An unsung heroine of American letters
A QUIET PASSION (12A, 125 mins)
BORN and raised in Massachusetts, where she spent most of her adult life and dying aged 55 in 1886, poet Emily Dickinson evaded fame in her reclusive lifetime.
A heavily edited first collection of her poetry emerged four years after her death and it was a further 65 years before her complete works were published, establishing her as one of the most important American writers of the 19th century.
Writer-director Terence Davies clearly feels a deep affinity with Dickinson and this labour of love paints a richly detailed portrait of a misunderstood woman. His script appropriates some of Emily’s own words, but is a fictional account that captures both her solemnity and caustic wit.
The film follows young Emily (Emma Bell) from her time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary to her later years (now played by Cynthia Nixon).
In early scenes, Emily’s reluctance to slavishly follow teachings – her soul is her own, not God’s – irritate her educators.
She returns home less than a year into her studies and repeatedly clashes with her father Edward (Keith Carradine).
He agrees, however, that Emily can write verse behind closed doors in the dead of night and she is published anonymously in the local paper.
Supported by her doting sister Vinnie (Jennifer Ehle), Emily settles into an almost hermetic existence at the family home, where she observes the minutiae of society life.
A Quiet Passion is wordy tribute to a trailblazer at odds with the prevailing era. Nixon’s mannered yet emotionally layered performance embraces her subject’s foibles and flaws, while Ehle brings warmth and optimism to her sibling, who appreciates Emily’s goodness and compassion – even when the writer can’t see it herself.