Emily Bronte - full documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2023
- What inspired 'Wuthering Heights'? In 'Search of Emily Bronte' - a film I made 20 years ago with former Culture Secretary, Chris Smith on a journey across the Yorkshire Moors to Haworth. With the help of authors Lucasta Miller and Stevie Davies, Chris finds the romantic myth of Emily as 'The Mystic of the Moors' hides a more complex and fascinating truth.
I was so lucky that the hugely talented Sarah Class agreed to write the music. Her beautiful and sensitive score enhanced our modestly budgeted film immeasurably. I'm delighted that Sarah's genius has just reached a worldwide audience after His Majesty, King Charles III, asked her to write a specially commissioned piece of music for his coronation. It was a triumph. You can enjoy more of her music here: / @sarahclassmusic
You may also recognise the voice of Hugh Bonneville as Mr Lockwood, in his pre 'Downton Abbey' Days! - บันเทิง
On a serious note poor Emily lost her mother two sisters, an aunt and her brother. That must have been devastating .
I think you make a very important point here, and it's something that Stevie Davies explores in her book on Emily. She takes issue with those who lazily assume that children would be somehow be more resilient in Victorian times, simply because the death of relatives was a more common experience. From memory, Stevie quotes the developmental experts on the crucial importance of the age of the child. Even though Emily was very very young when her mother died, it doesn't mean that she would have felt the loss any less, indeed it may have been far more traumatic than it would have been, say, at the age of seven or eight. Thanks for watching, and for your comment, Best Tim
She lost four sisters.
@@thisiswater9457Wasn’t Charlotte the last remaining sister?
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights stands head and shoulders above any other novel written then and since. Her poetry is mysterious and beautiful. Often Rebuked Yet Always Back Returning or The Visionary - who writes with that refinement? I hold her in the highest regard. She is iconic in the world of literature.
Agree with all your points! The poetry is wonderful and perhaps sometimes gets overshadowed by 'Withering Heights'. Thanks for watching and commenting, Best Tim
WH is similar to Poe's prose, i.e., more garrish Graveyard School gothic. Their poetry, however, was more "Night School" from Barbauld ( _A Summer Evening's Meditation_ ) and Novalis ( _Hymns to the Night_ ), i.e., a more refined Dark Muse (e.g., read E.B.'s _Stars_ or Poe's _Annabel Lee_ ). That's why I read and re-read her poetry, but won't bother with her book. Really, truly, E.B. rules my world.
Heathcliff was a dangerous, repulsive psychopath. I never understood why he was fluffed into a “romantic hero”.
Must have been all those movie versions.
It's puzzling isn't it, and I agree that films have played a significant role. It's pretty much impossible not to read the book through the prism of Wyler's 1939 film - even if you haven't seen it - because it left such a mark on popular culture. As for Heathcliff - he's no Olivier in Emily's description which is unsparing. For some reason I jib slightly at the word 'psychopath' and yet there's the unflinching portrait of his annoyance when he realises he's accidentally, on a reflex, saved the falling baby being dashed onto the stone flags of the floor.
Same here - Heathcliff was frightening & repellent , he had the personality of a serial killer in Emily’s novel, but never in the movies. When people claim to “love Wuthering Heights” I’m betting 89% are talking about the movie incarnation. And at least 30% have ONLY seen the movie & never actually read the book. 🙄
Emily Bronte was the most brilliant of the sisters. There is something fascinatingly mystical in her poems. Charlotte is great, but Emily is brilliant.
Like you, I love her poetry and feel that it sometimes doesn't get the attention it deserves because the novel is so immense and powerful and perhaps distracts people from the beauty and mystery of the seemingly simpler verse. I was glad we managed to include just a small hint of the poetry but I would love to have had more if we'd had time.
I love Anne's novels the best.
Throughout the decades of my life, I keep returning to Jane Eyre every so often, and each time, I am still surprised by its brilliance.
Nope, Charlotte is my favourite jn brilliance.
Totally agree 💯
Fascinating and brilliantly put together documentary. Emily had a more interesting and complex reality than I could have imagined.
