Devotion

The film tells the lives of the Brontë sisters. It is set in Victorian England. Emily and Charlotte come up against each other over their feeling for Arthur Nicholls, a curate. Together with their sister Anne they also try to help their brother Branwell, a gifted painter whose life is being pulled apart by drink. The film departs a good way from the historical record; the rivalry between the sisters is largely invention. That Charlotte married Nicholls is true. The work was shot in 1943 but could only be released in 1946. Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland take the leads, with Paul Henreid also in the cast. Curtis Bernhardt’s hundred and seven minute American film was completed in 1946.