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Wild Nights with Emily

  • 20182018
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 24m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
The poet Emily Dickinson's persona, long popularized since her death, has been that of a virginal retiring spinster - a delicate wallflower, too sensitive for this world. In this affecting comedy of manners, Molly Shannon captures the vivacious, irreverent side of Emily Dickinson that her literary executors chose to efface - most notably Emily's lifelong romantic relationship with her sister-in-law Susan.
Play trailer2:01
1 Video
17 Photos
  • Comedy
  • History
Dramatization of the little known side of the writer Emily Dickinson's life, in particular, her relationship with another woman.Dramatization of the little known side of the writer Emily Dickinson's life, in particular, her relationship with another woman.Dramatization of the little known side of the writer Emily Dickinson's life, in particular, her relationship with another woman.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Madeleine Olnek
  • Writer
    • Madeleine Olnek
  • Stars
    • Molly Shannon
    • Susan Ziegler
    • Amy Seimetz
Top credits
  • Director
    • Madeleine Olnek
  • Writer
    • Madeleine Olnek
  • Stars
    • Molly Shannon
    • Susan Ziegler
    • Amy Seimetz
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 12User reviews
    • 33Critic reviews
    • 74Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 7 nominations

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:01
    Official Trailer

    Photos17

    Molly Shannon and Brett Gelman in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon at an event for Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Khaliel Abdelrahim, Darren Lee Campbell, and Jack Taylor Jr. in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Casper Andreas, Joel Michaely, Molly Shannon, Susan Ziegler, Brett Gelman, Amy Seimetz, Jackie Monahan, Dana Melanie, Anthony James Faure, and Sasha Frolova in Wild Nights with Emily (2018)
    Dana Melanie and Sasha Frolova - Wild Nights With Emily
    Cast and Crew attend the "Wild Nights With Emily" Premiere 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Paramount Theatre on March 11, 2018 in Austin, Texas.

    Top cast

    Edit
    Molly Shannon
    Molly Shannon
    • Emily Dickinsonas Emily Dickinson
    Susan Ziegler
    Susan Ziegler
    • Susan Dickinsonas Susan Dickinson
    Amy Seimetz
    Amy Seimetz
    • Mabel Toddas Mabel Todd
    Brett Gelman
    Brett Gelman
    • Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginsonas Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson
    Jackie Monahan
    Jackie Monahan
    • Lavina Dickinsonas Lavina Dickinson
    Kevin Seal
    Kevin Seal
    • Austin Dickinsonas Austin Dickinson
    Dana Melanie
    Dana Melanie
    • Young Emilyas Young Emily
    Sasha Frolova
    Sasha Frolova
    • Young Susanas Young Susan
    Lisa Haas
    Lisa Haas
    • Maggieas Maggie
    Stella Chestnut
    • Mattie Dickinsonas Mattie Dickinson
    Guinevere Turner
    Guinevere Turner
    • Elizabeth Hollandas Elizabeth Holland
    Michael Churven
    • Josiah Hollandas Josiah Holland
    Robert McCaskill
    Robert McCaskill
    • Ralph Waldo Emersonas Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Lauren Modiano
    • Adult Mattie Dickinsonas Adult Mattie Dickinson
    Al Sutton
    • Judge Lordas Judge Lord
    John Peña Griswold
    • Young Austinas Young Austin
    • (as John Griswold)
    Allison Lane
    Allison Lane
    • The Widow Kateas The Widow Kate
    Margot Kistler
    Margot Kistler
    • Young Laviniaas Young Lavinia
    • Director
      • Madeleine Olnek
    • Writer
      • Madeleine Olnek
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Originally performed as a play by the film's director, who extensively researched with support from Harvard University Press and the Guggenheim Foundation.
    • Goofs
      Historical inaccuracies and anachronisms abound throughout the film in the costumes, sets, and props, but it is not intended to be a faithful period piece. One notably accurate detail is Emily's unshaven legs in the next-to-last scene.
    • Soundtracks
      Piano Sonata No. 30 in D Major, Hob. XVI:19
      Written by Joseph Haydn

      Performed by Vadim Chaimovich

    User reviews12

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Slanted Rhyme
    Perhaps, the historical image of poet Emily Dickinson as morose and reclusive spinster needed corrective, to emphasize her sense of humor and to include homosexual relationships with sister-in-law Susan, as well as Kate Scott Turner, but not at the expense of all else in what is oft a tonally anachronistic and comedically inconsistent filmed play that paints most of the historical figures as caricatures. If the entire picture were a farce and not also part dramatic score settling, I suppose "Wild Nights with Emily" could be better appreciated as erudite parody, but it's not.

