The Brontë Sisters documentary

The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), and Anne (1820-1849), are well known as poets and novelists. Like many contemporary female writers, they originally published their poems and novels under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Their stories immediately attracted attention for their passion and originality. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature.
The three sisters and their brother, Branwell (1817-1848), were very close and during childhood developed their imaginations first through oral storytelling and play set in an intricate imaginary world, and then through the collaborative writing of increasingly complex stories set therein. The deaths of first their mother, and then of their two older sisters marked them profoundly and influenced their writing, as did the relative isolation in which they were raised. The Brontë birthplace in Thornton is a place of pilgrimage and their later home, the parsonage at Haworth in Yorkshire, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
The Brontë Sisters documentary
The Bronte Sisters documentary
The Brontes documentary
2006
Thumbnail by Pierre Mornet

[@elenalatici9568]

I read Jane Eyre at age 13, having been sent away to a brutal Catholic boarding school days after my 12th birthday. I identified strongly with Jane and read the book more times than I can count. I live in Italy now, and have read it in Italian. I read Wuthering Heights at age 14. I had to read the dialogue out loud to understand it. I went on to have a similar love story with a boy when I was 21. We broke up and reunited three times until I was 40. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of my favourite books. They were all so brilliant, those sisters. I've often wondered how it all began that caused Branwell to squander his gift.

[@larciabella]

addiction.

[@lil-al]

@@larciabella Yes, but what led to the addiction? Poverty? Aimlessness? Lack of career success? I feel so bad for poor Branwell.

[@larciabella]

@@lil-al yeah the cause of that addiction.

[@catherinemelnyk]

@@elenalatici9568 Unrequieted love with a married woman, very similar to Charlotte.

[@Anthony-gq7dk]

really impressive Ellen, especially the reading of the dialogue aloud, inspiring story for a young girl, love the ambition, boarding school is a tough place ,especially back then

[@catherinemelnyk]

I do so appreciate Anne and yes, her work has not had the accolades it deserves.

[@LSChestersMom]

I agree. Anne fascinates me

[@tracyhodgkins7516]

I think it’s so sad that Emily didn’t live long enough to write more novels. Wuthering Heights is such a classic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it. Anne doesn’t get the respect she deserves. I think in modern times we would have more sympathy for Branwell than he got at the time, but he seems to have been pushing the self destruct button for years. If he could have only sorted himself out I think he could have been every bit as well known as his sisters came to be. Charlotte, like Emily and Anne, will always be remembered for her books, but Jane Eyre is the one of hers that truly stands out as a classic.

[@bewareofpigeons]

Very interesting documentary but, as much as I love music, I could have done without it as it is very distracting.

[@iamshotty]

Wonderful documentary, Thank you! 🥰🇦🇺

[@arthuroldale-ki2ev]

A truly tragic story of such truly great women. I have read there books at different times in my 78 years and watching this lovely video, I will treat myself too another reading of Jane Eyre.

[@LilyGazou]

I go back to the classics often.

[@melmoore2603]

It's so odd that Wuthering Heights was initially so badly received - I love that book (I've read it three times), and I've never been able to get through Jane Eyre.

[@catherinemelnyk]

I'm the opposite. I have never got page 20 of Wuthering Heights but Jane Eyre is my a-time fwvourite novel and I've read it 4 or5 times.

[@Deborah28277]

My favorite is age dependent. I love them all or just one. Sometimes I’m over one and then other times I cannot get enough. But isn’t that how it goes?

[@littledolllost6236]

I picked it up, got half way through it, then set it aside for years. Picked it back up got half way through it set it aside again. Finally started reading it again finished it and... loved it😂🤷‍♀️ lol.

[@catherinemelnyk]

@@brandonwarweg3622 what a completely assinine depiction of a great piece of English literature. Showcasing this as a "black and white" storyline is utterly absurd.

