The Bronte Sisters

If you're a fan of classic English literature, chances are good that you've read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights or possibly even The Tenant of Windfell Hall. These books are of course thanks to the talents of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne respectively. It's impossible to properly sum up in a short movie review the influence that the books and their authors have had on the literary world since their publications. So rather than trying to do that, let's jump straight into the movie, shall we?

The Brontë Sisters is an interesting film in that it's a French production about an English family. As a quick aside, since the movie is in French, some of the dialogue gets kind of funny when the characters discuss their ability (or lack thereof) to speak French or German. At first I was rather confused, but then I remembered, "oh right, these are English folks in a French movie." At any rate, this was originally released in 1979. The Cohen Film Collection has remastered the movie for Blu-Ray and it's a very nice edition. It looks simply fantastic. The very first shot in the film honestly looks like a classical painting brought to life.

Storywise, it explores the relationships between the sisters themselves and their family, most notably their brother Branwell. It focuses mostly on these dynamics and yet the film seems to maintain a distance from the people it's exploring. It's slow, methodical and honestly a little tough to get into. I imagine that fans of the sisters will likely enjoy this more than I did. It's not to say that this is a bad film, but just that it wasn't really my cup of team. Beyond the movie, you also get a documentary about the film and a feature length audio commentary. This might be more of a niche release, but it's a really nice edition for the fans. Worth checking out...