Thanks Neville, I'm glad you enjoyed it
Can't stop reading wuthering heights love her poetry too
I agree - on both points. I was so glad we managed to fit some of Emily's poetry in the programme, even though time was limited. And I was just thinking that I haven't read the novel for a while which is an exciting prospect because each re-reading brings something new.
I have to confess that I didn't think twice about the church falling apart in the novel. I glossed right over it. In my defense, it is mentioned during a pretty heated passage and my attention was elsewhere, but, still, I missed an important bit of symbolism and, now, I agree it couldn't be random
Me neither! The documentary came about when I picked up a copy of Stevie Davies's book "Emily Bronte - Heretic" and was captivated by her insights. Like you, I found that there's so much in the book that you miss on first reading - simply because it's so intense and there's so much going on. Thanks for watching, Tim
Cât de mult seamănă domnișoara cu Emily Bronte, este colosal ! Mulțumim ! 🌠
Thank you! (And thanks to Google for the translation!). Yes, Claire's resemblance to the portrait is extraordinary and her interpretation of Emily's writings was mesmerising.
Greetings from Perth Western Australia. Thank you for a beautiful tribute to a remarkable person. You certainly did it justice, I enjoyed it very much. Beautifully presented and spoken.
You are so welcome
This is so kind of you to say, Amanda. Much appreciated. I'd loved the novel and her poems for many years and the process of researching the documentary and talking to Lucasta and Stevie just enriched my appreciation so much and I wanted to try to get some of that across.
Well done! There is so much here that hardly anyone knows.
A beautifully put together video. Have always been fascinated by the backstory of this lady and her family, having visited the Parsonage in Howarth on a number of occasions.
Thanks for your kind comments. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
A true work of art that will probably outlive its producer - well done!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Tim
Enjoyed this so much. My most favourite novel ever. Thank you.
You are most welcome
Thanks - that means a lot and it's great to know. Best Tim
These French-language essays actually throw some interesting light on Wuthering Heights. I don't see much contradiction between their more brutal view of Nature and the moor-worship of some characters in the novel. Yorkshire life as shown in the novel keeps people stuck in remote places with few companions, so they form very intense, often toxic interactions. The Lintons, who are actually fairly nice people, go there hoping for a quiet life close to Nature. That is...definitely not what happens and they would have been better off staying townies. Heathcliff and Catherine are very attached to their landscape, but that doesn't make them sweet and pure like some more conventional novels of the time would have portrayed them. Isabella marries Heathcliff expecting that kind of Romantic temperament, and readers know very well how that turned out.
Thanks for watching, and for posting this interesting comment! Tim
Excellent documentary! Many thanks.
Thanks Helen. Kind of you to say so, and thank you for watching, Tim
To live in such an isolated place must have taken great inner strength and belief that despite all the hustle bustle that life depends less on what is going on close-by, but rather what you share and the personality one projects and the understand one gains from the human condition. Not just to others but to everything. Thank you for an incredible coverage of a fascinating person who has contributed a much underappreciated novel of our times.
Thank you so much for your very kind comments. Despite the scepticism about "Bronte Country" that comes over in the film, I can't help wondering about the profound effect of the moors around the parsonage on Emily. The landscape has such a powerful effect on a visitor, even in the 21st century, that it must have been even more intense nearly 200 years ago.
It appears that isolation, death, and morbid thinking, too much imagination can warp a mind such as Emily Bronte.
Fascinating, thank you.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Many thanks, Tim (and do feel free to spread the word!)
I have read this book countless times since I was a young adult
Glad you enjoyed it young adult
Same here! It was fascinating to come back to it in my early forties when I put this piece together and to see how my view of it changed. Thanks for watching, Tim
A note on the water supply: the Brontes drank from a well behind the Parsonage above the graveyard, so their store did not pass through it. Her death is more likely to result from nursing the ailing Branwell and contacting tuberculosis, etc, from him.
Can I just say that I'm happy the House of Lords in England has such a wonderful member as the narrator of this documentary. It makes me happy.
