Last night I went to see A Quiet Passion, an exquisite biopic about the life and work of Emily Dickinson. We meet Emily as a young girl (played by Emma Bell) rebelling against the strict confines of her school, Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary. Then she (played hereafter by Cynthia Nixon) returns to her home and family in Amherst, Massachusetts where she lives quietly and channels her overwhelming emotions into her poetry. The story is told through a series of vignettes, mostly consisting of conversations with her stern father (Keith Carradine), her melancholy mother (Joanna Bacon), her brother Austin (Duncan Duff), her beloved sister Lavinia (Jennifer Ehle), her unconventional friend Vryling Buffum (Catherine Bailey), and her long-suffering sister-in-law Susan (Jodhi May), and a voice-over of Nixon reading Dickinson's poetry. Because her life was so circumscribed, director Terence Davies imbues every single scene, even the most mundane shot of Emily sitting at her desk, with importance through beautiful composition and lighting. My favorite moment in the whole film is a 360 degree shot which begins with Emily silently reading then circles the room showing members of her family spending a quiet evening in the drawing room and then returns to Emily in despair. Nothing much is happening but it is beautifully shot and shows so much emotion. Most of the film can be described in this way but it is incredibly moving and engrossing because of Nixon's astonishing performance. She is able to convey all of Dickinson's innermost feelings with just an expression. I loved this film because I am a fan of Emily Dickinson's poetry and I love character-driven biographies about complicated people but it is definitely not for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment