To Walk Invisible
by Sally Wainwright
BBC Wales
Monday night, The Bitches gathered around our TV sets to watch To Walk Invisible, a PBS drama about the Brontë siblings. Since we all live in different time zones, we gathered around our individual sets, but there was still a certain camaraderie in the air as we asked each other, “Why do these children have flaming halos over their heads?” and yelled, “Branwell, you ass!” at our screens.
The Brontës were a brilliant but troubled family beset with loss. Originally there were six Brontë siblings: Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell (who was always called ‘Branwell’ to differentiate him from his father, Patrick), Emily, and Anne. Their mother died when the oldest child, Maria, was only seven years old and Anne, the youngest, was a baby. Maria and Elizabeth died in boarding school (the model for Lowood in Charlotte’s Jane Eyre) when they were eleven and ten, respectively. Because of their early deaths, when people refer to The Brontë siblings, they are usually referring to Charlotte, Branwell, Anne, and Emily.
Branwell trained as a painter and was a published poet, but his real vocation was drinking himself to death as rapidly as possible. Charlotte wrote several novels, of which Jane Eyre remains the most famous. Anne wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. All of the siblings except for Charlotte died of tuberculosis complicated by terrible hygiene (the town’s water supply was contaminated by runoff from the graveyard), as well as alcoholism on Branwell’s part and possible anorexia on the part of the sisters. Charlotte lived the longest, dying in pregnancy at the age of 38 – possibly in part due to complications from tuberculosis or typhus, as well as hyperemesis gravidarum, which is basically morning sickness from Hell.
The literary work of the sisters has endured, with the books considered to be classics. Their mystique endures as well, as few can resist wondering about an insular household of socially awkward people who produced passionate works of art while coughing on each other.
The movie begins with a few short scenes showing that the Bronte siblings were imaginative and noisy, and then jumps ahead to their adulthood. The bulk of the story runs from 1845, when Branwell was dismissed from a tutoring position, to 1848, when Branwell died of alcoholism, opium addiction, and tuberculosis. During this time, the sisters (Charlotte, Anne, and Emily) try to publish their writing since they realize that Branwell will not be able to provide for them after their father dies.
As a movie, this falls pretty flat. It doesn’t have much structure or plot. As a biopic, it seemed lacking in details to me. I kept filling in gaps for my family – a great deal is implied or omitted. I felt as though a substantial portion of the movie must have been edited out, yet at the same time it dragged slowly on. As a costume drama, it’s glorious, save for the fact that the sisters have a large assortment of very nice dresses whereas in real life they would have had very few dresses and their dresses were usually hand-me-downs. Charlotte’s wide skirt, which makes for some lovely film shots, wouldn’t have actually shown up until the 1850s.
The film works best for me as a visual aid – a guide through what the Parsonage would have looked like in color, and a guide to the village and the moors. The cinematography is lovely and the casting is impeccable. The sisters look and act just perfectly, with a great deal of worry and passion and no glamour whatsoever. Even though I never met Charlotte Bronte, I felt that I could recognize her resting bitch face from miles away, and Emily was a wonderful mix of steeliness and fragility. Even the dogs were perfectly cast. If you are already a Bronte fan, then you’ll be pleased to know that Anne’s dog (Flossy) and Emily’s dog (Keeper) are well represented.
“Is that dog eating at the table?”
The sisters, in unison: “Noooooo.”
As an only child, I’m fascinated by sibling dynamics, and the sibling dynamics felt real in this movie, from Emily’s outrage that someone touched her things (“I’m getting a LOCK!”) to the close bond between Emily and Anne who were closest in age, to Charlotte being bossy (and the most worried) because she’s the oldest (“Not even really the oldest! Accidentally the oldest!”). As the child of an alcoholic, I could relate all too well to the father’s struggles with Branwell, and the sisters’ alternating moods of fury towards Branwell and tenderness and compassion for his wrecked state.
RHG: I am not very familiar with the life story of the Brontës – hell, I wasn’t aware there was a third one until maybe a few years ago, so I was going in fairly blind. I knew about the drinking of the cemetery water, though. Carrie makes sure we know the important parts.
It took a while for me to sort out which sister was which- I’m not familiar with the actresses, so I couldn’t rely on that to sort it out. But the thing that disappointed me the most about this biopic was that while it was ostensibly about the Brontë sisters, it was mostly about the Brontë Brother and what a useless person he was.
They couldn’t film in the actual parsonage, so they built a replica, which was VERY cool, and I enjoyed the costumes – especially as their financial prospects improved due to the success of the books, so did their clothes.
I also very much liked Chloe Pirrie’s Emily, but I ADORED Finn Atkins as Charlotte. There’s a scene where she and Anne go to London to sort out a problem with their publisher, who doesn’t know the Authors Bell (their pen names were Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell), are women, and she throws down her bona fides with the heavy implication that if he does not believe her, she will EAT HIS FACE. It’s a fantastic scene.
