A Quiet Passion

Get pumped to loiter over the sumptuous anti-sumptuousness of Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion, a meticulous yet ethereal biopic of 19th century poet Emily Dickinson, played to the hilt by Cynthia Nixon. After the Sex and the City veteran’s powerful and possessed turn here and a paint-peeling supporting performance in 2015’s underseen James White, it’s time to acknowledge that Nixon is doing world-class work. Austere and episodic in a manner that should be familiar to Davies acolytes, especially the few who saw his recent Sunset Song, A Quiet Passion luxuriates in the language and manners of a bygone era while also recognizing the restrictions of those times, especially as they relate to women. It’s exquisite and intense, although just a little too rigid and bloodless to get enthusiastic about, and it’s hard to shake the thought that Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner did this sort of impressionistic biopic better. D.B.