[@Genna01]

I love Jane eyre. But cannot get to grips with withering heights ,also think Ann wrote really well

[@rodlesgraham]

Did anyone else find the background music very loud and off-putting ? Apart from the music I enjoyed it a lot

[@suttonNKM]

Yes, the loud background music made it unwatchable for me. Sadly.

[@dragnflei]

It seemed rather incongruous and, yes, distracting. Very interesting otherwise.

[@lizzalkula376]

No but being told the entirety of the books was a bit annoying. Just because they are old classics doesn't mean there can't be spoilers

[@voicemesmerising9771]

I love bronte sisters very much

[@rileyg1307]

How is no one talking about this amazing RDR2 lore?

[@katystandifer2639]

❤️ this so much

[@voicemesmerising9771]

I like wuthering heights very much

[@georginapaki9328]

fantastic 😊

[@eshaibraheem4218]

Well, they were Celts through both their parents: Irish father and Cornish mother. They were not English.

[@beana666]

Haworth is a small town it is not a village.

[@janiced9960]

It was when the Brontes lived there

[@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059]

I agree with the publishers mostly. JaneEyre are the best of thier works. I disagree about Wuthering Heights, too disturbing for my taste.

[@retalbtaylor370]

Their books were disturbing because their lives were.

[@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059]

@@retalbtaylor370 The only Bronte book I thought was disturbing was Wuthering Heights (sorry Emily) I loved Jane Eyre and the Tennant Of Wildfell Hall. The rest were just books i'd read if I didn't have another one laying around. But I agree, they probably ended up dealing with funeral processions etc all the time for the entirety of thier lives at Hawerth.

[@retalbtaylor370]

@@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059 yes, and they had endless graves to see out that window in the room they wrote in. Think about that! And their only brother, a promising artist, was a drunk who drank himself to an early grave. There are paintings by him of all of the sisters hanging in the home at the parsonage. It’s too bad he was so self destructive. Some things truly never change!

[@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059]

@@retalbtaylor370 I know, that is what I meant. Thier dad had one of the most dismal and depressing jobs for the time.

[@retalbtaylor370]

@@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059 he obviously had some mental issues. You first off all have to be some kind of nut to want to be a preacher, even more so back then when it didn’t pay like the “super church” preachers get on tv. What a racket! Then he had that crazy fear of fires and wouldn’t let the daughters have curtains on the windows! And right down by the pup where the brother got drunk every night. Hell, I’d get drunk too if my life was like that. And he was a promising painter too. I’m amazed any person could do anything creative back then in that level of misery. They were all dying young with “consumption” which was tuberculosis.Emily died in the house on the red couch that’s still there in the Parsonage home they all lived in.

[@theresaholguin699]

Beautiful documentary. The sisters didn't live long lives. Their words and works are truly a wonderful read

[@whylogicalthinking]

They’re kinda shit like they’re all the same damn story and they think they’re so different from Jame it’s hilarious with their stolen archetypes and repeating of troupes like I can’t….

[@hetoach8231]

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights remains the best in my list of novels. 🖤

[@AgeOfBonnets]

What movie is closest to the book ?

[@yvonnedyer5371]

Yes I agree it was a brilliant novel, my most loved and Jane Eyre next

[@queenbee7074]

How a brain works marvellously when left to its vices and not constantly bombarded with social media notifications ! There definitely is a decline in human innovation, literature and imagination since we are all stuck to our phones

[@LilyGazou]

You might enjoy a book The Gutenberg Elegies. He reflects on this.

[@kandisofiadahlan8157]

The first Bronte's books that I read was "Jane Eyre" , an abridged edition and translated into Indonesian. I was 14 1/2 at that time , living in the city of Bandung , West Java , Indonesia. It was amazing that 14 years later , I won a scholarship to study at Bradford University. The city of Bradford is about 1 hour away by bus to Haworth ❤️❤️❤️ coincidence ? Dream came true ?

