Emma Mackey in Emily: the star of Sex Education in a moving portrait of a woman

Major novelists of the 19th century, the Brontë sisters fascinate for several reasons. The first, because these young women succeeded in establishing themselves and becoming famous authors despite the social conventions of the time, which left little room for women artists. Then, Charlotte, Emily and Anne all wrote works that marked Anglo-Saxon literature, finally because the Brontë siblings (their brother Branwell was a painter) died prematurely.

Branwell and Emily both died in 1848 at the age of 31 and 30, Anne died the following year at age 29 while Charlotte died a few years later, in 1855, at the age of 38.

At the time, these tragic disappearances are explained by tuberculosis. But a few years later, the water in the town of Haworth, where the family lived, was implicated. Herschel Babbage issues a report in which he states that the excess mortality of the town located in West Yorkshire is due to sewage. The toilets, garbage and poor maintenance of the cemetery would have infected the water tables.

Today, Frances O’Connor paints the portrait of the youngest of the Brontë family, Emily. Less famous than its elder Charlotte, to whom we owe Jane Eyre And “Shirley”Emily has written several poems and a single novel: “The Wuthering Heights“, whose critical reception was mixed when it was released. Described as solitary, rebellious and fierce, Emily Brontë would not be recognized as a talented novelist until the end of the 19th century.

“The Wuthering Heights” has been adapted for the big screen many times: in 1939 by William Wyler, in 1985 by Jacques Rivette, in 1988 by Yoshishige Yoshida, in 1992 by Peter Kosminsky and in 2012 by Andrea Arnold. Note that in 1979, André Téchiné brought the life of the Brontë Sisters to the screen with Marie-France Pisier, Isabelle Adjani and Isabelle Huppert in the title roles.

Celebrate the woman behind the work

For her first film, Australian actress Frances O’Connor chose to portray Emily Brontë. She explains to the site Screening which made him want to bring Emily’s life to the screen.

“When I was 15, I read Wuthering Heights on a school bus. I remember getting off the bus and feeling like I had gone somewhere – this sort of supernatural atmosphere … This beautiful gothic landscape and these rebellious characters in the middle of it all, while being so much themselves. It really corresponded to the angst I felt when I was 15 years old.

Then, growing up, reading her poems and learning a bit more about her, I found her to be very inspiring. She was an introvert, she was incredibly smart, and she wrote this amazing novel when she was 27.

I really wanted to tell a story that celebrates who she was. I wanted to put her story in the center and explore the themes that interested me, namely female authenticity and the female voice.”

Wild Bunch

Because the strength of this film that the filmmaker has been carrying for 10 years, is that it paints the portrait of an independent, solitary, rebellious and feminist woman. Qualities which were, in the 19th century, considered as faults. Emily Brontë is a modern and strong heroine who has nothing to envy to the heroines of the novels.

A film between reality and fiction

Nevertheless, very few elements on the young woman have come down to us. Frances O’Connor wanted to show what Emily Brontë had to go through to write “The Wuthering Heights” and become a recognized poetess during the few years that her life lasted. The screenwriter and director has therefore mixed reality and fiction, in particular with regard to the love story between Emily and the vicar William Weightman.

O’Connor thus declares to the site ThatShelf : “The timeline of the movie is pretty accurate when it comes to her going to school and the fact that she literally couldn’t get away from home without getting sick. So she really wandered around the parsonage with Branwell (Brontë) and (William) Weightman, her father’s vicar, and herself for about two years.

Wild Bunch

This raises the question of what happened during this period. I don’t really think she had an affair, but I think thematically it worked very well as an example of a young woman experimenting to find out who she is. But also because Weightman was part of the patriarchy while having this feminine and poetic side that we see in his sermons.“

Emma Mackey: a rebellious and modern heroine

And it is the Franco-British actress Emma Mackey, discovered thanks to the series Sex Education, who slips into the skin of the novelist.

From almost every shot, Emma Mackey illuminates and captivates. His intense gaze and his restrained acting give his skin-deep character a special aura.

The director explains her choice:Emma was one of the first people to audition. She was perfect, she has a wild energy, is endowed with great intelligence, and is obviously very beautiful, but everything is felt beyond the appearance too. We continued to search, however, but I always came back to Emma.”

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For her part Emma Mackay declares to the magazine Harper’s Bazaar : “I knew about the Brontë sisters and their works, but found out most of what I needed to know by reading the biographies and researching the role.e.”

She then explains about the fictional part of the feature film: “When I realized that there were a lot of historical discrepancies and a lot of things that weren’t factual, I kind of had to reacquaint my preconceptions about the Bronte story and the Emily story. .

I had imagined it to be a biopic, and when I entered the film, I realized that it was not.”

Wild Bunch

She adds : “I am satisfied with the end result. The film is not stuck in a specific structure or a particular system of cinematic rules, and I appreciate that. I like that pretty quickly we’re blurring the lines and playing with the genre a bit, moving towards a more supernatural side.”

Emma Mackey shares the poster of Emily with Alexandra Dowling who plays Charlotte, Amelia Gething is Anne while Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) plays Branwell and Oliver Jackson-Cohen seen in the series The Haunting of Hill House / Bly Manor and in Invisible Man is Vicar William Weightman.

Presented in competition at the Dinard British Film Festival in 2022, the feature film received 3 awards: the Golden Hitchcock, the festival’s grand prize, the audience award and the award for best performance for Emma Mackey.

This modern and moving costume film is to be seen in theaters this Wednesday, March 15.