. Perhaps soon we will have a young Mrs Bennet who is sensible, and Mr Bennet and Mr Woodhouse shown as selfish fools in their different ways.
But: everyone can find their own Jane Austen screen version, the one that matches their ideas, about the books and about life. She is always there for us, in print and on screen. These are my nine favourites.
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
It’s probably a legal requirement to start with Andrew Davies’ seminal adaptation. Bridget Jones couldn’t understand why anyone was out and about, not indoors watching it, when it was first shown on BBC TV in 1995, and indeed it is compelling, lavish, beautiful. False Memory Department: you don’t actually see Colin Firth exiting the lake like James Bond in his wet shirt – you see him swimming, and then walking towards his destiny.
Six episodes, available on BBC iPlayer
Persuasion (2022)
This was treated rather scornfully on release: it takes the Bridgerton line, with a traditional setting but anachronistic dialogue. I did not have high hopes, but it is hilariously funny, true to the spirit of Austen, and Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot is a revelation. Wentworth’s memorable putdown of her looks – she was “so altered he should not have known her” – survives from the book, but you can’t imagine anyone saying that about Johnson (unless he means since Fifty Shades….?). Ignore the snobs and enjoy.
Available on Netflix
Sense and Sensibility (2008)
This is a controversial pick, but yes, I have chosen this TV serial over the Oscar-winning Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet film. (And not in solidarity with Alan Rickman, who plays Colonel Brandon, and who, remarkably, thought there should have been more about the men’s “journeys” in the 1995 film). The BBC serial is Andrew Davies again, and his understanding of the feelings and humiliations of young people is just better. Unmatched. Hatty Morahan and Charity Wakefield play the sisters. In fairness, all the versions of S&S were enjoyable, although only this one is hard enough on that dim prospect Edward Ferrars.
Available to rent on YouTube
Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Director Joe Wright’s hugely enjoyable Pride and Prejudice is down and dirty rather than clean and Regency, and has the best dancing. Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen have such incredible chemistry, you can’t believe it takes them so long to hook up. (Do investigate the bizarre story of the different endings for US and UK audiences.) My theory is that a good P&P means that when discussing the career trajectory of an actress, you can always try: ‘”She must have been one of the other Bennet girls,” and here we have Carey Mulligan, Talulah Riley, Jena Malone.
Available on Netflix
Northanger Abbey (2007)
This is the slightest of the six main novels, but Andrew Davies does his best with this television film: fast-moving, characters talking in modern rhythms, sexy dreams. Felicity Jones and Carey Mulligan, as Catherine and Isabella, are almost too good for the skittish, sitcom-y story.
A 1987 BBC Northanger Abbey is worth watching solely for a short scene filmed in Bath, a re-creation of what “taking the waters” actually looked like. If you think it means ladies sitting round in their frocks sipping glasses of mineral water – think again. Dozens of women are wading through a large, dimly lit spa pool in weird gowns and mob caps – a dream-like and unnerving sight.
Available to rent on Prime Video
Emma (2009)
A surprise choice, amid many good versions: the TV serial with Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller. This is the only adaption that made me rethink the book, with writer Sandy Welch giving an understanding of Emma’s loneliness and Knightley’s awkwardness. Top tip: judge your Emma production by Miss Bates. Here it’s the incomparable Tamsin Greig: listen to her drop her voice to a whisper on the word “gypsies” in an early scene, and you know you can settle in and wallow in joy.
Available on Disney+
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
This is worth watching for curiosity value alone. Unforgivably, the action is moved forward 30+ years, so they could use up costumes from Gone with the Wind – and Lady Catherine de Bourgh is working for the happy couple (Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson) in a travesty of a key scene. Gawp at a completely invented garden party replacing the Netherfield ball. This includes swings, pavilions, archery, a maypole, and Lydia getting falling-down drunk. It is jaw-dropping, foreshadowing the big social events in Succession.
Available to rent on Prime Video
Love & Friendship (2016)
Directed by Whit Stillman, a man who is obsessed with Jane Austen, this film is an absolute hoot, because the original story – Lady Susan – is. The book, an early work that Austen herself never submitted for publication, is viewed as second-tier Austen – but the film is polished, and shows Austen as modern as can be: it resembles an 18th-century Amandaland, with Lady Susan ruthlessly on the make.
Available on Disney+
Mansfield Park (1999)
Austen famously said that in Emma, she had created a heroine whom no-one but herself could like. Completely wrong – we all love Emma, and the heroine we don’t like is the dull and priggish Fanny Price. Luckily this terrific film, directed by Patricia Rozema, tackles the problem head-on, by making Fanny (Frances O’Connor, superb) more like Jane Austen herself. It also takes on the secret issue of Mansfield Park: that the family’s money is based on the slave trade. It is not treated as it would be today, but Rozema was certainly trying.
Available to rent on Prime Video
