I can personally boast that I saw “something” in actress Emma Mackey that was far bigger than her role as Maeve Wiley in the Netflix series, Sex Education. She has such a presence and intellectual brooding about her, I knew she was bound for bigger things. And she is, starring in the new movie, Emily, an imagined version of what inspired author Emily Brontë to write Wuthering Heights.
Mackey is absolutely the highlight of the film, playing a young woman haunted by the death of her mother but not allowed to speak of her with her sisters or to her father. Suppressed, depressed, and repressed, you just know something’s gonna blow with this young woman and it does, in a variety of ways. Sometimes-crushing social anxiety mixes with her desires to become a writer and her growing passion for a clergyman, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who is even more pent up than she is. Of course, in true bodice-ripping, can’t-hold-out-any-longer form, they get together. And together. And together. Until they don’t. Through it all, Mackey can say more with her face than a script-full of words.
Mix in love-resent relationships with her siblings, desire to simultaneously fit in with and break free from societal norms of the time (did I mention “pent up”?), and it’s a recipe for pensive Emily to burst forth.
Reasons to see Emily
Beautiful scenery, including green, rolling hills which were true to the locale but also practically a requisite in a movie like this (think Pride and Prejudice).
To be reminded that people used to have to walk, and walk, and walk to the store, church, and to pay a visit to someone. Imagine all of that fresh air and exercise which was just a normal part of their day and not an effort to “unplug” and “get outside.” You strolled to socialize, to get from place A to place B, and to amuse oneself. Include some time reading, painting, and fiddling with blades of grass while looking off into the distance and it sounds really delightful and like something we should all do more of.
Although the movie Emily is an imagined storyline that led the author to write Wuthering Heights, relinquish yourself to the possibility of it all and have greater appreciation of the angst-ridden, beautiful novel. There’s no way the sisters could have written like they did and not have gone through a pained and rigid life with joys mixed in, in contrast.
Reasons you might not want to see Emily
The editing is choppy in places with some scenes seeming to have been cut out completely leaving us asking, “Wait, did I miss something?”
Between the frequent whispering and English accents, it can be difficult to understand parts of the movie, leaving us asking, “Wait, what?”
For all of its reasons to see, and not to see the movie, Emily does make you want to read the works of the three sisters. It’s fascinating that three famous authors came out of one family, not to mention that they were all women. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, one of the most beloved novels. Charlotte is famous for Jane Eyre, and Ann wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works.
Bleecker Street releases Emily nationwide on Friday, February 24, 2023, including in the below area theatre(s) in Colorado:
Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake 8
Westminster Promenade 24
Chinese Arapahoe Crossing 16
Highlands Ranch 24
Flatiron Crossing 14
Harkins Arvada 14
Please note: This article contains a link to Amazon.com. InGoodTasteDenver.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn a small amount of advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com while providing convenience for the reader. This in no way effects the prices of any products you may purchase in conjunction with this link.
Comments are closed.