Emily is a great period drama that announces writer/director Frances O'Connor as someone with clear talent and one to watch and further proves lead actress Emma Mackey's burgeoning stardom with a story that's funny, tragic and full of natural beauty.

Emma Mackey gives a true tour de force performance, earnestly portraying Emily's shy nature and vivid imagination whilst also having an infectious rapport with Fionn Whitehead (great) and some truly fiery chemistry with Oliver Jackson-Cohen (also great).

Frances O'Connor's direction is excellent, utilising handheld camera work to great effect with some very stylish framing but it does overuse cutting to black. The music by Abel Korzeniowski is amazing, beautifully balancing moments of whimsy with a more classical score.

Emma Mackey gives a strong performance as the central character in this drama; she is charismatic and beguiling, an emotional display (though at times this does stray into the histrionic). Whilst the director's intention is to provide a portrayal of the character and inspiration behind Emily Bronte, rather than a straight biopic, the amount of artistic licence used does undermine the credibility of the story. It is implied that the failed romance between Emily and the local curate provided the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, yet this romance did not happen; the characters in the story do not question the idea that the girls might want to become published writers - but society's prejudice at the time meant that they (and Mary-Anne Evans - George Eliot), all had to publish under male pseudonyms. Charlotte is portrayed as a prissy school ma'am - it's hard to imagine this person writing a classic like Jane Eyre. Ann, also a published novelist, is virtually written out of the story. It's a visually attractive film, but unconvincing, and ultimately, rather disappointing.

Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite classic novels, so I was looking forward to seeing a movie that was loosely based on the woman who wrote it. However, throughout the film, my emotions ranged from bored, confused, and frustrated at the sledgehammer way that O'Connor seemed to suggest that the core elements of Brontë's classic novel (passion, forbidden love, gothic horror, life, death and illness) were based on Brontë's clichéd affair with one character, incestual desires with another, and just plan weird peeping Tom antics on neighbors while drinking and drug taking. In taking the sledgehammer approach, O'Connor missed the opportunity to explore more subtle questions that were raised around the character and family of the woman who wrote one of the world's greatest love stories - why was Emily so reclusive (we don't know, this was put down to being"odd"), how did the loss of their mother and two older siblings at such a young age effect the family (not explored - just brushed off by Charlotte as "we're not allowed discuss it"), why was their brother Branwell a drug addicted alcoholic (again - not addressed, he "just was"), why did the children feel the need to keep seeking approval from their disapproving father ... Not deemed worthy of exploring, but just accepted as the cliché it was.

I came out of the film feeling like I had just watched something really distasteful - and felt almost guilty at paying to see such outrageous conjecture about the woman who wrote one of the most famous novels in English literature. The whole mess felt like a high school student's literature project, in which O'Connor couldn't even bring herself to acknowledge the fact that Brontë actually published initially under the pseudonym Ellis Bell - another missed opportunity. Nor could she seem to acknowledge that perhaps Brontë was just a really good writer, who had everyday, ordinary demons to live with as opposed to outlandish fantasies that mirrored her novel.