Devotion was a bomb of a film that dealt with a subject almost too awful to contemplate: the thrill-packed relationship between the two Brontë sisters (shudder), Charlotte (“Jane Eyre”) and Emily (“Wuthering Heights”). Just imagine the riveting dialog! Well if you won’t, then I will. Take the sex scene:
Emily: “Charlotte darling, was that my fiancé Abercrombe I saw you fornicating with in the garden last night?”
Charlotte: “Why yes, Emily dear. You know I love him.”
Emily: “Indeed I do. Then you may have him. You always were the more passionate sister.”
Charlotte: “True. I shan’t forget such generosity, I assure you.” (They embrace.)
And then there’s the fight scene:
Charlotte: “Emily, pet, I just happened to glance at your manuscript yesterday whilst looking for a letter which I had mislaid, and I could not but notice how similar certain passages were to my own novel.”
Emily: “No doubt you refer to chapter 352, in which Mr. Bristlecone’s mad first wife escapes from the attic and rearranges the croquet wickets, causing enormous embarrassment to Letitia before all of Gloucestershire society.”
Charlotte: “Precisely, darling. That’s an exact reproduction of my own chapter 173.”
Emily: “Well, I don’t see why you have to be so selfish about it.”
Charlotte: “Emily! How could you say such a thing! Why, you’re nothing but a plagiarizing hussy!”
Emily: “Be silent, you witless trollop! Oh, what am I saying? Charlotte, I beg your forgiveness.”
Charlotte: “Nay, dear sister. The fault is mine. Keep the chapter as my gift to you.” (They embrace.)
Okay, you get the point. Bottom line: This dog needed all the help it could get in the music department, and even if Korngold’s compositional magic couldn’t save it, the score does offer his classic blend of warm melody, shimmering orchestration, and symphonic backbone. It’s a gem, and we really owe Stromberg and Co. a debt of gratitude that we can listen to it away from the movie.
