'Part British romcom, part Jane Eyre, and one hundred percent enjoyable'

Doorbraak (Belgium) gives Emily 3 stars.

Met een panoramische, lyrische cinematografie van Nanu Segal en een Michael Nyman-achtige score van Abel Korzeniowski slaagt Emily erin ons in een Moors-sfeer te brengen. Zonder woorden worden flarden geschiedenis voor ons geresumeerd, zoals Emily’s verblijf in Brussel en haar onvermogen om gewoon les te geven zoals zus Charlotte.

De film breekt duidelijk met het mythische verlegen, zieke eenzaat cliché en toont ons een Emily, de ‘strange one’, de dichteres die niet past in het keurslijf dat haar familie en de burgerij van haar dorp Haworth haar willen opleggen. Dat wordt vooral duidelijk in een sleutelscène: het raad-eens-wie-ik-ben-spel. Met het masker van zijn overleden vrouw dat vader Brontë (Adrian Dunbar) heeft opgediept, speelt Charlotte eerst Marie-Antoinette.

Emily weigert echter het masker te dragen. Wanneer ze het uiteindelijk toch doet, wordt ze haar eigen moeder en reageert de woeste natuur in pure gothic-stijl. Met zo’n masker kan de introverte romanschrijfster een Heathcliff worden! En was die hypothetische liefdesrelatie met de dominee overbodig geweest: ‘Fantasie is het oog van de ziel’. Emily’s Amerikaanse naam- en tijdgenote Emily Dickinson zou twaalf jaar na Brontës dood haar gedicht I’m “wife”—I’ve finished that schrijven: ‘I’m “wife”—I’ve finished that—That other state—I’m Czar—I’m “Woman” now—It’s safer so.’ (Karel Deburchgrave) (Translation)

Crime Reads lists '5 Deliciously Dark Novels that Explore the Sinister Side of Marriage' and one of them is

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Although widely regarded as a feminist drama, I think The Tenant of Wildfell also has a thriller-ish quality to it, and is probably my favourite Brontë novel. Charlotte Brontë disliked the book because of its radical subject matter and prevented its republication until 1854. When a mysterious and beautiful young woman moves into Wildfell Hall, Gilbert Markham is intrigued by her and decides to find out her secret. Told through a series of letters and diary entries, it’s a powerful, shocking, and in some ways, quite modern story of an oppressive marriage. (Azma Dar)

The Saturday Evening Post's book recommendations include

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs. Yup, the same Susanna Hoffs who plays guitar and sings in The Bangles. Tom Perrotta describes this novel as “part British romcom, part Jane Eyre, and one hundred percent enjoyable.” (Bob Sassone)

And The Times features Susanna Hoffs herself.

In the early Nineties her anglophilia went up a gear. With the Bangles on hiatus for much of that decade she formed a British Sixties pop pastiche band called Ming Tea with some guy called Mike Myers. They adopted pseudonyms — she was Gillian Shagwell, Myers was Austin Powers.

“It was a way to workshop the Austin character,” she says. In 1997 came Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, the first of three films, with Hoffs on the soundtrack and Roach directing. Now the heroine of her novel is a lover of all things British, from Jane Eyre to the Zombies. (Ed Potton)

 What Hi-Fi? lists the best songs to test your speakers:

Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, 1978

Did you know that Bush shares a birthday with Emily Brontë, author of the novel which inspired Bush's debut single? Bush wrote the song aged just 18, after watching a BBC adaptation of Wuthering Heights. 

Twinkling keys, chimes, and Bush's ethereal soprano stylings aside, what's remarkable here is that Bush recorded her vocal in a single take – and even through the most agile and revealing of systems, it is flawless. Apparently, engineer Jon Kelly later regretted not placing the electric guitar solo louder in the mix. Have a listen; see if you agree. (Becky Scarrott)