To Walk Invisible

I must admit I was dubious at yet another film of the lives of the Brontes.I needn't have been,this was an excellent production. Great art/location and costume work. The acting was slow,subtle and not over the top or "chocolate boxy" (as is with some Bronte biogs) The actors were excellently and evenly cast.Too often the sisters are too pretty and therefore lose authenticity. The sisters were quite plain,but feisty,and their characters reacted well against each other. It showed us (more than is normal) the complexities of mid Victorian life and morals. The two hours passed very quickly.

WHY? After the on screen credits,telling us how and when the sisters died.We went into the Parsonage front garden,and up the side path into the modern gift shop of the Parsonage Museum, and the camera panned around it for 5 minutes(showing you all the stock),quite why this was I cannot see.It succeeded in killing the atmosphere that had been achieved in the preceding 2 hours.

It is beyond me why they spent so much time filming Bramwell when the title indicates that the movie is about the sisters. While I enjoyed it, having visited the home and pub, I wanted much more about the sisters. Seemed a little glossed over. Actresses were good, just wanted more about the sisters. Lovely story about these very talented ladies.

I've read all the Bronte novels, studied Emily's poetry in college, and been to Haworth several times. (Tip: if you ever visit, don't skip the hike to Top Withens-the place Emily based Wuthering Heights on. You won't get the true Bronte experience unless you hike on the moors.) I've sat next to Charlotte and Emily's graves and tried to imagine life in that place in the 19th century. This movie encapsulated and synthesized every emotion, thought, and feeling I experienced while in Haworth, at the parsonage museum, reading, and hiking on the moors. It positively reeks of authenticity. The sisters form the nucleus of the story while the ancillary characters orbit them at just the right distance. Their quiet strength and desperation depicts the plight of three women smarter than anyone around them in an age when their brains were considered by men to be more similar to monkeys than their own. Each sister is fully actuated and differentiated as a stand-alone character, individual in her own right. I finished the movie with a determination to visit their home again and re-read all of their work. How many movies inspire their viewers to travel several thousand miles, spend several thousand dollars, and invest scores of hours in reading? I loved that the movie required something from the viewer. You can't watch this film passively. It takes scrutiny, concentration, and contemplation; in other words, things most modern movies don't require in the least. That's why this movie stays with you days after viewing it. No wonder I forget almost everything about many movies I see hours after watching them; they demand nothing but sensational response, something that ebbs almost immediately after arousal. My one complaint is in the sound mixing. The background music swells with such amplitude in places that the dialogue is almost impossible to make out without closed captioning. I eventually put in my Bluetooth ear buds to help me discern the dialogue (admittedly, Yorkshire accents are tough for Americans to decipher in the first place, but as I mentioned earlier, the effort required helps galvanize the viewer into deeper concentration and engagement). Bravo PBS. You rarely disappoint.

Absorbing and with authentic Yorkshire vernacular in parts.

Each sister was given their own character: Anne seemed to be the placid one,Charlotte was a feisty little firecracker while Emily was emotional and quick to temper. I admired all three characters.

I believe the rock outcrop on the moors where Emily stood in the film is Ponden Kirk near Haworth - this is a pre-Christian holy place and in Victorian times was where young couples would crawl through a hole in the base - this would mean they would be wed within a year. A fitting place to film on the moors which provided such inspiration to them.

A welcome and unique addition to dramas about the Bronte sisters who provided some of the finest writing in the English language.

The title: To Walk Invisible: The Bronte SISTERS. The tagline: "How against all odds, were the Brontes recognized in a male-dominated 19th-century world?"

So why is that ironic? Because this movie which was purported to be about three amazing women writers who wrote timeless literature was completely dwarfed by their brother's story.

We got to see Branwell traveling, seeing friends, rambling around drunkenly, coughing blood, having halucinations, yelling at family members, etc. Each of the characters including the random friend of Charlotte's had to discuss Branwell at some point.

I would have liked to have seen more with the sisters. What about including a scene with Anne and Charlotte at the Opera after they actually WERE recognized by their publishers?! How about showing the death of Emily? Anne dying the next year? Charlotte becoming a celebrated author without her siblings? Their poor father outliving them all?

Nope! Branwell is gone! This story revolved around him-so now it is over!!

In fact, Branwell's death was the climax of the entire film with the sisters' fates as an afterthought scroll after his death, and right before the inexplicable swooping commercial for the Bronte museum gift shop.

Perhaps the male-dominated world hasn't changed as much from the 19th century as we think. At least when it comes to this production.