Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, 1992


This time the photo does not link to a trailer, but to the entire opening credits and scene.
(The only thing available on IMDb.)

I am even more convinced that I am not going to tackle reading Wuthering Heights. At least, not anytime soon! This movie version was so extremely depressing!!! And, I know that the story itself is very depressing..I get that. But, I guess I appreciated the changing of the story in the one version I saw to make Heathcliff a little more loving and exciting and less.... psychopathic.

I was pleased to find this short plot summary from IMDb:

Heathcliff is Cathy Earnshaw's foster brother; more than that, he is her other half. When forces within and without tear them apart, Heathcliff wreaks vengeance on those he holds responsible, even into a second generation. Written by Cleo {frede005@maroon.tc.umn.edu}

I noticed on that site that many people love this version and it is their favorite. Well..I understand why they say that. This one does seem to keep most of the original dialogue and wording from the book. I could tell that even from not reading the book for some reason. Ralph Feinnes does a perfect job of playing a mean, abusive, and crazy Heathcliff...not so much of the "wild" version shown in the other one I watched.

Juliette Binoche plays Cathy. She does a good job, though I really didn't like her hair in this one. It almost seemed like they tried to make her hair more from the time the movie was made instead of the time period it was set. That constantly bothered me throughout the movie. I couldn't find a good photo of it to share, but if you watch it you will see what I mean. Juliette Binoche also plays young Catherine, the daughter of Cathy and Edgar. While it made sense to use her because she would, of course, be identical, I thought it was a little too easy and actually kind of creepy. While she looked the same, they didn't age Heathcliff very much, so it was like they were the same couple, which I guess could have been the point since the story is so tragic and all, but I haven't read it, so that's just my opinion from watching this movie version.

One thing that was very different about this version, was the opening. It opens with Bronte herself walking the lands and sort of setting up the story as one from her imagination and telling viewers to "be sure to not smile at any part of it." or something similar. *shudder* Yeah, that set me up for the entire depressing 1hr 46 minutes of film. ha ha.

If you like a true to story, depressing and sad film version of this book, then go for this one! If you want to kind of put a wild and romantic spin on it, then go to the Masterpiece Theater 2009 version.

4 comments:

Laura's Reviews said...

I love this version and think it is my favorite. . . it definitely isn't the most romantic, but it does make Heathcliff more of the evil man that he truly is in the novel.

Great review!

heathcliff said...

I saw the version starring Liam Neeson as Heathcliff.

Andysbethy said...

I would prefer to have nothing to do with Wuthering Heights, in any form or fashion... But this one does sound like it is beautifully done.

Linzyann said...

I'm sorry that you found this one so depressing. I have to admit, maybe I'm more influenced by Ralph Fiennes' presence in the movie than I even thought I was...just seeing his face on your blog made me smile. I guess I don't mind the angst or something..The English Patient is my very favorite movie of all time, and talk about depressing! Ha! ;)