Well done! 💜
Oh thanks for the feedback - it means a lot, Best Tim
Everyone who has read Withering Heights has a picture in their mind of Heathcliff. Dark rugged scowling. Oliver Reed sums him up perfectly for me.
I thought Ralph Fiennes was fantastic as Heathcliff in the 1992 film adoptation. From the physical description in the novel I thought Adrian Paul(Duncan McCloud in the "Highlander" TV series) would be a good candidate for Heathcliff. I remember reading in a Leeds newspaper a good number of years ago that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were going to play the star crossed lovers but obviously that never came to fruition. I also read a number of years ago that Natalie Portman(Star Wars,Black Swan & Thor) had signed up to play Cathy but became pregnant and again this proposed project never came to be.
Oliver Reed was sensational as Bill Sykes in "Oliver". It was as if he jumped off the page from the great Dickens classic the way he was described by the great author.
@@nancyfox9999 It's curious isn't it? Given that both Heathcliff and Mr Rochester are both described by their creators as not being conventionally handsome. Have you ever read Olivier's own account of working with the director William Wyler on WH? It's rueful and funny. He arrived in Hollywood with the arrogant belief that film was a second-rate medium and proceeded to deliver a full on theatrical interpretation of Heathcliff and after each take, Wyler's terse response was "Do less!". After days of this, Olivier exclaimed histrionically, "If I do any less, I won't be doing anything AT ALL!!". "Larry", Wyler replied, "you're beginning to get the idea!" To his credit, Olivier credited Wyler with teaching him how to act to a film camera and I think you can see the result - eg in his superb late-career portrayal of the shy and introverted Air Marshall Dowding in 'Battle of Britain' - where he practically does 'nothing at all'. And for me - maybe not for everyone - his great Shakespeare films haven't aged.
@@johnroche7541 Absolutely! Thank you for reminding me of that great performance and the huge sense of danger and menace he brought to the screen. I was lucky enough to meet Ken Russell not long before he died and he described Reed as the most naturally talented actor he'd ever worked with. Terrifying too! He openly confessed this to Reed who suggested that he reduce his directorial input to a 1-3 number system, proceeding to demonstrate what he meant with three progressively more menacing versions of the same speech. Henceforth, he'd turn to Russell before a scene and ask what he wanted and Russell would say something along the lines of "I think two, and maybe two-and-a-half at the end". I wonder if he might have made an interesting Heathcliff as Gemini2415 suggests above? That urbanity he could display alongside the danger might have worked
Heathcliff is violent, vengeful and heartless; he is selfish and neither he, nor Catherine know what love is - certainly not sacrificial love.
Emily Bronte is to also be found in the poetry she wrote
How very, very true. I've always loved the poetry and was glad we managed to fit some of it within the very cramped time allowance of this documentary, , Best, Tim
I saw a documentary that suggested Emily may have been autistic as she she didnt fit in, was very shy in social situations and was always wanting to be at home away from people. Perhaps this also could account for the different and honest way she saw and described the world?
Sounds as though she was an introvert, hardly autistic and after all the deaths in her life not surprising she wanted to stay at home where she felt safe.
More likely Highly Sensitive. Many genius writers are.
What a splendid documentary! Excellent work - it revealed so many things I didn't know about the Bronte's. Very fascinating!
Thanks so much for your kind comments. I experienced the same sense of revelation when making the documentary. Do feel free to share it!
The tenant of Wildfell Hall was my favourite novel. Anne Bronte.
A truly great novel and underrated!
Thank you for this documentary!
Dear Artemis - I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for taking the time to post a comment. Best, Tim
Thanks for posting, I missed this when it was first broadcast.
And I missed your kind comment! Thanks and apologies for my late acknowledgment, Tim
Thank you. This was excellent.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your kind words - Tim
All three sisters possessed genius. Branwell didn’t develop his.
Thankyou so much ❤
Your kind comment is much appreciated! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Tim
Wuthering Heights is a story that haunts me to my core. It portrays an unrelenting ugliness in humanity and I guess Emily understood such characterization natural in light of man being not much more than beast when whittled down.