[@LilyGazou]

That’s magical.

[@ruthlee7302]

I love reading their novels Jane Eyre is my favourite . Wuthering heights and agnes gray truly well written and all by hand . Can read them all over again never get tired of them

[@sharonharding3478]

Wuthering heights is my favourite film and the song by Kate Bush love bronte country

[@escapefelicity2913]

Get rid of the background noise

[@retalbtaylor370]

In 1988 I lived in England for 4 months and got to go to the Parsonage at Haworth where the family lived with their crazy preacher father. None of these girls got a chance at life. I saw the table where they wrote and “perambulated” with their elbows locked together and reading their bits of their stories as they went along. I saw the red sofa Ann died on. And the pub where their only brother drank regularly. The drunk men spilling out of the pub only a half a block away and staggering toward the Bronte home where the father didn’t allow curtains as he feared fire. So the creative girls were virtually on display for a bunch of drunks, and this is the atmosphere they wrote in. Truly a miracle to write under those conditions. Outside of their windows were headstones. Rotting bodies. Drunks, a crazy paranoid religious father. I wrote two poems about the girl writers and they are now in the Bronte museum in Haworth. Their town is beautiful and quaint, but in their day it must have been incredibly difficult. Thanks so much for this video, very well done and it was wonderful to see the town again and the old stone buildings. Those girls were born too soon. I wrote 100 poems in the 4 months I was there, including the 2 about the Bronte sisters. When I get it published, I will put the picture of me lying in the wild heather on their moors behind their home on the back cover. The beauty and the atmosphere (still very victorian feeling) of England, and Haworth and the parsonage their wrote such incredible books in really felt as tho there was still something of their essence left there where they all died.

[@everynewdayisablessing8509]

Thank you for sharing your story! And wow, 100 poems in 4 months that's quite a number!

[@retalbtaylor370]

@@everynewdayisablessing8509 thank you. The most I wrote over there was 7 in one day. My head was literally cracking open because I was so turned on by the whole country and everything about it. I took my leather portfolio everywhere I went so any time inspiration hit me I could capture it. Now we all have cell phones and tablets which has really made things easy. I’ve never had writer’s block, and write very often. The problem is the publishing world and how bloody hard it is to get your toe in the door. Unless you’re some talentless celeb like a Kartrashian! I’m a writer AND illustrator, and just need a friggin break, an agent would be great, but they don’t want you unless you’ve already had a book published. If that were the case why would I need a friggin agent? See what I mean?

[@collettemcquaide1662]

You didn't see the sofa on which Anne died. Emily died at home having refused to see a Doctor. Sorry, sounded harsh. Didn't mean to. I live forty minutes away so go frequently. Glad you enjoyed your visit. Xxx

[@Bamboule05]

Why would you say their father was paranoid or crazy? He wasn't. He was grief struck

[@retalbtaylor370]

@@Bamboule05 what I was referring to was his paranoia about fires which prevented him from allowing THREE YOUNG WOMEN to have privacy inside their own home because he wouldn’t allow curtains on the windows. Therefore, when they wrote and perambulated around the table in the evening, telling their stories to each other, the drunkards, a half a block away, coming out of the pub, including their brother, who was there, drinking with them, could pass by and see the girls inside of their house. Not exactly ideal situation for three young girls, to create beautiful stories that last for centuries, but they did it.

[@tothelighthouse9843]

Very good documentary. Thanks for posting!