And then there’s the epilogue, where the camera takes us through the Brontë Parsonage and then sweeps through the gift shop for over a minute, just to make it clear that the queens of Victorian Lit have their due. With capitalism on the side. I get the sentiment, but the gift shop? Really?
CarrieS: In conclusion, RHG and I felt this was a solid effort but not a very cohesive story – C+.
Also the Bitches were united in raising their voices one more time to say, “Branwell, you ASS.”
You can watch it online until 4/9, buy it from iTunes starting now, and it’s out on DVD on 4/11.
One of my high school term papers was on all four of the Bronte siblings. I was especially intrigued at how creative they were as children and that they created such an extensive, imaginative world.
Can you rec something better? I didn’t know their fascinating backstory and would like to watch something better…
I’ve been fascinated by the Bronte siblings since I wrote a term paper on my them in high school. They were a fascinating dysfunctional family. Wish the movie had been better. But, yes, Branwell was an ass!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/world-book-club/id263658343?mt=2&i=1000368469721
That’s the link to the BBC world book club episode on Jane Eyre. They talk about Charlotte enough that I thought I’d pass this along. I found out some things about her I hadn’t previously known.
Watching this sent me scurrying to Google and Wikipedia, as my knowledge of their lives was scant. Now, better informed, it’s such a pity the sisters died so young. I should have turned on CC (if I could have figured out how to turn it off then) because I didn’t understand about one-quarter of the dialogue. Got the gist though. As to Branwell… what a waste.
“…few can resist wondering about an insular household of socially awkward people who produced passionate works of art while coughing on each other.”
FALLS OVER DED WITH LAUGHTER. DED, I tell you!!
The Brontes were my least favorite Victorian authors but I’m interested in watching this picture concerning their lives and why they wrote such dire literature. In college, I almost challenged my English Lit teacher to a fist fight when he said Heathcliff was one of the great romantic heroes of all time. NO HE’S NOT, but I digress.
Anyway, thank you for the review and I’m off to watch online.
After trying to watch this beautiful production, at the end, I wanted to kill myself. I reverberated between absolute pity for Bramwell and a desire to drop him into the river. I don’t know why Masterpiece Theater doesn’t set up subtitles for those of us who can’t understand various English accents, but boy, was I lost between the accents and the mumbling; I missed key dialogue. I kept waiting for the joy of publication and fame for Charlotte, especially, but no, that really never happens onstage. Even their success in England is overridden by terrified secrecy and the publisher’s attempt to defraud. Oh, and yeah, more of Bramwell abject addiction and endless attempts to get alcohol. And then they die. Your criticism about the dresses is spot-on. You know the program is in real trouble when the gift shop supplies the only life and joy in the program. I recommend to those who love, love, love “Jane Eyre” to skip this production. It’s unmitigated gloom and hopelessness.
@Pamala, IMO Heathcliff is ALL THE SUCK as a hero.
This is one of those tricky productions. I want to support it because Female Authors, but then it turns out to hinge on the man in the family, and also is a total downer, and … nope.
I want a fantasy version, frankly. I want Branwell/Bramwell/whatever to be next-to-absent while the three sisters achieve great things and have their imaginations celebrated in extended fantasy sequences, preferably with song & dance & special effects: what their imagined lives might have been, versus the drab and dreary and slowly-dying real version. Give me ‘Moulin Rouge,’ in other words.
I searched for more movies about the Brontë Sisters and only found one from 1979 in French: “Les Soeurs Brontë ” Three of France’s most enduring actresses star in this moody and atmospheric look at the reclusive lives of the Brontë sisters. In a dreary presbytery in Yorkshire, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the sisters write their first works that quickly become literary sensations. Their brother, Branwell, a gifted painter, becomes entangled in a complicated May-December romance that tragically effects everyone in the family.
Total Eyre-head here. Totally agree with RBH saying the movie seemed like it was about the Bronte Brother. I get that his demons had a major impact on his sisters’ writing, but we got to see him getting dragged home totally hammered one too many times. The look of the whole production was perfect, though! Could they have found three actress who look more like (total geek alert here) Branwell’s “pillar portrait” of his sisters? Could the Haworth parsonage set be anymore realistic? Could they have done a better job of conveying the harshness of north Yorkshire? Answer to all three – no! This movie looked and felt right.
Anyone wanting to know more, I’d recommend Rebecca Frasier’s bio of Charlotte.
Can we take a moment to point out something the movie got right? If it had been made on this side of the Atlantic, whether for TV or Hollywood, the sisters would have been portrayed as all-out-of-one-mold frail and conventionally pretty, and I shudder to think what the brother would have looked like. (Like Edward Cullen, probably.) These Brontes came across as real people. British TV has always been much better at this than American TV.
