Review of A Quiet Passion (2016) by Morgan M — 17 Aug 2017

Directors must be very careful.

When they take the knife!

Underneath their fine incisions.

Stirs the culprit,-Life!

The movie is an example of Artificial Intelligence.

I was so looking forward to this movie. I read Emily Dickinson's biography, I studied her poems, I read her letters, but this movie just did not give any sense of what it was like to be Emily Dickinson- a huge disappointment.

And what a wasted opportunity. The scriptwriter didn't have to guess at her character: Emily wrote over 1000 poems where she charts the inner landscape of her imagination. She wrote even more letters, which were intelligent, playful, and revealing. In all her writing she communicates what it is like to be human-to be Emily Dickinson! The person who wrote 'the mere sense of living is joy enough' is hardly consistent with the character portrayed on screen.

- Nothing -A shaky interpretation of her life: portraying her as a radical, turning into a feminist and dissolving into a bitter old woman. How sad.

Even if you accept this interpretation, the script was artificial: constant exchange of witticisms recited out by ham actors. No consistent storyline. I couldn't empathise with any character. The scenes seemed to be contrived to create a platform for reading her poems or quotes. And the end, the scenes of Emily's illness were dragged out unnecessary and over acted.

The most shocking thing is that so many critics gave it such a high rating. I don't understand it. It surly it didn't meet many of the empirical standards that measure what constitutes a good movie:

Good Acting- No (The female actors were much better than the males. Austin: reminded me of an aging Bilbo Baggins).

Good Script - No (Real people do not exchange witticisms all day long).

Coherent, consistent and tells a story - No.

Good representation of the era - maybe (except the men looked comical).

Good cinematography - yes (except for the slow panning shots, were we were supposed to have something profound to think about, instead we were left wondering if there are more than 360 degrees in a circle.

Keeps the viewers engaged (No- I suffered a moment of Blank).

The critics' response smacks of a severe case of the Emperor's New Clothes.