Netflix quietly adds ‘striking’ movie about beloved author

A ‘beautifully imagined portrait’ of the life of writer Emily Bronte is now available to watch on Netflix.

Released in 2022, the biographical drama Emily is a part-fictionalised take on the author, best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature.

During her life Bronte, who published under the pen name Ellis Bell, also wrote a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Despite her being one of the most celebrated English authors across history, her solitary nature while she was alive has made it difficult for biographers and historians to discover more about her.

It was said Emily never made any friends outside of her family and that she was unsociable and had an extremely shy nature. In 1848, at the age of 30, Bronte died from tuberculosis.

However, a few years ago the film Emily, which starred Sex Education’s Emma Mackey as the titular character, sought to shine a light on her life.

With little information to work with, it had to take creative licence to tell her story – including a fictional romantic relationship with the young curate William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

However, it was critically acclaimed and currently holds an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with its critics consensus reading: ‘With a bracingly irreverent approach to its story and Emma Mackey bringing Brontë vibrantly to life, Emily is a biopic that manages to feel true while taking entertaining creative liberties.’

‘A ravishing period drama that plays fast and loose with the facts in order to paint a portrait of the author that bleeds with the same heart-in-its-hands emotionality she had to suffuse into her work,’ IndieWire wrote in its review.

‘Led by a stunning Emma Mackey, Emily is a striking depiction of a woman embracing her individuality while crafting an iconic piece of literature,’ ScreenRant wrote.

‘Emily, pointedly, does not wallow in the misery we like to ascribe to her short and frequently tragic life. There is great buoyancy and humour in the film,’ The Independent added.

Meanwhile Metro’s review read: ‘Unevenly paced, but ravishing to the eye, it’s a movie that could be ripped from the pages of Vogue. The cinematography is sublime. Some bits work, others don’t so much. But it’s ambitious and almost painfully heartfelt. Less a movie and more a sensational example of Brontë fan fiction.’

In an interview with Metro, director Frances O’Connor said viewers shouldn’t expect an historical account of Bronte’s all-too-short life.

‘I’ve taken inspiration from certain elements from Wuthering Heights, and also the biographies that I read, and put those pieces together to create a narrative, which is not a biopic. It’s more like its own thing,’ she said.

Discussing the appeal of Brontë, she added: ‘She’s a mystery, we know so little about her – and I’m an introvert and this character is an introvert! She died when she was 30 and yet she wrote this gargantuan piece of work and there’s so much in it. You can kind of feel who she was through the novel.

‘She was somebody who suffered from things that just seemed very modern – she had social anxiety and she struggled with her sense of who she was, and her relationship with her sisters feels very real.’

Emily also stars Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling and Adrian Dunbar.

Although a letter from her publisher indicated that Emily had begun to write a second novel, the manuscript has never been found.

Emily is streaming on Netflix.

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