I am from the UK and spent 6 of my teen years not at all far from the Brontes home. My father, a Yorkshire man through and through, was determined we should know a good deal about both the history and literature of the area. I also work in the TV industry (in Drama no less) so I am well aware that my judgements are pretty harsh, but honestly I thought this was a very generous grade indeed.
While visually stunning and featuring some impressive acting performances, the plot was convoluted and poorly focussed. There was a lack of pace, plotting was confused and ultimate goal at best unclear, at worst non-existent. I found the fact that Bramwell (the least impressive and interesting of the siblings) took up about 70% of the screen time infuriating and perplexing. It completely ignored some of the most interesting facts regarding the lives of the Bronte sisters, including the reception of their works by society and the literary glitterati of the age, like Thackery and Martineau which is fascinating. It ignored Charlottes relationship with Elizabeth Gaskell and the immediate impact their works had on society as a whole.
It is not enough to be pretty when you are trying to do right by some of the most significant female writes of the age, especially when one considers that Anne Bronte was considered by so many to be so ahead of her time.
I found it tedious and lacking. I wouldn’t have gone above a D-
Phew! I was so looking forward to this production and then a I could NOT make it through. So disappointing and yes, I was shouting “Branwell, you ass” as well.
Thank you for this review, always good to see 19th C women writers being discussed and bothered over! Although I had a different reaction to Sally Wainwight’s beautiful piece. I wasn’t disappointed at all – quite the opposite. I thought it came close to how it probably was in the parsonage – certainly the most realistic version I’ve seen filmed, and I think I’ve seen them all – and the denuding of the house of vegetation really helped with that feeling of time travel. The ending was abrupt but I found the segue into the museum/shop at the back of the parsonage brought me back to how we view them today. I didn’t expect a biopic with every box ticked, I knew I was getting a glimpse into their world, and was happy it was a nuanced one. I thought it was superb and recommend it to everyone who loves the Brontes and knows something of their story – which would be most passionate readers.
@chacha1 and don’t get me started on Mr. Rochester either. I much prefer Jean Rhys’ WIDE SARGASSO SEA which is basically the best Jane Eyre fan fiction of all time and he doesn’t get any better, especially with the imagining of how his first wife went bonkers.
I’m glad the Brontes were able to make their marks upon the world with their writing and I completely appreciate the gender gap they crossed, but man do they write some awful people. WUTHERING HEIGHTS–THEY ARE ALL TERRIBLE. Which considering their lives, makes sense that they would write what they knew. Sadly.
There’s a newish anthology of stories inspired by Jane Eyre, edited by Tracy Chevalier, which I just started reading. The two I’ve read so far are a little predictable, but I bet there’s memorable ones. Of course, in an anthology, the authors have to twist every which way, so in some of the stories Jane is a villain. But the editor’s introduction indicates that she was looking for stories where a woman seizes her agency, romantically or otherwise.
I love the Brontes, I love their novels, and while their lives were short, they were brillant.
This movie infuriated me. It was beautifully shot. The home and clothing, gorgeous. But the story?
“I mean, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were neat and all, but have you heard of this cool, cool dude, Branwell? He wanted genius, ya know!”
The story of the sisters’ struggles as governesses, the story of their publication, Charlotte’s fame, all of it happens literally in the background (or not at all) in this movie about Branwell!
Ridiculous and absolutely dissapointing.
A further thought about Branwell.
Obviously nobody today cares about him. He didn’t leave a legacy worth caring about. But the question isn’t “Was he important?” The question is “Was he important to his sisters?” (This is a question of fact. I don’t personally know the answer, but I’m sure someone out there does.)
This is not the first time, and it won’t be the last, that an intelligent, talented woman–or even three of them–devoted a disproportionate amount of time and energy to a man who everyone else could see wasn’t worth it. And that, on its own, is a subject worth exploring.
I know I”m in the minority, but I felt the depiction of Branwell elicited reactions from the sisters that better conveyed their personalities than tracking their path to fame would have done. Watching Charlotte, Emily, and Anne try to write in that parsonage with a weak father and an alcoholic brother dramatized the sheer determination they must have had to write the novels they did. I have read a great deal about the Bronte family, but watching these actors portray what it’s like to live with a loved one who is also an addict gave me a greater sense of who they were as human beings.
I’m very pleased to read these perceptive comments about this pbs presentation. This show does focus on the claustrophobic household of the Brontes. The sisters are portrayed as unlikeable and uninteresting. The focus is on them coping with their father and brother. Whoever wrote Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights doesn’t get representation.
For Bronte movie completists: Devotion (not rec by me). It’s about the same vintage as the Laurence Olivier Pride & Prejudice.
I’m glad to see coverage of the Brontes. (This is from someone who wanted to read Bronte Society Transactions in junior high, ha.)
Looking forward to gawping at the costumes & scenery!