Wild Nights with Emily

Based on Dickinson’s reconstructed letters, Madeleine Olnek’s spirited comedy tells the story of a vivacious poet who was far ahead of her time and, above all, of the male-dominated literary world.

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) is regarded as one of the most important poets in world literature – and as a mysterious woman who lived a reclusive life and is said to have been too sensitive for the world. During her lifetime, few people knew that Emily had a passionate love affair with her childhood friend and later sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, which lasted for decades. Even after Emily’s death, the relationship was kept strictly secret – particularly by Emily’s ambitious publisher Mabel, who even manipulated the posthumously published poems and redirected Emily’s passionate love letters to Susan to men.

The film illustrates how a lesbian life story was deliberately rewritten to fit a heteronormative narrative.