Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-06-17 (Monday)

On 6/18/24 8:46 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
 

. . .

 

Emily (Showtime via Pee+) - Been meaning to get to this 2022 bio pic of
Emily Bronte, starring Emma Mackey, for a while, and nothing on Tubi was
grabbing me last night, so I decided to watch this.
    Hey! This was written and directed by Frances O'Connor - I wasn't
sure she was still around!
    The problem here is that this begins with an out-of-sequence opening
scene (unnecessary), and is heavily, heavily fictionalized, making up a
lover for Emily (no mention of this anywhere in Bronte's biographies!!),
and gets basic details wrong, like implying that Charlotte Bronte didn't
write "Jane Eyre" until after Emily died (in fact, "Jane Eyre" was
published a month before "Wuthering Heights"!). They also in some places
make Charlotte the villain, which I didn't appreciate. And the film
completely downplays Anne Bronte's role in Emily's life, which is also
an unwelcome change.

 We knew all of this when the movie came out, about how it had nothing
whatsoever to do with her life. There was no reason not to W/Q this.

One thing I forgot to mention about all of this - apparently there is a 1946 movie about the Bronte starring Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino called "Devotion", that I have never seen or even heard of before! (I don't think they ever ran this on AMC back in the day!!)
Disappointingly, it is not available on any streamer currently (though it can be found in full on YouTube - I checked). Anyone know if this film has ever shown up on TCM?!...

    Mackey is good in the role though, and the film successfully
convinces you that Emily Bronte was an odd duck (in modern terms, you
have to wonder if she was "on the spectrum"...).