One more review of Emily

The Sydney Morning Herald gives 4 stars to Emily.

Frances O’Connor’s Emily Brontë biopic isn’t much interested in answering the questions: what, when, where and why. It assumes we already know so much about the Brontës and their work that she can jump straight into their story without the usual preliminaries.

Her main concern is “what if?” As the most enigmatic of the three Brontë sisters, Emily left no clues to account for the air of erotic intensity that animates the writing of Wuthering Heights, so O’Connor has felt free to fill in the gaps with inventions of her own. [...]

O’Connor has done well in conjuring up the emotional imperatives running beneath the proprieties of what is supposed to be a conventional 19th century household. There are plausible glimpses of the suppressed rivalry between the sisters and everybody worries about Branwell (Fionn Whitehead), whose recklessness makes him the most likely model for Wuthering Heights’ tortured hero.

None of this would work if Mackey had not been able to summon up the ferocious need for self-expression that brought Emily’s poetry and fiction into being. It’s not easy to portray a writer. It’s hardly the most dramatic of occupations. But there’s a febrile watchfulness in her performance that seems just right. (Sandra Hall)