In her adaptation of Emma, Autumn de Wilde doesn't inject the story with the gloomy, windswept passion that later decades would bring, much like Joe Wright did for Pride & Prejudice. Instead, she creates a world that is delicate and exacting, reminiscent of a bespoke wedding cake. The rolling English countryside comes alive through her lens, each estate bursting with manicured rooms painted in different pastel shades.

The setting de Wilde conjures is one where proper dress and good manners are paramount. Characters announce their entire personalities just by walking into a room, and cutting insults and deeply personal observations can nestle within the most aimless small talk. This makes her a smart choice to recreate Austen's fictional town of Highbury, the bucolic community that Emma Woodhouse presides over like a gossipy, petty dictator.

The title card is a neat preview of what follows: a rather routine translation of Austen's work, told with just enough flair and attention to detail to make it stand out. Autumn de Wilde's background in photography and music videos has built a formidable reputation for imagery that is stark and indelible. The opening credits present the title with an ostentatious period touch, perhaps suggesting that this will be the final cinematic word on the 1815 novel, or maybe just winking at the film's status as a period piece.

In recent years, only Whit Stillman's terrific Love & Friendship has really connected with audiences. This is to say that it is high time for Austen to return to the big screen, and Autumn de Wilde's Emma is evidence of the familiar charm that can come with such a project. However, recent years have featured more glancing hits-a half-hearted Austen biopic, a movie about an Austen book club, another about an Austen theme park.

Yes, almost all of Austen's works have been committed to film at one point or another, and it seems that a boom began in the '90s and ran into the early 2000s. This yielded memorable efforts such as Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Douglas McGrath's Emma, Patricia Rozema's Mansfield Park, and Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice. But moviegoers have been bereft of Jane Austen adaptations of late.

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