Wuthering Heights

Friend recommended I see this movie, so I tried to pick up a copy from my library, and discovered there are a lot of  of different versions of  this movie based on a book by Emily Brontë’s (her only one). Possibly the British version of  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby  (Based on the fact that it to has a bunch of different film adaptions).

The one my friend felt I should see was the most recent adaption by film maker Andrea Arnold who won an Oscar for best short back in the early 90s and made a splash with her first movie, Red Road, which I did not see yet. I did see her 2009 film, Fish Tank, which I though was an amazing film in it’s down to Earth rawness and ability to capture everyday life and make it fascinating in it’s reliability.

So I herd that this adaption of Wuthering Heights is considered Arnold’s mainstream endeavor. That does make me like it more. In comparison to Fish Tank, Arnold did nothing to change her film style. It’s still extremely raw and emotional and does not care anything about the linear story as much as it does the connection you get following these characters around.

I feel this most with the main character Heathcliff (not surprisingly) A black kid taken in by a man who owns a farm, and becomes the foster child of a a family that does not want his black ass there. All except Cathy, his foster sister who grows an attraction towards him and the feeling is mutual, but the two kids never act upon this, and her father’s death causes a change of the guard that forces Heathcliff to leave.

When Heathcliff comes back to extract his revenge on those who wronged him, it becomes bitter sweet when his feelings for Cathy instantly resurface, but her new life makes things more strained on the both of them.

I instantly felt a connection with Heathcliff. There is no background on where he came from, but I get the feeling he’s far more upscale than what his new family expect from what they see on the surface. The father treated him like a son and Cathy really like him, but everyone else, especially his new brother, only see the color of his skin and how that makes him lesser in society in their eyes, which is constantly pointed out. I understand Heathcliff’s rage and frustration and his need to prove who he is by coming back and stirring trouble.

The movie is done somewhat it two parts with half the film being about Cathy and Heathcliff as young adolescents and the other half with them as adults. The former half was very captivating as it focus on the two’s complex relationship, never fully shying away from there feelings but unwilling to take it to the next step, mostly because of the bridge society put between both and they are unable to break out of.

Cathy was a more interesting character as a young girl than she was as an older woman, but this has more to do with how the movie is laid out as the first half was all about the two main characters interacting for us to see how intense their feelings are towards one another, while the second half has a agenda that concentrates more on Heathcliff.

I usually don’t like slow paced movies but I do like the way this film moves. It puts you there with the showcase of all the landscapes and scenery and the atmosphere, very nicely done, and very Terrence Malick, but a little more grim (Just as beautiful, however).

With all that said, I did not like the movie as much as I like Fish Tank. The story (or lack there of) was not so impressive that you can make it so obscure. If you are the kind of film watcher that is totally fine with a story less film, than this version of  Wuthering Heights will suit you good, but I watched an old black and white version starring a young Ian McShane as Heathcliff which filled so many small gaps that this film has.

It’s very interesting. One thing that can mess up a reboot of a franchise is the fact that you constantly have to do an origin story for the next generation, but now after seeing Arnold’s version of this classic novel, I understand more the need to keep updating the origin. By British standards, Wuthering Heights might as well be the story of Jesus Christ considering how many times it has been done (I’ve only seen two, but noticed that it happens once a decade), and I feel that Arnold takes that into consideration when making the film, so you don’t get the full accept of the story by watching it, which is better if you know about the story prior.

But honestly, if you really want the full accept you would have to read the book. Andrea Arnold’s, Wuthering Heights makes me feel like a young Cathy and Heatcliff, very instance emotional  built up with no release in sight.