    Ralph Waldo Emerson, of all famous public speakers, is portrayed a mumbler, lest Emily have one positive influence on her writing outside of Susan, I suppose, although at least the also-homoerotic poet Walt Whitman gets a positive mention. Astronomer David Peck Todd, an interesting historical figure for reasons I'll elaborate on in a bit (and also see my review of "The 1882 Transit of Venus"), is institutionalized decades too early. Emily's sister Lavinia is a nutty cat lady and her brother Austin a dimwitted beard whose sexual advances are continually rebuked by wife Susan, three offspring included. For all the feminism of the play, too, it oddly erases Susan's own poetry and how she may've contributed to Emily's writing beyond mere encouragement and being a "muse." Worst of all, though, is the treatment of Mabel Todd and T. W. Higginson, whose editing and promotion of Dickinson's poems and letters is what began the poet's posthumous fame. Indeed, it was only after Lavinia found Susan's progress lacking on overseeing such a publication of her sister's oeuvre that she, then, enlisted Mabel, who although hardly a poet, let alone of Dickinson's calibre, was, indeed, a published author.

    I came to "Wild Nights with Emily" because of one of these supporting caricatures, as part of my investigation of the astrophotographer behind a series of photographs--since animated as a video--of the 1882 transit of Venus, David Peck Todd. By all accounts, he knew of the open secret of Mabel's affair with Austin, and he may even have encouraged it. Austin was the treasurer of Amherst College where David worked, after all, and David was a philanderer himself--his ultimate institutionalization being a consequence of going mad from syphilis, but that was decades after Emily and Austin's deaths. In the meantime, he went on 13 expeditions across the world in search for the best vantage points to observe eclipses and designed equipment in which to photograph them. Mabel traveled with him and wrote about their adventures and may've been a respected writer herself on her husband's field of astronomy. In this movie, though, David is reduced to one brief shot of raving insanity, and Mabel is turned into a silly unreliable narrator and jealous destroyer of Emily's legacy--y'know, the legacy that didn't even exist had Mabel not promoted it, including with lectures. And, as to whether Emily actually was stymied by sexism in efforts to publish her poetry, I don't know, but it hardly seems as though it was the fault of Todd and Higginson, both of whom appear to have had cordial correspondence with Dickinson (apparently, of the entirely written sort at least in the case of Mabel, who reportedly never met Emily face to face until death). Inadvertently, this also may also diminish how unique was Dickinson's writing, as well as how homophobic society in general was then; in fact, it was not only Susan's name that was erased, but titles were added, and punctuation and style were altered to conform more to orthodox literary standards of the day.

    That said, however, there is some appeal to the crisscrossing between narratives from three different time periods: of Mabel's lectures, Emily and Susan as teenagers, and them as a mature couple. The Shakespeare reading scene between young Emily and Susan is amusing, and the framing of the story as a competition between two writers (or three, including one of the daughters), Emily and Mabel, supposedly one authentic and the other unreliable, isn't necessarily a bad reflexive storytelling device. Some of the acting from the minor parts seems amateurish or unrehearsed, but Molly Shannon, Amy Seimetz and Susan Ziegler do fine enough as the leads. Emily's writing isn't always integrated well within the narrative and makes for some awkward scenes, but it's to be expected that a movie about her would try to incorporate as much of her poetry as possible. Slant rhymes for a slanted corrective of an already slanted history. Perhaps, there's some poetic justice in that.
    helpful•2
    0
    • Cineanalyst
    • Aug 18, 2021

    FAQ1

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • March 11, 2018 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 艾蜜莉夜夜
    • Filming locations
      • New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Embrem Entertainment
      • P2 Films
      • Salem Street Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $519,487
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $30,209
      • Apr 14, 2019
    • Gross worldwide
      • $519,487
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 24 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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