Monday, January 01, 2018

Happy New Year 2018 - To Walk Invisible

New Years Eve is a quiet one at my place.  Much of the neighborhood has retreated to summer holiday homes, or family in distant places and it is nice to have the doors and windows open with little noise about.  With some treats to eat and drink I watched a couple of shows and thought I would watch this movie - To Walk Invisible - a movie about the Bronte sisters.

It is very much a masterpiece theater movie and I loved the production side of it.  The Yorkshire Moors and small village, the stagecoach and the naturalistic hairstyles, makeup and costumes.  It is hard to imagine the lives of these sisters who are left to care for their aging father and their alcoholic/drug addicted brother - a story which in itself translates quite well into modern times.  How hard it must have been when you are at the mercy of the men in your life, when you cannot choose how you wanted to live.  Where your talent cannot be shared, how the three sisters had to get published in secret under male names, with only Charlotte having some fame later in her life and marrying only to die pregnant at age 38. 

The tragedy too is that all sisters died young, all under 40 - and how they were not to know how their stories are still read and  are treasured 200 years later.  I wonder what modern books will be being read in another 2 centuries?  Much of the film is pretty grim, I get that life was hard work at the time, although part of me wonders if it was quite as simple as is portrayed on screen.  The books are full of lots of characters and conversation and I think that there must have been more friends and visitors than are shown.    4/5

1 comment:

John Bellen said...

It seems that many artists, male and female, aren't appreciated during their life times. Those who are seem to die young anyway. It's like great talent burns life away swiftly.