Being notable for being a feisty middle-aged woman is quite rare. Elderly, now, that’s not unusual. There are several women known for that, some of whom we’ve gotten to and some of whom are sitting on the list. Young? Not difficult. Though young women tend to have less agency, I think, and their feistiness seems mere youthful rebellion. But to be Of A Certain Age and both defiant and sexual? That’s almost unique, and that’s how I think of Emma Thompson.
She’s older than I am, of course, and not just because that’s my personal rule for inclusion in this column. But she was thirty-six when she first came to my attention, back in ’93. I saw Much Ado About Nothing and The Rocky Horror Picture Show as a double feature of sorts, if you can believe it, and came away more changed by the former than the latter. I’d always taken for granted that I loved Shakespeare (I was sixteen, okay?) and had even quite enjoyed going through Romeo and Juliet in English class the year before. But after really experiencing Much Ado, and particularly Beatrice, I learned what joy there can be in the words. What wit and what fire. I suspect most sixteen-year-old girls think of themselves as the beautiful and adored Hero, but I knew I was Beatrice.
And that is where Emma Thompson thrives—as the one who is not quite as expected. She played Sybil Trelawney in three Harry Potter movies, but if she were as young as Emma Watson, whose birthday she shares, she would also make a fine Hermione Granger. She played a Hillary Clinton stand-in in Primary Colors, and I think of Hillary Clinton as the Hermione Granger of politics. She was far too old to play the sensible Elinor Dashwood, but at the same time, it’s the role that makes the most sense for her in Sense and Sensibility. She’s played any number of writers—and bosses. And of course she is the stern, British Pamela Travers to the avuncular American Walt Disney played by Tom Hanks, a bit of inspired casting even if you don’t like Saving Mr. Banks.
Of course, she’s also a gifted comedienne; her start in show business was in the Cambridge Footlights, the first female member of that elite sketch comedy troupe. Among the people in the troupe with her at the time were Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who considered her the talented one. She still remains friends with them, and her appearance on QI is a joy to watch. (Current host Sandi Toksvig was also a member of the Footlights.) She may be better known for drama, but after all I first became aware of her in a comedy.
I would imagine that she takes a certain snarky pleasure in the fact that her ex-husband, Kenneth Branagh, has been nominated for five Oscars, each in different categories, and not won any, while she has one each for Best Actress and Adapted Screenplay. She has also written several other screenplays and was approached to write the first Peter Rabbit book not by Beatrix Potter. I’m always a bit surprised when the Queen’s Honours lists come out and she’s not on them, especially in light of her humanitarian work. I suppose that’s one thing Branagh has that she doesn’t.
