In the late 1880s Emily Dickinson is writing prolifically, baking gingerbread, and enjoying a passionate, lifelong affair with her friend and sister-in-law Susan…yes this is the iconic American poet, popularly thought to have been a reclusive spinster.
Beloved comic Molly Shannon leads in this humorous yet bold reappraisal of Dickinson, informed by her private letters. While seeking publication of some of the 1,775 poems written during her lifetime, Emily (Shannon) finds herself facing a troupe of male literary gatekeepers too confused by her genius to take her work seriously. Instead her work attracts the attention of an ambitious woman editor, who also sees Emily as a convenient cover for her own role in buttoned-up Amherst’s most bizarre love triangle.
A timely critique of how women’s history is rewritten, WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY remains vibrant, irreverent and tender, perhaps closer depiction of Emily Dickinson’s real life than anything seen before.
Director: Madeleine Olnek
Featuring: Molly Shannon, Amy Seimetz, Susan Ziegler, Brett Gelman
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