[@jackiereynolds2888]

Of the three for whatever reason, I seemed to take most to Jane Eyre. Each of the girls had experience as a governess I believe. So on that subject they each did indeed write from experience. And the monstrous behavior by their charges was no literary creation neither was it any exaggeration ! Those kids were indeed unbelievable monsters. I really wonder just how many people did in fact perish from Consumption before the disease was finally isolated. How much longer still before cause, how it spread, and effective treatment was in force ? Tuberculosis is a painful, very debilitating, and long demise. It would not surprise me to learn that it alone was responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths. The poor victim becomes so very drawn, gaunt, and string-thin, so emaciated and grey, - it's small wonder that it has always been referred to as 'Consumption'. (make a great diet book though 😐) There are incredibly so very many diseases that before germ theory I am more than a little surprised we've all made it as far as we have. There's something about misery - or at least profound sadness that has the effect of surfacing genius in literature, in art, and in music. I guess some folks out there can only truly make us happy - when they're miserable !

[@blinkie1114]

I agree that in sadness there is an incredible gravity and grasp of your own power/creative intelligence. Also isolation and boredom breeds incredibly talent just to keep yourself sane!

[@collettemcquaide1662]

Penicillin finally finished TB. My mum worked in a sanitarium for those with TB in the late 1930s.

[@christinecallahan5512]

Please STOPP this PIANO MUSIC, it's terrible......

[@donaldkelly3983]

Excellent choice. I did hear mention of Charlotte Bronte's anti Catholic prejudice. That confirmed the feeling I got reading Villette. All the English Protestant characters were good and the French and Belgian Catholics were villians.

[@AuthorDocumentaries]

Ha, I never realized. It's like making all the villains in Hollywood 80s movies Russian. And thank you. I do like the Brontes.

[@barbarawarner4645]

The division between Catholics and Protestants was significant all over Europe.

[@patrickmatthews3012]

@@AuthorDocumentaries always loved the Brontes sisters since I read Jane Eyre as a young girl.still fascinated with their stories.

[@elisesands8803]

While there is definitely anti catholic sentiment, the Protagonist does end up with a catholic at the end of Vilette

[@janelle144]

I got the feeling she also didn't like the French much either.

[@winifredbisona3578]

It is such a beautiful documentary and I love the way that they represent them because not a enough people know about the Bronte sisters

[@vaw796]

Millions know about the Bronte sisters and their books are still studied for the English literature curriculum for UK exams at 16. Jane Eyre is up there as one of the best classics in British literature!

[@johannalehto9154]

I believe many people know about the Brontë sisters. However, having read any of their books is another story ^^

[@MisteriosoYagamai]

​@@johannalehto9154 Eu por exemplo sou Brasileiro e conheço as irmãs Brontë

[@maurizioscarano4345]

There should be more of these wonderful documentaries 👏👏

[@Ellen24493]

The only photo I took breaking Westminster Abbey’s rules for visitors was the plaque on the wall in dedication to the Brontë sisters in Poet’s Corner.

[@williamwebster7985]

I adore the Brontë sisters. Anne doesn’t get enough credit.

[@bookkitty]

I know what you mean. She was seriously gifted.

[@carollund8251]

i like her books the best actually. Read them over and over again.

[@scroogemcduckrich9705]

Wuthering Heights is best #TeamEmily

[@williamwebster7985]

@@orion8835 I’m sorry you think I’m merely posturing, but I am not. I enjoy her work quite a bit, especially her poetry. And I’m my own personal opinion, I don’t hear enough of her as I’d like. Of course, you are entitled to your own artistic proclivities, but I am not posturing.

[@scroogemcduckrich9705]

@@orion8835 people are allowed their opinions… you seem unstable🤪

[@williamwebster7985]

Oh my goodness I’m finally the first like and comment!!

[@AuthorDocumentaries]

🥳🥳🥳

[@eugenebell3166]

I was a bit dubious about watching this but I'm pleased I did. Very well done, well researched and informative, really enjoyed it

[@lisashears1399]

Bloody hell pregnant for 5 years on the trot. My nightmare!

[@catherine4970]

Excellent documentary! Thank you!

[@joansavage1857]

A very interesting documentary. Thank you….