I actually prefer Charlotte's steadfast loyalty to grace and goodness as the overarching supernatural quality which enables man's transcendence over beast. Emily's sheer talent is otherworldly though, and a testament to a transcendence as well. Wow.
Really interesting. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
A superior analysis of Emily traits I’m sure the minds eye sees in oneself
What a wonderful film - and, for me, discovery. I came to the Brontes in their own words (as opposed to films, plays, museum displays or whatever based on their work) late in life. But over the past couple of years I have read all their novels and taken much from each of them. So to come across this, featuring Chris Smith, who I knew (and worked with on housing and other issues) as a local councillor 40-odd years ago, was a treat. Thank you.
My favorite Bronte, i adore her ❤
I'd go along with that too. Perhaps Ann in second place? Or is that too controversial? Thanks for taking the time to comment, Tim
Thanks for the upload. It's a magical moment when you morph the portrait into the actress. By the way, autistic people often are very creative and different thinkers. Maybe that helps in understanding her.
Thank you. I met Claire quite by accident through a friend and was immediately struck by her resemblance of her profile to Branwell's famous portrait. Even so, nothing quite prepared us for the extraordinary shock of the video transition. I'm biased, of course, but I also felt it was more than a superficial resemblance when Claire was speaking Emily's words. She seemed to capture her rigour and intelligence. What you say about autism is very interesting. ASD has been on my mind for other reasons through the experience of a good friend. I hadn't considered it in relation to Emily before, and it's thought provoking. Thanks for the comments. Tim
@@MrTBrearley Absolutely, I felt her recital of High Waving Heather moves us a bit closer to Emily.
Very nicely done. I've always felt that out of all the Bronte sisters, Emily was the more interesting one, at least to my own romantic soul. Thank you for posting this.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. Much appreciated! Tim
Greetings! I found your program about Emily Bronte to be of great personal interest to me, most of all the segment on The Belgian Essays. I've studied about the Bronte sisters and their lives and works, and your program helped me gain a better understanding of her because of the three sisters she and her novel stood out the most to me. I've been on my own journey with the Brontes just like you've been on yours. Please write back sometime, I'd like to talk about it. Thanks, Phillip!
Thanks for your very kind comments. Yes, those essays were a revelation to me when I began research for the film, and my interest was prompted most by one of the many books written by Steve Davies who features in the film. I think more attention is being paid to them now. Have you read anything new?
Her view of life inspired Wuthering Heights. The ruins might have served as tiny catalyst, but she didnt need the ruins to write the book. People like Emily carry a great deal with them from past lives, inhabit the world in a very strong and particular way... People like Emily do not have to experience deep love in a given life to understand what it is, to have it inside, carry as part of themselves.
But they do need an anchor or they would float away, or, soak into the land (in her case). Her family was her anchor, imho, her brother and her sisters...
All Imho. Of course.
Like Emily Dickinson I think.
There is no such thing as past lives.
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 probably not, but who can tell?
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 yeah. There is. ❤️
I read Wuthering Heights, it is an exciting novel that shakes our thoughts and shows us the most violent emotions until we feel them real in us. Emily Brontë's poetry is peculiar, so infused with a burning love for life, for the minute descriptions of the wind through the trees, the rivers, death
Thanks for watching, and for leaving your thoughtful comment
Most interesting.
Thanks for your kind comment, and for watching the film, Apologies for the delay in replying but I had to have a hospital operation and am only now catching up. Incidentally, I've just added a bit in my intro, noting that Sarah Class who scored the music for the documentary was commissioned by King Charles to write a piece for his coronation and it's beautiful) Best Tim
I like her even more after watching this. I think we would be very good friends
I understand how nature can have an influence of your soul
Most enjoyable and sublime pondering.
Thanks for your kind comment. I must say it didn't feel very 'sublime' when we were struggling to fit in everything we wanted to say in a very short timespan! More time to ponder would have been great I felt, so it's good to know that you enjoyed it. Thanks again, Tim
Ah! could my hand unlock its chain,
How gladly would I watch it soar,
And ne'er regret and ne'er complain
To see its shining eyes no more.
