VALENTINE’S Day normally sees the release of at least one would be classic rom com in cinemas. This year, however, it is Autumn de Wilde’s rather more unconventional Emma. (that’s a deliberate full stop) vying for attention. And quite right.

There’s certainly romance in this Eleanor Catton scribed adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. Emma herself, superbly played by The Witch and Split star Anya Taylor-Joy, is hardly short on suitors. And yet, there’s joyous anarchy in the film - and novel’s - chaotic approach to the path of true love, meddled with, as it is, by the leading lady. As Austen herself once wrote, Emma is ‘a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.’

Smug, self-centred and childish, Taylor-Joy’s Emma lives up to the description marvellously, bringing to the table too an inherent vulnerability. For the most part, this is a hugely faithful retelling of the tale but note later that De Wilde’s Emma is concerned less with the social hierarchy than Austin’s, whilst her film is a touch more sexually charged. Buttocks out.

Contrary to the singularity of the title. Emma. is divinely served as ensemble entertainment and boasts therein the cream of the crop. Bill Nighy gives his all to the role of Emma’s hypochondriac father, with Miranda Hart a joy as the insatiable Miss Bates. I was rather taken too with Mia Goth’s Harriet - the young woman Emma takes under her wing - and Josh O’Connor, her supposed suitor. Fresh from the BBC’s recent Les Miserables adaptation, Johnny Flynn is aptly smouldering, meanwhile, as the famously sardonic Mr. Knightley.

Until now, so haphazard have been film takes on Emma that many would - not without irony - label Amy Heckerling’s Clueless the most successful. Could this new Emma. take the crown? It seems likely. Borrowing the pastel pinks of Wes Anderson’s palette, and the sharp sensibilities of Whit Stillman’s wilfully underplayed Love & Friendship, De Wilde’s film has it all. This is beautiful, funny, and tremendously performed filmmaking.

A quick word for Jeff Fowler’s new Sonic the Hedgehog, which arrives this week, albeit with half term audiences in mind.Already infamous for having to undergo a total CGI makeover in the wake of a backlash to the trailer, Fowler’s Sonic has audiences in the palm of his hands. Good luck to it.