Kate Beckinsale a film based on the Danish legend which inspired Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and starred in the murder mystery "Uncovered". In 1995, while studying in Paris, she filmed the French language "". Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1995, Beckinsale starred in "Cold Comfort Farm" as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1930s socialite sent to live with distant family members in rural England. The John Schlesinger-directed film was an adaptation of Stella Gibbons's novel and also featured Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell and Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading
Kate Beckinsale love her." The programme was aired in autumn 1996, just months after Gwyneth Paltrow had starred in a film adaptation of the same story. Caryn James of "The New York Times" felt that while "Ms. Beckinsale's Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrow's," she is "altogether more believable and funnier." Jonathan Brown of "The Independent" has described Beckinsale's interpretation as "the most enduring modern performance" as Emma. In 1997, Beckinsale appeared opposite Stuart Townsend in the comedy "Shooting Fish", one of the most commercially successful British films of that year. "I'd just had my wisdom teeth out," Beckinsale later recalled