But let me think that if to-day
It pines in cold captivity,
To-morrow both shall soar away,
Eternally, entirely Free.
Yes! So simple when set out - and so beautiful
I certainly understand Emily's persona
Living in that area I find nothing odd or strange in Emilys views on nature, I feel much the same way myself at times and delight in watching the changing seasons. The sky , so turbulent at times , seems like a vast ocean breaking on the shore of the moors. Dancing cotton grass, purple heather, and waving rushes lure you in. I do wonder though, if she had lived longer , would she have produced even greater works.
Hi Karen. I literally made a similar point to you in an earlier post. All us Bronte enthusiasts and fans will always wonder how Emily would have developed as a novelist if she had lived longer. In my earlier post I stated that in my humble opinion if Emily was prolific as her sister Charlotte,Jane Austen or George Eliot all her follow up works would be compared to "Wuthering Heights" as this was her first novel which was a complete masterpiece. Goodness me how could she follow up such a magnificent literary work of genius? We will always wonder. "Wuthering Heights" is probably the second greatest love story in English literature only behind Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juluet".
Hi Karen. As you know some modern novelists take a classic novel from English literature and either write a sequel or prequel to it. Have you read "Nelly Dean" by Alison Case which is her prequel to "Wuthering Heights"? It is a clever concept just like "The Wide Sargossa Sea" was a prequel to Jane Eyre.
She was so young when she died, I can't help thinking that she would have written more. I envy you living in that area! Thanks for watching, Tim
@@MrTBrearley No doubt Emily would have written more had she lived but goodness me she got it so right first time with a masterpiece in "Wuthering Heights". This would be the novel that any further novels that Emily wrote would be judged against had she lived and wrote more. We Bronte fans and enthusiasts will always wonder "what if Emily had lived and wrote more novels" but alas it was not meant to be. Remember the great English poet John Keats was only 25 when he died and Mozart just 35.
@MrTBrearley it's often wet, gloomy, and overcast ☁️ but when the sun shines, there is nowhere I would rather be.
Very interesting opinions 🤔
Emily I belive after watching this that she was a free spirit trapped within her home her soul untethered lose in the moors itself
Loose.
Most interesting, thank you.
Thanks Anne. Much appreciated, Tim
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks for your kind emojis! If I could find one representing 'take a bow' then I'd send it...
I really enjoyed chloe pirrie's performance of Emily in the film 'To walk invisible'
Thanks for your comment, which I've only just picked up. I'm going to check this film out!
Their father out lived his children
Unwise is the wayfarer that traverses the moors on a full moon.
Charlotte may have much to answer for. Emily was writing another book. What happened to it? It's obvious Charlotte considered herself the superior writer. Anne and Emily were unlearned? They were governess, and Emily both studied and taught abroad. And I know one thing, Emily never would have married a curate and quit writing.
Спасибо. Замечательно.
Gosh, Clare Barrett is ravishing. Can't take my eyes off her, her features are somewhere between Alexa Chung and Patricia Arquette.
Emily's "Wuthering Heights" is by far the most superior of all the Bronte novels a fact acknowledged by the great English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. It is probably the second greatest love story in English literature only behind Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet". Obviously all us Bronte enthusiasts and fans wish that Emily wrote more novels after "Wuthering Heights" and will always wonder how she would have developed as a novelist. However in my humble opinion I think if Emily was prolific as her sister Charlotte,Jane Austen or George Eliot all her works would have been compared to "Wuthering Heights" as her first novel was a complete masterpiece. Goodness me how could she follow "Wuthering Heights"? We will always wonder. I thought Ralph Fiennes was superb as Heathcliff in the 1992 film adoptation. I remember reading a piece in a Leeds newspaper a good number of years ago that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were going to be Heathcliff and Cathy in an adoptation but obviously that never came to fruition. I also read a number of years ago that Natalie Portman(Star Wars,Black Swan & Thor) was also going to be in an adoption as Cathy Earnshaw but she fell pregnant and again this proposed adaptation never came to fruition. Does anybody else remember reading or hearing about those proposed adoptions?
