'A Quiet Passion' won't encourage viewers to seek out Emily Dickinson's poetry
Cynthia Nixon stars as a sour and embittered Emily Dickinson in Terence Davies's film.聽Jennifer Ehle as Emily鈥檚 sister and Keith Carradine as her indulgently authoritarian father help somewhat to thaw out the proceedings.
Cynthia Nixon stars as a sour and embittered Emily Dickinson in Terence Davies's film.聽Jennifer Ehle as Emily鈥檚 sister and Keith Carradine as her indulgently authoritarian father help somewhat to thaw out the proceedings.
Cynthia Nixon plays Emily Dickinson as a sour and embittered spinster in Terence Davies鈥檚 cold-as-ice 鈥淎 Quiet Passion,鈥� a movie that won鈥檛 encourage many in the audience to seek out Dickinson鈥檚 sublime poetry. The Emily of this movie seems to survive primarily to take everyone in her orbit to task. Davies is holding her up as the indomitable spirit of genius 鈥� a woman who suffers fools not at all.
I appreciate his desire to counteract the usual romantic cinematic clich茅s of divinely inspired tortured souls, but he鈥檚 overcorrected and created an anti-clich茅: the harridan as heroine. In supporting roles, Jennifer Ehle as Emily鈥檚 sister and Keith Carradine as her indulgently authoritarian father help somewhat to thaw out the proceedings. Grade:聽C (Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, disturbing images, and brief suggestive material.)