Devotion (film)

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Movie
Original title Devotion
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1946
length 107 minutes
Rod
Director Curtis Bernhardt
script Keith Winter ,
Theodore Reeves
production Robert Buckner
for Warner Bros.
music Erich Wolfgang Korngold
camera Ernest Haller
cut Rudi Fehr
occupation

Devotion is a US biopic film loosely based on the lives of the Brontë siblings . Already shot in 1942/43, the film did not appear in cinemas until 1946 because of a dispute between the Warner Bros. film studio and leading actress Olivia de Havilland .

action

England in the first half of the 19th century: Charlotte and Anne Brontë , the daughters of the widowed village pastor Patrick Brontë , leave their family to work as governesses . In addition to her father, there is also an old young aunt, sister Emily and brother Branwell , who live in the household . They hope to break out of their previously peaceful life in rural Yorkshire and gain experience in the outside world. They give part of their salary to their brother Branwell, who is considered a talented painter and is supposed to study in London , but is more likely to indulge in alcohol. In contrast to their brother, the three sisters would rather pursue a career as a writer.

One evening Arthur Nicholls, the new vicar of Reverend Brontë, arrives in the village and meets the drunken Barnwell in the pub. Although it is already very late, Nicholls accompanies Branwell to the rectory because of his very drunkenness. Once there, the awake Emily thinks Arthur is a drunken friend of Branwell's and treats him dismissively. It was only when Nicholls returned to the rectory the next day and introduced himself as the new vicar that Emily treated him more politely and they both became good friends. They go for walks together and Arthur shows Emily, among other things, a lonely house on a hill, which she used as the inspiration for her first novel Sturmhöhe . Over time, Charlotte and Emily will return from their posts as governesses. At a ball held by the neighboring Thornton family, Arthur is immediately drawn to the beauty of Charlotte and immediately falls in love with her. Charlotte realizes that Emily is also drawn to Arthur, and a rivalry arises between the two sisters over Arthur.

Arthur donates a trip to Brussels for further education for Charlotte and Emily ; he buys a picture of Branwell to finance it. Emily hopes Arthur will tell her to stay in the village after all, but he only has eyes for Charlotte (and actually only bought the trip because of Charlotte). In Brussels, the sisters attend Monsieur and Madame Heger's school. Charlotte confesses to her sister that she was molested by men while she was governess and - much worse for Emily, that Arthur kissed her. Emily is badly shocked and disappointed by the news and has bad dreams about the moor. A little later, Monsieur Heger calls Charlotte over for a meeting and kisses her. Finally, Emily and Charlotte return home in a hurry when they receive a letter from Anne that Branwell is seriously ill. Both start there to write on their books. Barnwell, seriously ill and marked by alcoholism, reads both novels and confides in Emily that they both love the same man. The sisters also learn that Arthur bought the painting from Barnwell to help fund the sisters' trip to Brussels.

One day, Emily cannot find Branwell, she searches for and discovers him in the pouring rain, shortly afterwards he dies. Emily's novel Sturmhöhe and Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre were published under male pseudonyms shortly afterwards . Although Charlotte's Jane Eyre is selling better, famous writer William Makepeace Thackeray notes that Emily is the better writer. Thackeray introduces Charlotte to London's high society and during her stay she also meets Arthur, who is now doing his job in the poor East End . Arthur confesses to Charlotte that he loves her, but since Emily loves him too, he couldn't have stayed in Yorkshire. Then Charlotte receives the news that Emily is terminally ill. She arrives in Yorkshire just in time to say goodbye to her sister. After Emily's death, Arthur also returns to Charlotte to woo her again.

background

Devotion was shot between mid-November 1942 and mid-February 1943, but didn't hit American cinemas until April 20, 1946. That was because lead actress Olivia de Havilland filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers in a dispute over better roles. At the end of a long legal battle, a California appeals court ruled in 1944 in favor of the actress. The previously common practice of automatically extending the duration of a studio contract by the time in which actors were suspended was banned. The judgment became part of the so-called de Havilland Law , an employment law regulation for the entertainment industry in California, which re-regulated the duration of the studio contracts customary in Hollywood at the time. The verdict contributed to the fact that many big Hollywood stars began to work without a studio contract, causing the studio system to lose power. The film itself wasn't released until after the trial was decided and De Havilland made a comeback with the March 1946 film Mother's Heart . Warner Brothers took revenge on Olivia de Havilland in the opening credits: Although she actually had the biggest role, she is only mentioned in third place behind Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid .

The plot of the film is not based on historical facts, but is an adaptation of a story by Theodor Reeves. Therefore, the film takes a lot of freedom and speculation compared to the historically secured events about the Brontë siblings. The film also shows the actor Montagu Love in his last film role as Reverend Brontë, who died almost three years before the film was released in May 1943.

Reviews

When it was released, the film was literally torn apart by many critics. For example, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote: “The Warners have simplified events to an almost unattainable extreme and found an explanation for the talent of the Brontes in the terms of Louisa May Alcott . You imagined the gloomy Emily, the author of 'Wuthering Heights', and Charlotte, the author of 'Jane Eyre' as a kind of ' Little Women with a Talent'. “Only individual aspects such as the elaborate production or the music from the Austrian star -Composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold were mostly praised. Leonard Maltin gave the film a milder assessment after many decades and rated it 2.5 out of four stars: “A powerful story from real life about the Bronte sisters, which becomes an ordinary love triangle with Henreid in the middle. Worthwhile due to the intense, dramatic performance of the actors. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Crowther review
  2. ↑ Leonard Maltins criticism Devotion. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved November 6, 2018 .