Review: 'Emily' brings 'Wuthering Heights' author to life

Emma Mackey fully commands the screen in "Emily," playing "Wuthering Heights" author Emily Brontë and reinventing her myth.

Or rather, inventing it from the ground up: Historically, not much is known of Brontë, who was said to be reclusive and lived a rather quiet life before her death at age 30. So actress and first-time writer-director Frances O'Connor ("Madame Bovary," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence") plays with the unknown and styles her Emily as a wild card: a passionate lover who gets high on opium and tattoos the words "freedom in thought" across her arm, things that almost certainly were not true but speak to the spirit of Brontë's words and the depth of her writing.

O'Connor does this within the boundaries of a period biopic, without updating the setting, language or attitudes to modern times. Her approach is radical while still subtle, a sort of fan fiction approach to a literary hero.

Mackey plays her with fire, her eyes piercing and her soul lit from inside. She has a rocky relationship with her older sister Charlotte (Alexandra Dowling), author of "Jane Eyre" — clearly a spirit of competition ran in the family — and has the hots for a priest (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who inspires what will eventually become "Wuthering Heights."

O'Connor's swings — there's also an extended sequence with a mask that brings up themes of séance and possession — go a long way toward bringing Brontë to life in ways a straightforward biopic would not. It's a delicate balance and not everyone is up to such artistic reinterpretation. But here, O'Connor and Mackey together bring their subject to new heights.

'Emily'

GRADE: B

Rated R: for some sexuality/nudity and drug use

Running time: 130 minutes

In theaters

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama