Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: British Cinema  

Asian Cinema
British Cinema

European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Illuminating
Review: Although I found Sinead O'connor's narrative as Emily Bronte quite unnecessary, this film was overall wonderful and satisfactory. Ralph Fiennes is an amazingly multi-dimensional actor. His performance as the bitter and tortured Heathcliffe is no exception.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A splendid tragic romance...
Review: Of all the movies I own from the 16th to 19th century eras, this is without question, my favorite. I love it so much I have seen it at least a dozen times and I'll watch it several dozen more times and never tire of it. The music is so hauntingly beautiful, and the scenery magnificent. Everyone I've loaned it to returns it to me saying "I have a new favorite movie..." I highly recommend purchasing this movie. It's worth every penny.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: IT MAKES YOU ELECTRIC WITH NOSTALGIA
Review: I just want to say that I have never cried so much while watching a film, or re-played a theme song from a movie in my mind as much as Wuthering Heights. Juliette Binoche is so amazing. If you are an insensitive block of metal then I do not recommend Wuthering Heights, but how can you resist simply bursting into tears throughout this entire movie. Maybe I am just appreciating this because it provokes my emotions, but isn't that what film is supposed to do, rape your mind?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but could be better!
Review: I bought this video just two days ago and I find that it is more true to the story than one I have seen before. It was a bad idea to try and fit all the story into 90 mins. It's very jumpy, one minute your in one scene and then in a completely different one! I thought Ralph Fiennes was quite a good Heathcliff! The only thing I thought wrong with it was that there is no passion, it's just flat and Cathy and Heathcliff don't even really show any love for each other! On the whole though it is a good adaptation!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Moors
Review: I just love to look at Juliette Binoche with her innocent and very expressive eyes.....Was darling in this movie and in certain scenes reminded me of Julie Roberts,especially the somewhat swollen upper lip.....The music is hauntingly beautiful...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: True to the novel, but marred by miscasting
Review: This is the only version of Wuthering Heights that I've seen that tells the story from the point of view of the narrator Emily Bronte, looking backward. She is not the character (Heathcliff's servant Nelly Dean) who told the story in the novel, but the tale is told by someone in the story's present looking into the past and in that sense, is faithful to the novel. I do, however think that the lead actors leave a lot to be desired. As has been mentioned before, Juliette Binoche, although a wonderful actress, is far too French to play an English girl successfully. Having her play Cathy and her daughter may have saved the production company money, but Binoche as the younger Cathy was just not believable, and the blonde wig is a jarring note. She also looks too mature facially and physically. Ralph Fiennes' charm or acting ability, or whatever, has always been lost on me. What has always come across in all of his roles I've seen is a quality of aloofness or coldness that while fitting in the commandant of Schindler's list, makes of Fiennes, to me, at least, an unconvincing romantic lead. His interpretation does not gibe with the Heathcliff of the novel or my imagination, and indeed makes of Heathcliff an entirely unsympathetic character. While Fiennes does portray convincingly the coldness of Heathcliff's character in his latter years after the death of Cathy, he is incapable of expressing the warmth or perhaps heat of Heathcliff's jilted young love for Cathy that would help the viewer to understand the roots of the hatred he has for all of Cathy's family including her daughter by Edgar Linton. His physical appearance is also unfaithful to the novel which portrayed Heathcliff as "dark..., black-haired" and as well "taller... and twice as broad across the shoulders" (as Edgar Linton). Fiennes is neither dark, nor physically imposing enough (I can't even imagine him surviving Hindley's physical abuse, much less thriving on it) to be an authentic Heathcliff, and his unrelentingly cold and evil persona in this role keeps this viewer from seeing what attraction he might have had for any woman, let alone the light-hearted Cathy. Indeed, he is nothing but gloomy and hateful. Compressing the story into an hour and a half makes the production seem hurried and a lot gets left out or glossed over. I, too, like many an impressionable young female reader, once thought Heathcliff a romantic ideal. For an interesting take on how the love story might have turned out if Heathcliff had won Cathy, read Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth, a sort of retelling of the tale in modern dress. For a more authentic Heathcliff and Cathy, (although a less faithful retelling), see the 1972 remake with Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff and Anna Calder-Marshall as Cathy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TERRIBLE!
Review: How could anyone see anything but garbage in this terrble movie AND novel! There's absolutley no point to the characters rambling on and on about nothing. I srongly recomend that if you have any taste, DO NOT SEE THIS!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Any good video is an AUDIO/video sensation
Review: I don't want to repeat what has been said about this moving video. I just want to draw people's attention to the AUDIO element of this feature film. Ryuichi Sakamoto's music is absolutely spot on. The BITTERsweet (more bitter than sweet) melody, the heart-tearing violin lines, and the hopelessly despairing mood it conjures, all work painfully well with the story. For those who are not so familiar with Sakamoto's music, he's the composer of film music for Bertolucci's Last Emperor and The Little Buddha (whereby he rearranged the famous Barber Adagio with a subtle yet perfectly appropriate change of mood). I'd strongly recommed those who love this video to indulge themselves in the AUDIO counterpart of it by getting the newly released Sakamoto CD "Cinemage" released by Sony.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SUPERB ACTING
Review: I had to see this movie for a drama class and I thought it was going to be so boring. Boy, was I wrong! Ii didn't ever think Ralph Fiennes could act that good and now he has a spot in one of my best actors list. This is the tragic story of two lovers that choose differents lifestlyes instead of choosing their true feelings for each other and ending up suffering emotional. The mideval setting and countryside sets is captivating and the music is intriguing. It's like musical bliss to my hears when I hear it and at the same time it's deep and heartfelt. I just can't say enough about this movie, b/c there's too much to say, i just say go see it. That's all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Superb and memorable script
Review: Wuthering Heights is an intense melodramatic tale which illustrates the tragic consequences of following greed instead of your heart. The serene beauty of the misty coutryside, delicate sunlit ponds and peaceful sounds in nature contrast sharply with the inner turmoil of the characters.