Ah! DID she write another novel? I remember researching the documentary and picking up the tantalising hints that she may have completed another manuscript and that Charlotte may have suppressed it. Tantalising! Thanks so much for watching, Tim
@@MrTBrearley We will never know how Emily would have developed as a novelist but her one & only novel "Wuthering Heights" was an absolute masterpiece and it would have been extremely difficult to follow it up. As you know some modern novelists have taken s great novel from English literature and have either written a prequel or sequel to it. Have you read "Nelly Dean" by Alison Case which is her prequel to "Wuthering Heights"? It is a clever concept just like "The Wide Sargossa Sea" was a prequel to "Jane Eyre".
I’m sure the death of her mother and sisters as well as the experience at school contributed to some of her cynicism and darkness seen in her writing cited here in this documentary.
It is ironic because what becomes of them is so tragic.
So like so many exceptional people, Emily was batshit crazy.😂
"To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful!" (Carl Jung). I just offer the thought.....! Thanks for watching, Tim
It's intetesting, people's views of Ms. Bronte. I never had to read that book, and didn't want to, once I heard all of the reviews. Far too deep and abstract.
❤
Thanks - glad you enjoyed it, Tim
Please note that we can only assume that Nelly tells Lockwood the truth about Heathcliff and Catherine.
What a very good point - thank you for making it. It made me reflect that Emily Bronte could almost be credited with creating the modern idea of the unreliable narrator with the many layers within the novel. Thanks for watching, Tim
I remember hearing the names of the Bronte sisters years and ages ago but I never really read any of them. I've recently stumbled upon them again by way of the Almighty TH-cam and its forever unerring strategy of recommendation that never tells me about video games and safety-surveillance over and over and over again, and now I'm thinking of seeing if I can find a copy of Wuthering Heights anywhere. Even if it is meant for girls and that I'm a boy.
Hi Richard, I think you may find Wuthering Heights works for boys as well as girls! Would be interested to know your reaction if you do give it a go. Thanks for watching, Tim
No mention of all of her overt mystical poetry. She was no anti-Christian.
I had my first kick from my daughter when I was pregnant in the graveyard at howarth
Wow. That must have been a moment!
Fantastic book. But just a book. A musing of a woman who wanted to set herself free from God. Heaven is heaven, hell is hell. There is no changing that.
*Nelly
kudos to all you say but surely Emily's main theme is, "Don't be a bitch like me." The daughter learns but the mother didn't. Read Mrs. Leavis.
The profile portrait is not of Emily but of Anne
E.B. can only be (barely) known through her poetry. You either "get" her poetry or you don't and shouldn't bother with her. For example: th-cam.com/video/wjxZ-VbUihI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=5eSlOu6ty4c_vb3r
Thanks for commenting. Interested in what you say, and I immediately checked other apparent images of Anne which made me wonder. The National Portrait Gallery have always claimed this to be Emily, but on what basis I don't know. Frustrating that an early photographer didn't make it to Haworth and take a daguerrotype!
I also love Emily Dickinson's poetry
Of course, as do I. They go together. Keats and Poe are their footmen.
E.B is my Bach, E.D. is my Mozart.
Runway Emily. LOL!
Not surprising that family was corrupt and warped - their father was a false teacher.
Praying for you I am....
?
"Nemmy Dean to tell us the truth"... Seriously?
Fair point! That slipped through in the script writing and shouldn't have done. She's a fascinating character in her own right and almost an early version of the unreliable narrator.
You don't even get her name right.
Charlotte had a dubious character...
One f*ng thing about Britain: They gave to the world: the Bronte Sisters, Jane Austin, Elizabeth I, yes, much to my chagrain: Thatcher!!!; the suffragettes, Agahat Christie, Princess Diana, okie okie Betty II, Julie Christie, the spice girls, Victoria Beckham (ok she is an spice, but..); NAOMI CAmpbell; Jane Austen, Miranda Hart!(of course there are many more, but, for now, my enebriated mind is all I can ....AMY Winehouse!!