This film is a dramatization of a little known side of the writer Emily Dickinson and her life. Supposedly, she had a relationship for a long time with sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert.
I have added this film to my list of very odd film productions!! I really don’t know what to believe is true and what is false? It seems the only way to determine the truth would be to read the 1955 publication of Emily’s complete poems. Since I am a realist and not a fan of poetry, I don’t intend to take on this challenge!! The bottom line is, this seems to not have made profit and what difference does it really make whether it is based on truth or fiction? This a comedy for entertainment purposes and I don’t think it succeeds in that goal!! I thought Molly Shannon in the role of Emily was overly dowdy in appearance!! 1 1/2* (I really didn’t like this movie)
84 min, Comedy directed and written by Madeleine Olnek with Molly Shannon, Susan Ziegler, Amy Seimetz, Brett Gelman, Jackie Monahan, Kevin Seal Dana Melanie, Joel Michaely, Sasha Frolova, Lisa Haas, Casper Andreas, Allison Lane, Robert McCaskill, David Albiero.
Note: Imdb 6* out of 10 with 695 reviews, Roger Ebert 3 1/2* Sheila O’Malley, Rotten Tomatoes 91% with 76 critics 57% audience with 66 ratings, Slant Magazine 3* out of 4* Pat Brown, Metacritic 7.4 out of 100 with 14 critic reviews (positive 12, mixed 2, negative 0), 5.9 out of 10 with 8 user scores (positive 4, mixed 3, negative 1), Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 125 reviews, Washington Post 2 1/2* Pat Padua.
Special Note: There is a review online of this movie by Barbara Stephens. “She writes that she has been reading and studying Emily Dickinson since she was a child. She is now 68 years old and she has also read Emily’s letters to Susan. There is a beautiful magazine article published about 10 years ago wherein they described how Emily wasn't the recluse she is always made out to be. She had a large, enclosed garden conservatory where she had many people visit and especially children. Barbara was saddened by this film's approach, believing it to be more a marketable than a true portrayal. She turned it off after 45 minutes. She gave it 2 stars because in spite of the story because it had good production values.” After Emily’s death, her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd. They both heavily edited the content and the name Susan was deliberately removed?? Dedications of poems to sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert were obliterated, presumably by Mabel Loomis Todd. A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time when scholar Thomas H. Johnson published The Poems of Emily Dickinson in 1955.”
Additional note from Wikipedia: “Dickinson was a prolific poet yet only 10 of her nearly 1800 poems were published in her lifetime? Many of her poems deal with death and immortality. These themes were also recurring topics in letters to her friends.
Financials: The opening weekend had a gross in the USA of $30,209 on 14 April 2019. The gross in the USA was $519,48 and the cumulative worldwide gross was also $519,48.
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