This is a story where no one has learned from the past and history repeats itself in an eerie fashion. The architecture is fascinating, the scenes detailed, the acting delicious and the emotions seething. Bitterness and undying love intermingle with immaturity and self-centeredness to create unbearable torture. An emotional score brings brief glimmers of hope with uplifting noteswhich quickly vanish into the mist.

The truth of their mutual devotion, which burns brightly in the hearts of the orphan Heathcliff and wealthy Catherine, is suppressed by their inability to consummate their passion for each other because of their very different stations in life. This passion burns slowly into them, consuming them until it bursts from their hearts in torrid flames of anger. Catherine and Heathcliff both choose their fates, although they blame each other.Heathcliff says it well: "You of your own will did it." The intensity of his green eyes reveals his cruel intentions and the display of physical abuse is a bit overplayed in some scenes. His eyes do soften ever so slightly when they gaze upon Catherine, yet his actions leave you feeling that he does not deserve her. Catherine does in a way repay the physical abuse with emotional abuse and acts in a very self-centered fashion at times.

Juliette Binoche and RalphFiennes were perfect for the role of Catherine and Heathcliff. While many would agree: Juliette playing both the part of Catherine and her daughter was slightly distracting. Healthcliff also never seems to age which keeps him as sexy as ever in the viewers minds, and perhapsthis was the point. His acting is superb!

The lesson for me is to love deeply and listen to your heart when it is essential to your own happiness. A series of poor logical choices could not make up for one well thought-out moral choice from the heart. When Catherine says, "He'll wait a while yet," we somehow hope Healthcliff will put aside his bitterness and learn to love again, while she will find it in her heart to quit making him wait.

When you watch this movie, a cozy down comforter, a fire and a cup of hot tea are essential. May I suggest candlelight to set a cold dark castle mood. Watch this alone or maybe with a cat curled up on your lap. You will not want to be distracted. The script is superb and memorable. This movie keeps yourfull attention.¼¹ €ÿ


<< 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates