It was an act of either supreme bravery or utter cluelessness on the part of Terence Davies to make a biopic about Emily Dickinson. The "belle of Amherst" may have been a great writer, but any motion picture showing her life and work is automatically and severely challenged by her cloistered and reclusive existence. Since Dickinson hardly ever left her family's house for many years and saw very few visitors most of the time, there is almost no "motion" to portray in a film about her.
I suspect many viewers will find this film -- however beautiful to look at and however carefully wrought on the technical side -- insufferably slow and claustrophobic. One does not need to be addicted to big-budget movie chase scenes, violence and explosions to find "A Quiet Passion" trying on many levels.
One level on which the film is most trying is the almost relentless sadness and loss that pervade Emily's story. We see her genius go unrecognized and the frustration and bitterness that causes her; we see her father die; we see, even more graphically, her mother die; we see Emily's severe health problems and symptoms most graphically of all; and then we see Emily's death also. For most of the film it really is one calamity after another. The only relief amidst this dirge comes from a few comic interludes between Emily and a saucy neighbor named Vryling Buffam.
The acting is capable, although sometimes the 19th century dialogue is not well suited to the actors' temperaments. This seemed especially true in the case of Emma Bell who played the young Emily. Cynthia Nixon gives her all to the title role, even though the script does not always furnish her with the raw materials to show her delightful talent to its best advantage.
I'd really like to recommend "A Quiet Passion" because I believe very strongly in what the movie is trying to do, but my viewing experience was not what I'd hoped it would be. If you go, and I'm not exactly saying you shouldn't, it's best to know what you're getting yourself into. And now you know.
I suspect many viewers will find this film -- however beautiful to look at and however carefully wrought on the technical side -- insufferably slow and claustrophobic. One does not need to be addicted to big-budget movie chase scenes, violence and explosions to find "A Quiet Passion" trying on many levels.
One level on which the film is most trying is the almost relentless sadness and loss that pervade Emily's story. We see her genius go unrecognized and the frustration and bitterness that causes her; we see her father die; we see, even more graphically, her mother die; we see Emily's severe health problems and symptoms most graphically of all; and then we see Emily's death also. For most of the film it really is one calamity after another. The only relief amidst this dirge comes from a few comic interludes between Emily and a saucy neighbor named Vryling Buffam.
The acting is capable, although sometimes the 19th century dialogue is not well suited to the actors' temperaments. This seemed especially true in the case of Emma Bell who played the young Emily. Cynthia Nixon gives her all to the title role, even though the script does not always furnish her with the raw materials to show her delightful talent to its best advantage.
I'd really like to recommend "A Quiet Passion" because I believe very strongly in what the movie is trying to do, but my viewing experience was not what I'd hoped it would be. If you go, and I'm not exactly saying you shouldn't, it's best to know what you're getting yourself into. And now you know.