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I am very disappointed with this version of Wuthering Heights, which I had eagerly anticipated all summer. ITV has tried to squeeze a relatively lengthy novel into two 90-minute episodes. This inevitably gives the adaptation a rushed feel and means that important aspects of the novel are omitted. A longer series of one-hour episodes would have ensured better pacing and inclusion of greater nuance and detail. Some elements of the novel have been distorted, while others fabricated. For example, in the novel there is no suggestion that Cathy and Heathcliff were lovers in a physical sense. This isn't the first dramatisation of a classic novel to engage in a spot of fabrication (BBC's otherwise excellent 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice comes to mind), but it is still disappointing. In my view this version is saved by fine acting from Tom Hardy, Sarah Lancashire and Andrew Lincoln, though I did not like Charlotte Riley's interpretation of Cathy. In the book Cathy is much more hotheaded and unbalanced than Riley's characterisation suggests. I urge people to read the novel, which is finer and more vivid than any TV adaptation can ever achieve.
score 5/10
c-forde 1 September 2009
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2120333/ |
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6-1-2021 02:55:06