[@cheri238]

I love all the Bronte sister's novels. I started reading great writers at a very young age. Anne was my favorite. "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." Thank you for this documentary. 🌹🌹🌹 I love libraries. ❤️ Although my papa had a love of books, a library of his he let me use and left to me. He instilled in me the love of literature, poetry, philosophy, and history, a leathered bound book. This love of reading has remained with me all my life.

[@LilyGazou]

That’s wonderful.

[@janetpitts7302]

Excellent video, thank you!

[@voicemesmerising9771]

Wuthering heights is the best and most favorite novel to me

[@AlvaSudden]

I was outraged but also amused that the man whose name Charlotte borrowed (because a woman's novel would have been a commercial failure) later tried to grab the money she was making once she was successful. lol

[@MegaToti26]

Lovely!!! Thanks so much!!!

[@blanchybaby]

Who did the art for the thumbnail? It’s lovely.

[@moominmay]

It’s in the description

[@ler2037]

I think that I am the only Moroccan who is a fan of these sisters ...

[@charlychips]

Beautiful sisters. That is courage.

[@CosmosNut]

Beautiful documentary of what to me several very sad stories intertwined. Thank you.

[@veritas6335]

The crashing piano music throughout this biography is distracting, irritating, unpleasant and awful. It ruins the narrative.

[@cherylsmith7675]

Great documentary about the Brontes.

[@vickicali]

Thank you so much for this and all your documentaries. Simply wonderful.

[@kentuckylady2990]

Well done

[@HerAeolianHarp]

Thank you for the literary treasures at your channel.

[@genevieveloveday2016]

I would like to know more about the pictures of houses and churches

[@lorenaburton3938]

Too many ad's

[@sonjawhite5815]

Thanks for this!

[@votemonty1815]

If you find anything on Thomas Mann could you share it for us. 🙏

[@AuthorDocumentaries]

Okay, I looked around. There are two well known documentaries and they are both on KZbin already here, if you haven't seen them: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYWke4uAlNWng7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZaThpWgZranp5I

[@molliecoles5182]

A great documentary thank you but too many ads interupting

[@emcbride7453]

Mollie, the Premium subscription has been so worth it for me. I listen to all kinds of music, watch movies and fall asleep to radio dramas or audio books.

[@carollund8251]

@@emcbride7453 How much does it cost?

[@emcbride7453]

@carol Lund $12.99 a month. I gave it to myself as a Christmas present.

[@carollund8251]

@@emcbride7453 Seems a bit expensive but I don't blame you because I' ve noticed ads are much more frequent lately and it really does ruin everything. I use KZbin to teach music lessons at school for example and interruptions for ads are so annoying. I also listen all day while exercising or doing housework and have to constantly stop to click to skip the commercial. I wonder, does anyone ever listen to the stupid things anyway? I never do.

[@emcbride7453]

@carol Lund. Yes it is but I've never had cable and have only had short term subscriptions to Acorn TV and Brit Box so that is how I've justified it.

[@remalim9471]

Emily was the genius.

[@caitlinthompson7540]

Wuthering Heights.......😩

[@nbbharathigowda]

Bronte sisters..... Three.... Tragic blow for the faithful

[@misantropique1488]

Thank you so much!

[@billyhodges7194]

I share a birthday with Emily , and I always found it interesting that Kate Bush also shares this birthday, being that her first and probably most noted record was called Wuthering heights. I'm sure she must have been aware of the coincidence, maybe it inspired her to write that song

[@antonikaldunski8666]

Elizabeth Bronte died on the 15 June 1825, not the 15 July 1825 12:09

[@carolking6355]

Wonderful.

[@Year23-wd1tz]

Tragic life and tragic end! Heathcliff,Cathy, their creator, Bronte sisters

[@craftykez]

From the description of Charlotte's pregnancy it sounds to me like she suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum. "HG". I had it myself which is why the symptoms sound familiar. Even in 2024 ladies die from "HG"

[@midnightchannel111]

Th8s is a great documentary. I do believe however, that one small detail might be inaccurate, namely, the "small bedroom" Anne shared with emilybis pictured as little more than a closet in size. Though originally small, it wasn't * that * small according to ither sources, becssie Charlotte had the room size diminished after she enlarged her neighboring bedroom now occupied by her and her new husband.

