'Emily' imagines Brontë before 'Wuthering Heights'

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. Our film critic, Justin Chang, has a review of the new movie "Emily," which he describes as a richly imagined portrait of the novelist Emily Bronte in the years before she wrote "Wuthering Heights." The movie stars Emma Mackey as Bronte and marks the directing debut of the actress Frances O'Connor. Here is Justin's review.

JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: Given that there are few activities less inherently cinematic than writing, I'm surprised and heartened by how many good movies I've seen in recent years that have convincingly entered the lives and minds of authors. I'm thinking of "A Quiet Passion," the Emily Dickinson biopic, and "Shirley," about "The Haunting Of Hill House" author Shirley Jackson. You don't spend a lot of time watching these women scribbling with their quills or banging away at their typewriters. But you do get a rich sense of how their artistic sensibilities came into being.

The latest fine addition to this group is "Emily," which freely speculates about the life of the 19th-century English writer Emily Jane Bronte in the years before she would write her one and only novel, "Wuthering Heights." The movie takes significant liberties with what is known about Emily and her famous sisters, Charlotte and Anne. But as a non-stickler for biopic accuracy, I didn't mind. True or false or somewhere in between, this is an engagingly detailed and emotionally truthful portrait of a family of artists. Every character and actor leaves a vivid impression.

Emily is strikingly played by Emma Mackey, the French British actor known for her work on the series "Sex Education." She was also the best thing in the recent remake of "Death On The Nile." Mackey has the kind of searing gaze that cuts right through any period piece decorum. And that makes her perfect for the sardonic, self-amused Emily. She's neither as sweet as her younger sister, Anne, nor as well-behaved as her older sister, Charlotte, who's memorably played by Alexandra Dowling. Charlotte is studying to be a teacher and wants Emily to do the same, mainly to please their strict clergyman father. But Emily's natural talent is for inventing stories and writing poetry, and also for speaking her mind with a boldness that leaves others unsettled. There's a dark side to Emily, and it emerges whenever she mentions her mother's long-ago death, something the others don't like to talk about.

Of all her siblings, Emily is probably closest to her fellow misfit brother, Branwell, an aspiring painter played by Fionn Whitehead. Their bond becomes even stronger after Branwell drops out of art school and sinks into alcoholism and opium addiction. One day, while they're walking the Yorkshire moors, she notices three words inked on his arm - freedom in thought, a creed that also becomes her own.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EMILY")

EMMA MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) Don't let Aunt B see that.

FIONN WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) I don't care if she sees it or not.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) Freedom in thought.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) Yes, but you can't say it, though. You have to shout it. (Shouting) Freedom in thought.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) What are you doing?

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) You try.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) No. You're being silly.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) I'm deadly serious. Come on.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) No. Someone might hear us.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) Yeah, they might. (Shouting) Freedom in thought. Freedom in thought. Try it.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) Freedom in thought.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) Oh, Pathetic attempt. (Shouting) Freedom in thought. Come on. Really get behind it.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte) Freedom in thought.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) Come on. Give it some welly. (Shouting) Freedom in thought.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte, shouting) Freedom in thought.

WHITEHEAD: (As Branwell Bronte) Emily Jane, I think Reverend Miller might have just fallen off his chair in the rectory. Good. (Shouting) Freedom in thought.

MACKEY: (As Emily Bronte, shouting) Freedom in thought.

CHANG: And so "Emily" tells a familiar-but-compelling story of a woman rebelling against the expectations of her religious and image conscious family. In her biggest breach of convention, she falls into a torrid romance with William Weightman, the handsome young curate who assists her father in his church duties. Emily and William, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, initially loathe each other, which makes it all the more affecting when they surrender to their passion. Their affair is clearly laying the narrative framework for the forbidden love between Catherine and Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights." That idea might sound overly simplistic, especially if, like me, you chafe at the notion that great art can only emerge from direct autobiographical experience. But even if the movie plays hard and loose with the facts - some have speculated that there was a romantic connection between Anne Bronte and William Weightman - Mackey and Jackson-Cohen bring so much heat and conviction that their love story sweeps you up in its wake. But as magnetic as Emily and William are together, their bond isn't the only one of note here.

I've rarely seen a movie this attuned to the emotional complexity of sibling relationships, especially between Charlotte and Emily, whose mutual exasperation never obscures the depths of their sisterly love. "Emily" marks an excellent writing and directing debut for the actor Frances O'Connor, who's appeared in her own share of English literary adaptations like "Mansfield Park" and "The Importance Of Being Earnest." Her witty-but-unfussy script is rife with echoes of "Wuthering Heights," which means it often plays like a ghost story. Much of the movie is set in dim candlelit interiors, including one terrifying scene in which an innocent game among the Bronte siblings becomes a disturbing kind of seance. O'Connor keeps her camera tightly fixed on Emily, even at her most anguished moments, when she seems to be teetering on the brink of madness. Maybe she is, but maybe it takes a little madness to create a work of art, including a movie as good as this one.

BIANCULLI: Justin Chang is the film critic of the LA Times. He reviewed the new film "Emily," now in theaters. On Monday's show, for President's Day, we speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Robert Caro about the life of Lyndon Johnson. To understand his subject, Caro moved to the Texas hill country for three years to meet friends and associates of Johnson from his early years. At age 87, Caro is still working on the last volume of his Johnson biography. I hope you can join us.

FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support by Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld and Al Banks. We'll close with this music by New Orleans rock 'n' roll pioneer Huey "Piano" Smith, who died Monday at the age of 89. He wrote and first performed this hit, which has been recorded by many others since. For Terry Gross, I'm David Bianculli.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCKIN' NUEMONIA AND THE BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU")

HUEY "PIANO" SMITH AND THE CLOWNS: (Singing) I want to jump, but I'm afraid I'll fall. I want to holler, but the joint's too small. Young man rhythm's got a hold of me too. I got a rocking pneumonia and a boogie woogie flu. Want some loving, baby, that ain't all. I want to kiss her but the gal's too tall. Young man rhythm's got a hold of me too. I got a rocking pneumonia and a boogie woogie flu. I want to scream. I want you all to know. I would be running but my feet's too slow. Young man rhythm's got a hold of me too. I got a rockin pneumonia and a boogie woogie flu. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.