Kevin Muller is back to review the 2022 film Emily. First time director and writer Frances O’Connor’s take on the mysterious Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights, has a star-making performance by Emma Mackey.

For 176 years, Emily Bronte’s most famous novel “Wuthering Heights” has stayed in the public mindset and English classrooms all around the world. In the novel, Bronte paints a realistic picture of how terrible people can become when love is involved. At the time, she was shunned by most of her peers for thinking these negative thoughts and was labeled as an eccentric. Unfortunately, outside of her one novel and some poetry, nothing is known about her. First time writer and director Frances O’ Connor conjures up a story with limited resources. Does it honor the famous literary rebel?

The film begins with Emily’s own sister, Charlotte, shunning her work and calling her an outcast. Emily is the black sheep of the family but has a deep understanding of the world around her and the people in it. This becomes apparent when the new clergy man, William Weightman, played nicely by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, arrives in town. All the young and single women are taken aback by his good looks and Oxford level education, except Emily. She sees him as a sheep; even going as far as making sheep noises at him when he is conducting a sermon. After a failed attempt at school, Emily is brought back to the town and is tutored by Weightman. At first, the independent thinker and the structured holy man butt heads, but then they begin to fall for each other.

Emma Mackey, who was in Netflix’s Sex Education, and last summer’s Barbie, is the MVP here for O’Connor. She physically fits into the Victorian era with her large expressive eyes that Mackey uses perfectly. Since Emily is a quiet introvert, Mackey uses this physical
feature to communicate love, disappoint, and anger, quite well. The actress seems to have fun at the times where it calls on her to play into a witty confrontation. She gives the famous author much depth. While the romance is the key ingredient to the film, the relationship with her
brother, Branwell, played by Fionn Whitehead, is just as good. Unlike her sisters, he appreciates Emily’s independent nature and encourages her to come out of her shell. While Mackey’s Emily is bold and sharp tongued, she also has a lot of vulnerability to her, due to the social restraints that women had at the time.

O’Connor sets up a precisely tailored world for Emily to develop in. The cinematography by Nanu Segal feels like a Victorian painting come to life. There is a scene where the tone different than the rest of the film, involving a party game amongst Emily, her siblings, and Weightman. Here, it seemed that O’Connor could’ve taken this in a very different direction. Aided by Segal, it conjures feelings of dread and uneasiness. Instead, that scene is a footnote in what becomes a typical Victorian romance. You know the kind: a headstrong female’s guard is taken down by the very man that she rebels against. There is nothing wrong with that plot. Everyone behind and in front of the camera does their jobs quite well, but a dive into who Bronte was would’ve been far more interesting. Instead, O’Connor both takes away her independence by making her feel like a typical trope and a chance for Mackey to dig deeper into the character. That said, she still gives it her all with what we are presented.

Despite the direction that O’Connor takes with her subject, it is a film that doesn’t seem like the work of a first timer. She has an eye for detail and gets worthy performances out of the cast. If you are looking for a Victorian romance, you will dig it, but if you are looking for something that could’ve went deeper, Emily is a missed opportunity.

I am giving Emily a 3.5 out of 5 Hairpieces!

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