[@manishkumardivekar4836]

Charlotte is just unique ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@meharfatima3232]

I adore Bronte sisters to Howard's meeting becoming so much to great expectations .

[@terencebennison6275]

If i could only meet one of the Bronte sisters, it would have to be Emily. She, in my opinion was the 'iron' at the centre of her family. Yet it seems she was a shy retiring girl with strangers. I wonder what her second novel would have been about.

[@themysteriousdomainmoviepalace]

Poor Patrick! I'm always amazed at the genius of the Brontes. They were all so intelligent and creative and gone too soon.

[@kaprivenom5316]

Irs an honour to see this video.

[@Linda98671]

The poor mother, she most likely didn’t have the strength after over bearing children every year! Good grief, I feel so sorry for her, what a load was handed to her life.

[@giacogiaco5540]

Wuthering Heights...Emily wrote the book and Kate Bush sang the song...

[@ZadenZane]

7:08 Can you imagine living in a place with flagstone floors and no carpets? Goodbye cups, plates and laptops!

[@clearday9525]

Wonderful! Many thanks for this excellent documentary.

[@axiomist4488]

What a sad ending .

[@michaelpedersen7752]

Iam here because of the sitcom The King of queens.. so dont say that tv makes you dumb :)

[@gerryzeta1219]

Charlotte Emily Anne🌹🌹🌹

[@Silvanafromchester]

Music is extremely annoying. Can't watch this

[@lindariley4455]

Too many adverts!!

[@ВладимирЗагородников-ш1к]

Спасибо. Читаем

[@voicemesmerising9771]

I really get stucked by it and I love it very much

[@gabreallec.jacques9281]

Don't forget BRAMWELL.

[@lil-al]

Poor Anne, buried so far from her family.

[@tomdegan6924]

Excellent.

[@alinapopescu872]

I wish there were more channels like this one. For art lovers, I highly recommend Perspectives.

[@ВладимирЗагородников-ш1к]

браво! Бронте.

[@Scott_Inksmith]

Harsh and unforgiving lives I hope their spirit lives on long further

[@xmaseveeve5259]

Brothers.

[@junethorndale]

Loved Jane Eyre

[@carmenandronic8332]

Minunat!🙏🌹🙏

[@thomasbirdeno]

I visited there. Did anyone else find the TOM MIX cobblestone?

[@jow6845]

Tragic. What an old arse the Father was and he lived on and on. Tough times.

[@moulaga8024]

pour ceux qui aime emily bronte, un de ses poemes mis en musique ici kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2WqmYmvqbF_o80

[@AdDewaard-hu3xk]

Brundy?

[@dr.calebrobbins.3177]

Although I read English Literature at UNI for four years I willingly hold up my hand to declare The Brontes I avoided like a Victorian Funeral. Images of those desolate and remote windy Moores. Give me a family dinner with Mrs Bennett's nerves twenty times over. Kate Bush deserves a Gold Medal for finding inspiration creating the music and lyric for Wuthering Heights. Perhaps I should make a point of taking them from my bookshelves and give it a whirl and see if I survive either my mortal demise or taking to Opium with a fierce compulsion.

[@silviazoppi7986]

How do you judge something you haven't read? You say Austen is twenty over better, how do you know? I love Jane Austen, I've read all her books, several times, but the Brontë... They have a strong, incredible, (if you think about their young age) and totally innovative writing. And then, only Wuthering Heights is set in the windy moors, the others all have different settings.

[@sandramcdaniel2]

Interesting...

[@crusllz4988]

A (B), C (D).E

[@gabreallec.jacques9281]

The glass world.

[@fi8292]

28:07 44:20