By the last count, seven directors have filmed Austen’s Emma. None of them are definitive or even alike. A list is provided as a separate entry.
McGrath’s Emma is lively, and his picnic episode at Donwell Abbey and Box Hill is reasonably close to Austen’s text. But he cannot resist his own version of Austen’s narrative.
At Donwell Abbey, McGrath’s version is more his own than Austen’s. For starters, there is no picnic. According to McGrath, it consists wholly of Emma’s meddling with Harriet Smith. They sit in a strawberry patch. That hardly is a picnic. Knightley is missing, and his pronouncement that a picnic must be indoors is missing. “My idea of simple and natural, he says (probably with a cold smile), will be to have the table spread in the dining room. The nature and simplicity of gentlemen and ladies, with their servants and furniture, I think is best observed by meals within doors. When you are tired of eating strawberries in the garden, there shall be cold meat in the house.” 
For the picnic at Box Hill, Emma wishes that it will be to be small, quiet, and elegant. The plan falls through, and a larger party is arranged, much to Emma’s annoyance. The picnickers include Frank Churchill, Mr. & Mrs. Elton, Harriet Smith, Miss Bates, George Knightley, Emma Woodhouse, Jane Fairfax Mr. Weston.
The view from Box Hill is panoramic does not describe it. Austen writes the luncheon is at “cold collation” but gives no hint of what is served. However, McGrath presumes to improve Austen’s collation and provides a picnic feast staff serve.
The picnickers sit or recline on cushions at a white cloth laden with baskets and plates of bread, cakes, and fruits. But the food is served buffet style on tables with sparkling white cloths. Emma and the other picnickers sit or recline on cushions while nibbling sandwiches Austen does not mention. Frank Churchill sarcastically praises Mrs. Elton’s sandwiches as McGrath’s invention, not Austen’s. “These sandwiches are delicious,” he says, You are a gourmet.” It’s a surprise that no one uses a napkin. 
McGrath is faithful when Emma flirts with Frank Churchill, insults Miss Bates, and is sternly lectured by Knightley for her lapse of good manners. Emma is stung.
Knightley: Emma, how could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates? How can you be so
bold to a woman of her age and situation? I had not thought it possible.
Emma: How could I help to say it? I daresay she did not understand me.
Knightley: Oh, I assure you, she felt your fool meaning. She cannot stop mentioning
it! I wish you could have heard her honor your forbearance in putting up
with her when her society is so annoying.
Emma: I know there is no better creature in all the world, but you must allow
that blended alongside the good; there is an equal amount of ridiculous in her.” 
On this sad note, a pleasant day for a Box Hill picnic ends badly. Austen writes, “They had a wonderful day for Box Hill; all the other outward circumstances of arrangement, accommodation, and punctuality were in favor of a pleasant party.”
The cast: Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma Woodhouse: Toni Colette as Harriet Smith; Alan Cumming as Philip Elton; Ewan McGregor as Frank Churchill; Jeremy Northam as George Knightley; Greta Scacchi as Anne Taylor Weston; Juliette Stevenson as Augusta Hawkins Elton; Polly Walker as Jane Fairfax; Sophie Thompson as Miss Bates; James Cosmo as Mr. Weston; Phyllida Law as Mrs. Bates
Featured Image: The “cold collation” at Box Hill.
See Douglas McGrath (1996). The screenplay by Douglas McGrath is based on Jane Austen’s novel (1816). Also, Maggie Black’s The Jane Austen Cookbook.