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Emily (2022) - Film Review

Emma Mackey stars as the gothic horror novelist in her formative years.

By Ted RyanPublished about a year ago 4 min read
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Frances O'Connor makes her directorial and screenwriting debut which centres on the author of Wuthering Heights with Sex Education's Emily Mackey taking on the titular role.

The imagined life of one of the world’s most famous authors, Emily Brontë, as she finds her voice and writes the literary classic Wuthering Heights. Explore the relationships that inspired her – her raw, passionate sisterhood with Charlotte and Anne; her first aching, forbidden love for Weightman and her care for her maverick brother whom she idolises.

Initially, I was sceptical of watching this film. As this was marketed as a reimagined version of Emily’s life, I knew to that there would be a lot of creative licensing mixed with some historical facts. If you let go of any expectations of historical accuracy, this can easily be an enjoyable watch. Capturing more of Emily’s isolation on the Yorkshire moors, this plays out more like a love letter to her notorious novel.

Mackey is surprisingly well cast in this role. Emily is very much written to be a misfit and outsider, more comfortable with making up stories by herself. As historians have agreed that Emily was very much an introvert, this was a nice addition to the film.

However, this film was far too long for the actual arc of the story. Despite the gothic undertones, the film falls into familiar themes expected in a lot of modern coming of age movies. Emily Brontë with sex drugs and rock and roll. Not in that order, but that’s the jist of it. I think O’Connor’s intention of wanting to reinvent a modern feminist portrayal of the author actually misses the opportunity to explore how she was a feminist in her own way.

There’s very little focus on the Brontë family and instead we see Emily caught between two very different relationships. Her affection for her rebellious brother Branwell (played by Fionn Whitehead) and her forbidden romance with clergyman Weightman (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) — both are clearly intended to be counterparts for Heathcliff and Edgar.

This is where the film steadily began to lose me. As well as it never being confirmed William Weightman and Emily were ever romantically involved, this film totally changed Branwell’s character — completely omitting his volatile personality, addictions and the toll that took on the family, but instead portraying him as a sympathetic brotherly figure.

Historians have reported heavily on how Branwell’s behaviour made its way into each of his sister’s novels. In an article penned by University of Bristol’s Pam Lock, she notes the fear the spiral of their brother’s addiction impacted the family:

Branwell's spiralling addictions to drink and drugs transformed Haworth at times from a well-ordered home to a domestic prison isolated by shame and fear. His behaviour became so dangerous that his father felt compelled to insist they share a bedroom after Branwell drunkenly almost set fire to the house.

Branwell’s addiction is never addressed in Emily, which could have given Mackey and Whitehead some powerful material to play out this complex family dynamic. If this film was supposed to focus on this sibling relationship, the consequences of addiction should have been at the heart of that plot.

Aside from writing scenes that depicted almost scene for scene from Wuthering Heights, I feel this film simultaneously misses the point of the book. Cathy and Heathcliff never act on their feelings and spend their lives tortured by what could have been. There’s abuse, there’s betrayal, there’s deceit and almost everyone is horrible. This is pointed out on her deathbed, but I don’t think the characterisation of the Brontës and their lives capture that.

Also for a reimagined version of her life, this film completely disregarded the racial undertones of Wuthering Heights — with an entirely white cast, O’Connor could have easily written a fictional character to serve as a better counterpart for Heathcliff if Emily were to have a fictitious love affair or unrequited romance.

For the other Brontë family — whom we only see if Emily is in the room — are reduced to supporting roles. Despite great performances from Alexandra Dowling (Charlotte), Amelia Gething (Anne) and Adrian Dumbar (Patrick), I wanted to see much more of their respective storylines.

Although this was better than I expected, I still found it disappointing when I realised how much better this could have been. There’s so much historical evidence that could bulk up a strong screenplay and not reduce it down to cliche melodrama.

If anyone is looking for a more accurate portrayal of Emily and her sisters’ lives, I would highly recommend Sally Wainright’s To Walk Invisible (2016) — Chloe Pirrie’s performance as Emily is superb and sadly outshines Mackey’s.

My rating for Emily (2022) is ★★★½.

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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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