Emily Brontë remains one of the most mysterious figures in world literature. When she died at the age of 30 in 1848, she had written one novel and a sheaf of poems. The poems were immediately acclaimed for their “genius” but are little read today. The novel,, is a classic for the ages, being constantly rediscovered by each new generation.
O’Connor, who has also written the script, has taken hints and suggestions from the accounts of the Brontës to create a romance that will seem more or less plausible, depending on how much one already knows about the subject. As a large part of a writer’s life is spent sitting in a room writing, with a biopic there’s always a temptation to make the other bits seem more dramatic by way of compensation.
William Weightman was clearly a flirt, but if anyone took the bait it was Charlotte rather than Emily.