Emily - Movie Review

Critics Score - 9 of 10

General Audience Score - 7 of 10

Charlotte Brontë is a writer who lived in the 1800’s and wrote some pieces of classic English literature, including Jane Eyre. But her younger sister Emily, who lived a much shorter life and tragically passed at the tender age of 30, burned bright like a shooting star. Emily Brontë was a reclusive yet fascinating character that wrote the literary classic Wuthering Heights, but who’s life remains shrouded in mystery. The new movie Emily is a fictionalized account of what her life could have been and seeks to fill in some blanks of the events surrounding her creation of her masterpiece of writing. While it is very much a period piece and so we get to enjoy many of the dresses, stereotypes and emotional beats of a Pride And Prejudice or Sense And Sensibility, it works to subvert many of the classic storytelling tropes of the genre. Without spoiling the movie, I will say that not all great stories have the sail off into the sunset and they lived happily ever after endings, but just based on the information provided in the outset, you could probably have guessed that. I will include a clause here that I’m a sucker for period pieces and seeing this film go against the grain in the genre was a highlight of the year for me. It’s sexy, it’s subversive, it’s highly entertaining, its one of my favorite films of 2022. It’s Emily.

SYNOPSIS - We begin this tale with a straight on camera shot of Emily Brontë (Emma Mackey) looking woozy, her eyes roll up into her head and her two sisters, Charlotte (Alexandra Dowling) and Anne (Amelia Gething) catch her and drag her back onto a couch. After Anne leaves and a passing comment about a bad cold, we get a lingering shot on a stack of her hardcover book, Wuthering Heights, when Charlotte asks, “How did you write it? . . How did you write Wuthering Heights?”. To which Emily coldly responds, “I took my pen and put it to paper.”. We then jump back an unknown amount of time and watch Emily alone in a field, having an imaginary conversation with a man she refers to as Captain Sneaky, while she runs her fingers up and down blades of long field grass. After some romantic banter between herself and this imaginary gentleman, she hears a bell ring and takes off running down a hillside and through some wooded areas to her home. The film effectively establishes our Emily character almost immediately as a bit of a daydreamer, a bit of an oddity amidst her contemporaries. Combine this with Emma Mackey’s looks, while she’s not exactly a stunning face to look at, her face is, although simple, also a bit lovely, it complements her quirky and weird demeanor nicely.

But soon a handsome young curate, William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), moves into the local parish and the usual male-female drama ensues, longing glances from across the room, sharp comments and sexual tension fills the screen. But a particular scene involving a mask and a game towards the end of the first act showcases some real ingenuity of writing and the film begins to elevate itself over the common period piece films we’ve become accustomed to. Emily’s relationship with her floundering brother Branwell (Fionn Whitehead), who is mischief and alcoholism prone, is also a highlight of the film. But as the second acts unfolds and Emily and William’s love begins to blossom prematurely into our runtime, there’s no mistaking that some rough waters are up ahead and will soon rock this love boat.

On a more technical level the direction of the film by Frances O’Conner was impressive, she makes a film set in 1800’s England to be tonally very drab and gloomy throughout most of its runtime. She cleverly utilizes plenty of overcast and rainy days to create a sense of foreboding, a premonition that not everything is going to work out in the end. The screenplay I highlighted earlier, also from O’Conner, follows suit with banter and heavy handed comments that give a sense of cynicism and bitterness in the realm of relationships and love. Emily positions itself early on as a sort of anti-pride and prejudice and as the film continues to build momentum into the second act, steamrolling over all the typical genre tropes, the over two hour runtime doesn’t feel nearly that long. While the film is cinematic and the score is delightful, neither of these aspects will find themselves among the best of the year. The costumes are likewise wonderful but a bit more subdued than some other period pieces. I spoke before about Emma Mackey fitting the role well but her performance is really something special playing the mysterious but sexy, odd woman out role. Mackey plays alongside Jackson-Cohen, the two have tremendous chemistry together and their scenes of love had me wiping off the steam that kept fogging up my TV screen. Or maybe that was just me standing too close? Either way, Emily is a brilliant addition to the genre and one that deserves a bit more attention and recognition than it’s currently getting.

SUMMARY - While general audiences might not be quite as in love with this film as I was, there’s plenty here for film lovers of all shapes and sizes. The romance, the drama, the intrigue, the sizzle. Do yourself a favor next time you’ve got a hankering for a romantic movie or period piece and go on a date with Emily.