'And we write. What do we want? What is it for?'

Le Mag du Ciné (France) reviews Emily.

Baigné dans de grands paysages qui viennent donner un sens à son corps en mouvement, prêt au lâcher-prise, le film est un hymne plus qu’un récit linéaire. Emma MacKey interprète cette version d’Emily avec beaucoup de fougue, tout se lisant dans un souffle, une respiration, un regard à la caméra. Il ne s’agit pas d’une représentation de l’écrivaine à sa table de travail, souffrant forcément d’écrire. Ici, on écrit en soufflant les bougies et en ouvrant les fenêtres et c’est bien la vie, le vécu, les sensations, les erreurs qui sont le matériau des œuvres que nous ont laissé les héroïnes d’Emily. Des vies courtes mais célébrées comme des courses folles, des instants de partage, de révolte aussi, tout en explorant les relations de sororité et de complexité qui unissaient Charlotte, Emily et Anne. Ou encore les figures masculines du père et du frère, très opposées et contrebalancées par une histoire d’amour vécue en secret par Emily et perdue par ce secret même…

Emily restera à jamais à l’écran cette jeune fille qui voulait tout vivre, tout brûler, trouver sa voix et dont le récit mêle son roman et des éléments, peu connus et mystérieux, de sa vie. (Chloé Margueritte) (Translation)

And so does Riecks Film Kritiken (Germany).

Emily ist ein sehr stimmiges Gesamtkunstwerk, dass uns einen mitreißenden Einblick in das Leben von Emily Brontë und ihren Schwestern vermittelt. Der Film lebt von seiner großartigen Optik, einem stimmungsvollen Soundtrack, das große Highlight ist allerdings Emma Mackey. Die Schauspielerin füllt ihre Figur mit einer immensen emotionalen Tiefe. Wir bekommen ein Gefühl für die inneren Kämpfe, die Brontë ständig mit sich austragen musste. Der Film sendet dabei wichtige Botschaften der Emanzipation und ist trotz seiner Handlungsepoche wahnsinnig aktuell. Mit seinen knapp 130 Minuten hat Frances O’Connors Regiedebut zwar ein paar Längen, wenn man diese durchsteht und über die kreativen Freiheiten des Drehbuchs hinwegsehen kann, wird man mit einem wunderschönen Film belohnt. (Christian Plaumann) (Translation)

Backstage recommends the 'Best Monologues for UK Drama School Auditions' and one of them is a memorable one from Polly Teale's Brontë.

Brontë by Polly Teale: Anne

Who: Anne Brontë is the youngest of three brilliant sisters in this partly historical, partly imaginative drama. 

What’s going on: Anne is speaking to her sisters, Emily and Charlotte; they are her closest friends and the only people in the world who understand her. That context is important, because the question of why she chooses to write has to be understood alongside the fact that it’s a form of escape for all three siblings. As women in 19th-century Yorkshire, they’re hemmed in by strictly defined social roles, as well as their isolated location. Keep in mind that since Anne is speaking to her family, she doesn’t have to worry about social mores. 

Tips: Anne suggests that to write about the world is to also isolate yourself from it—to describe it rather than live in it. She no longer goes for walks in the woods for her own sake, but as research for her novel. 

Does Anne actually want to give up writing in order to “just be”? And can she, even if she wants to? And what is she asking of her sisters? By suggesting they should have done socially impactful work, is she seeking reassurance that the act of writing has meaning? You’ll also need to decide how aware Anne is of her own bottled-up emotions.

Lastly, although there’s no need to put on a Yorkshire accent, don’t make the mistake many do: “Keighley” is pronounced KEETH-LEE. 

The speech:

Do you ever wonder what our lives would have been had we not put pen to paper? Had we never been afflicted by that curious condition which must have you turn your life into words. Yesterday coming back from Keighley through the wood, I was looking at the tree’s, at the Autumn light and trying to describe it for it is Autumn in my story. When I came upon the blackberry pickers, they sang as they worked. There’s not a soul amongst them that can read or write and yet I thought I would give anything to be one of them. To be part of that great thrum of life and activity, to see the fruit of your labours in front of you at the end of the day, to know that it would be of use to others. They stopped when they saw me watching, they took off their hats and nodded and I knew they wanted me gone. It was not a performance, the singing was not for me or anyone else, it was for its own sake. Like breathing they did it without knowing. They didn’t need anyone to hear. Why do we need someone to hear us, why is it not enough to be? Why do we do it? And why us? Why always? As far back as I can remember, I used to think that we could change things. That by telling the truth we could make a better world. There are people living in poverty and in terrible injustice and suffering. And we write. What do we want? What is it for? (Laurence Cook)

Daily Mail asks bookish questions to writer Louise Kennedy.

. . . left you cold?

[...] I was arguably too cynical when I got around to the Brontës. I adored Jane Eyre until I read the words, ‘Reader, I married him’. I hated it after that. As for Wuthering Heights. Demented. Far better to play the Kate Bush song loudly while doing cartwheels.

DL News (Brazil) has an article on women writers which mentions the Brontës. The Conversation (France) has an article on the Brontë myth and the sisters' influence on pop culture.