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I have read Wuthering Heights, and fallen in love with it; this is the first (and only) movie version of it I've had the opportunity to watch so far, and, sadly, I cannot say I'm satisfied.
The directing is mediocre at best, with awkward results altogether, and the film overall fails miserably at both conveying the overwhelming, passionate emotion the written masterpiece is practically based upon and, despite all obvious efforts, achieve its ethereal darkness and cruelty. The story does not flow naturally (or, rather, it's too rushed), and, as can be expected from any movie adaptation, there are plenty of plot cuts to drive any fan of the original novel mad. This last aspect, however, could be easily excused, were the former absent; however, they are not.
As for the acting, I always imagined Juliette Binoche had a lot of potential to make a good Catherine, and was deeply disappointed to find it was not, by any means, fully explored. Indeed, Binoche's Cathy is not half as wild, passionate and crazy as she could and should have been -- instead, she remains pretty much the same throughout the movie: so emotionless that, eventually, it becomes annoying and frustrating; certainly, a great enough part of her strong personality is there, but many other aspects of her complex character were more or less neglected. While Ralph Fiennes makes a decent Heathcliff, and a handsome, tortured one at that, with an already expected climax in the scene immediately after Catherine dies (where else, right?), I still can't forgive the producers for a certain detail in his countenance: surely, he had a gorgeous, piercing -- sometimes verging on mad -- pair of blue eyes, but, as anybody who's read the novel will know, they should, even for symbolical reasons, have been black; furthermore, his portrayal shares some of the female lead's faults, including, sadly, an inexcusable lack of emotion and expressiveness throughout most of the film. The supporting cast was tolerable; then again, most secondary characters had so little screen time that I can hardly judge (character development was practically nonexistent in this movie; I wonder whatever happened to Edgar's likable, tender ways, or his special relationship with his daughter: two examples among the many aspects that were either neglected or badly mistreated in this adaptation). Ellen Dean and Joseph looked a lot different from what I expected, but that's a merely personal opinion, and therefore doesn't count.
Most people acclaim the film's soundtrack; it did have its good moments, particularly after Catherine's death, but I didn't find it astounding in any way. In fact, I think the movie is somewhat lacking in the sound department, which is one of the factors that makes it so weak emotionally, since the acting doesn't make up for it.
From the awkward way the story is told, to the plot holes, to all the aforementioned flaws, I was, all in all, disappointed in this film. The title of this comment may, however, have come out a little harsher than I intended it to: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is still a viewable (and, at times, enjoyable) movie, for both readers and non-readers; although the former may (or may not) be more or less unsatisfied with it, depending mostly on their take on the novel and how fond they are of it, and the latter are likely to find themselves lost a little too often, since very little is explained concerning the plot (in short, it's not made clear how the characters come to feel the way they do at virtually any time), making it difficult to follow and enjoy. It is not, in any way, an insult to its written counterpart, and takes good advantage of most of its best quotes, but surely doesn't come anywhere near its greatness and intensity.
In conclusion, while I don't regret viewing the film, I'm strongly convinced I won't be going out of my way to watch any other movie version of this classic ever again.
score 6/10
rinoa-3 25 November 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1770038/ |
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18-3-2021 00:07:08