Emily, 2022. Imagination, Passion, and Melancholy.

Frances O’Connor released a movie about Emily Brontë in 2022.

The biopic about one of the most famous writers of the 19th century turned out to be at once an atmospheric hoax, a love story, a rural pastoral, and a plot about how inspiration is born from the pain of loss and is passed on to others. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that two centuries ago, in a remote place in the middle of West Yorkshire, several recognized authors were born at once?

The new fairy tale picture is attractive from all sides. And yes, you should watch it, and I want to tell you why.

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What is the story of the movie Emily?

Young Emily is the unloved daughter of the Bronte family. They do not understand her, consider her strange, and call her right to her face helpless and useless. Despite this, Emily holds onto a dream of earning the love and approval of her pastor father after her mother’s passing. However, she finds that his affections are instead directed towards her sister Charlotte due to her perceived higher social standing.

Emily withdraws into herself and plunges into her romantic fantasies, into which she occasionally lets in her younger sister Anne and brother Branwell. It seems to her that there will be nothing interesting in her life.

A big test for Emily is the appearance in her house of a new vicar, William Weightman, who has dubious attention to almost every pretty girl in the area. Emily often repeats to herself that Weightman cannot be trusted, but she falls in love with him. Unfortunately, they both live in a world where such love cannot exist…

It is impossible to take your eyes off of actress Emma Mackey, who had the honor of playing Emily Brontë – such an appearance and temperament. You can’t help but fall in love with her, and you can’t blame the vicar. 

Emma is amazing and wild but internally more accessible than the educated Charlotte. Emily’s love seems sick, but did she see anything else? It’s painful to look at what’s happening, but apparently, the world doesn’t need it and is alien to people who differ from the dullness of the crowd. The actress plays excellently! The close-ups are amazing!

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Is Emily 2022 historically accurate? How old was Emily Brontë when she died? 

 It’s worth saying right away: filming about Emily Brontë is a thankless task. Less is known about her life than that of her sister Charlotte (author of Jane Eyre). Emily was the middle daughter in the family and had a secretive character. Those who knew her recalled that Emily did not like communicating with people and often did not speak more than two words in an evening. The young girl lived with her father and sisters in West Yorkshire, studied for some time in Brussels and wrote Wuthering Heights. And that’s probably all.

Researchers are inclined to believe that the real Emily Brontë did not have an affair with William Weightman. Anne Bronte was in love with him, but this feeling did not result in anything – William and Anne remained good friends.

Bronte’s father in the film is shown as a strict but fair man – but in reality, he was a tyrant who, by today’s standards, mocked the children: for example, he did not allow them unnecessary luxuries, including burning expensive shoes given to the girls, and in a rage, he could destroy furniture. 

Charlotte was critical of Wuthering Heights and characterized it as immoral, but her relationship with Emily was smooth despite their different characters. In the film, Charlotte is made into the main antagonist: from bright and independent, she is made limited, repressed, angry, and almost cruel.

Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were published in 1847, but Charlotte was the first to make a name for herself. She was the one who encouraged Emily and Anne (the author of The Stranger of Wilde Hall) to submit their work to the publisher.

But I liked the fictional plot twists. They are predictable and logical.

By the way, the heroine really died very early. Emily caught a cold at her brother’s funeral and died of consumption at 30.

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Where was Emily filmed? 

The nature in the film is genuinely wonderful! “Emily” was filmed in England, in Yorkshire and its environs. Despite the frequent rain, director Frances O’Connor remained faithful to the idea of filming in Yorkshire: all the landscapes and street scenes were filmed there. Also, some scenes were shot in Ireland.

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A girl walked through the swamps and then wrote a bestseller.

What immediately struck me about this film was that Emily is an introvert. She is the black sheep of the family and, in some way, lives with a feeling of misunderstanding. It resonates very much with my personality, and I was interested in how the girl’s fate would develop.

I understand Emily from the movie. She suffers from lovelessness. Anne, who comforted her, goes away to study. Her brother, Emily’s best friend, slowly grows into alcoholism and she can’t save him. The heroine dreams of making a difference but can’t. She wanders in the wilderness, making up sentimental stories about a captain in love. Emily writes poetry but doesn’t think of herself as talented. It’s loneliness in the family and a sense of powerlessness. But they are familiar to us all. The real Emily was only allowed to be irresponsible and daring in her creative endeavors. In the movie, Emily challenges everyone she knows and, according to the movie, doesn’t love.

This film is a gothic melodrama at its finest – beautiful people, pale faces, boiling emotions, deep despair, a slight melancholy, and passionate dialogues in French. The film’s visuals are stylish and don’t give you a chance to return to our time. Everything on the screen is shown so realistically. The costumes, locations, dresses, hairstyles, interiors, and music are amazingly harmonious on the screen. Take a closer look, and you will notice that her clothes are slightly darker than others, ideally set off by the colors of nature and the shine of candles.

And I especially want to mention nature. The stunning views emphasize the freedom of our heroine, her oddities, and profound experiences. Only nature allows Emily to breathe and suffocate from conventions. Her otherness makes her a black sheep among people, but nature, for her, is an environment where no one limits her fantasies.

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Three conflicts in the film caught my attention: self-acceptance vs. trying to live up to parent’s expectations, the need for trauma for creativity, and the search for a calling.

The film shows complex family relationships. How hard and lonely it was for Emily. Each of us can put ourselves in her place and will find many similarities. It was nice to see how my favorite novel was written. And to be honest, I found its atmosphere in this film.

The men in the film offer Emily three options – a father with obedience to rules and the importance of integration into society, a poetic vicar with a devout fear of God, and a good-for-nothing brother who communicates with quotes from Facebook.

It’s more complicated with William. It seems to me that he is the hero of Jane Austen’s novels rather than the Bronte sisters. He has neither restlessness nor the torment of a terrible secret nor, as it might seem, any exceptional metaphysical depth, which Emily has in abundance. In addition, he is blond, which is not welcome in Gothic. But it is with him that Emily begins a passionate and somewhat doomed romance, during which the girl is afraid of losing him, and he is scared of losing God. In the end, everyone loses everyone in the best traditions.

Also, the scene with the mask is a fantastic, true masterpiece!

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Final words.

Emily is a thoughtfully crafted cinematic work that explores the themes of restrictions, repressed desires, fears, and the fight to overcome them. This picture is an anthem of courage and liberty. In the end, it doesn’t matter what actually happened. It’s not about women but all of us who want to make a difference in our lives. Perhaps this was the life Emily yearned for – yet was unable to attain.

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