''A Quiet Passion'' is a 2016 British

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

written and directed by

Terence Davies Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...

about the life of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

. The film stars

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

as the reclusive poet. It co-stars

Emma Bell Emma Jean Bell (born December 17, 1986) is an American actress, best known for her roles in films '' Frozen'' (2010) and ''Final Destination 5'' (2011), and for playing Amy in the first and third season of '' The Walking Dead'' (2010; 2012), and ...

as young Dickinson,

Jennifer Ehle Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries '' Pride and Prejudi ...

Duncan Duff Duncan Duff (born 1964 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK) is a British stage, television and film actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London 1985 - 1987. He is best known for His role in Not Going out as Pete and for A Quiet Pas ...

, and Keith Carradine. The film premiered at the

66th Berlin International Film Festival The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the President of the Jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael ...

in February 2016 and was released in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2017.

Cast

Production

On 10 September 2012, it was announced that

was set to play Emily Dickinson in a biopic directed by

. In May 2015, after a long time in

development hell Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are Media industry, media and Software industry, software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between d ...

, ''A Quiet Passion'' finally began production in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The film was shot at AED Studios in a replica of Dickinson's house. Additional scenes were also filmed in

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

and

Pelham, Massachusetts Pelham is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,280 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is shared with Amherst. Pelham is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History ...

was cast in a key supporting role opposite Nixon.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 91%, based on 152 reviews, and an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''A Quiet Passion'' offers a finely detailed portrait of a life whose placid passage may not have been inherently cinematic, but is made more affecting by Cynthia Nixon's strong performance." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film was highly praised by the British newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Independent'', which described the film as a 'Masterpiece of Mood'. Richard Brody of ''The New Yorker'' called it a "masterwork" and stated that the film would "take its place as one of avies'finest creations". Had the film been given a limited release in the United States before 2017, Brody would have placed it first in his list of best films of 2016. Internationally, ''The New York Times'' stated: "This Emily Dickinson biopic possesses a poetic sensibility perfectly suited to its subject and a deep, idiosyncratic intuition about what might have made her tick." ''The Washington Post'' wrote: "Davies is a master of the slow build, lyrically evoking both the dreaminess and gravity of his subject and her verse".

References

External links

Music Box Films official site
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quiet Passion, A 2016 films 2016 biographical drama films 2010s historical drama films Biographical films about poets British biographical drama films British historical drama films Cultural depictions of Emily Dickinson Cultural depictions of Jenny Lind Films directed by Terence Davies Films set in the 19th century Films set in Massachusetts Films shot in Belgium Films shot in Massachusetts Films about mental health 2010s English-language films 2010s British films