Rating: 
Summary: WITHERING HEIGHTS...
Review: I have never seen a period piece that I did not like. I now have. This film was surprisingly bad. In fact, on top of being disappointed, I was shocked by how bad it was. It is hard to believe that such a great, gothic story of star cross lovers, Cathy and Heathcliff, and their doomed families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, has come to this, a travesty of a film. It conveys all of the abject misery contained in the novel, but none of its saving graces.While this is a film that attempts to tell the entire story, chapter and verse, unlike its 1939 predecessor with Laurence Olivier, it still fails. The main problem is the miscasting of Juliette Binoche. While Ms. Binoche is, undoubtedly, lovely looking and a fine actress, her portrayal of an English girl, Cathy Earnshaw, falls flat. She is unable to fashion a credible English accent. Her underlying French accent is very distracting. Moreover, cast in the dual role of her daughter, Catherine Linton, with the same jarring accent is maddening. One never forgets that she is Juliette Binoche. She also, unfortunately, plays both roles in the same fashion. There is no attempt at any characterization or differentiation between the two other than a blowsy, blonde wig. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose. The roles were a definite overreach for Ms. Binoche. Ralph Fiennes, on the other hand, is well suited to the role of Heathcliff, whom he plays with the intensity demanded of the character. Yet, he, an accomplished actor and worthy of the part, falls short of the mark. While there were glimmers of humanity and a certain poignancy to some of his babarous actions, it was not consistent enough to make the character come across as anything more than a cruelly depraved, miserable slob, rather than an anguished and passionate human being. In fact, his performance fails to make the viewer think anything but "good riddance" at the end. This, however, is the failure of the director, Peter Kosminsky. What was he thinking? It was, however, enjoyable to see Jeremy Northam in the small role of Hindsley Earnshaw. Now, he would make an intriguing Heathcliff. If one has seen Northam in "Voices From A Locked Room", one would know what I mean. He has definitely got what it takes. If you do not love period pieces, deduct one start from my review. If you love period pieces, proceed at your own risk.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic telling of the story...
Review: The best thing about this adaptation was Ralph Fiennes' Heathcliff. He was frightening, abusive, unsympathetic one moment, yet the next could evoke my grudging sympathy. Juliette Binoche was an acceptable Cathy, although the fact that she's just "acceptable" isn't her fault, since the director excised some of Cathy's best scenes. I don't know if he was trying to make the female characters more "conventionally" feminine, or just throw the movie to Fiennes, but most of the scenes where Cathy shows her fire and will, and especially her anger, are gone. In their place she is given a rather annoying giggle. We miss her fits of temper when she invites Isabella and Edgar to Wuthering Heights, important because they show her true nature underneath the ladylike veneer. We do see the crucial scene where she asks Ellen whether she should marry Edgar, and describes how she loves (or rather doesn't love) him. However, Cathy's description of her dream, where she is thrown from heaven back to Wuthering Heights, is missing. Also missing is Cathy's magnificent temper tantrum following the argument between Edgar and Heathcliff, and her dramatic hallucinations following it, one of the most powerful points of the book. Instead, Cathy's wildness is inverted into depression. I felt sorry for Juliette Binoche, deprived of the challenge of these scenes. Leaving them out all but eviscerates the character of Cathy, and thus a significant part of the story. In fact, I sometimes caught myself wondering just why Heathcliff felt so bonded to her. Still, there were many good things. In other respects the movie is true to the book, certainly more so than the 1939 version. It uses Bronte's own words as much as possible, which is refreshing, considering how often with classics directors invent their own dialogue, ignoring language that has stood the test of time. There is a definite energy between Catherine and Heathcliff. I particularly liked their early scenes on the moors. They do come across as a pair of kindred spirits. The movie also gives a good feel for life back then, in scenes of the servants at work, or the graphic childbirth scenes. I particulary liked McTeer's Ellen, and that the relationship between Ellen and the two Cathies is less Mistress to Servant and more woman to woman. Binoche gives a gifted performance as Cathy's daughter. She is believable even in the scenes with Heathcliff, which, considering that we've been seeing them as lovers for an hour before that, is quite an accomplishment. However, I did think the movie should have given us a little time between the deathbed scenes and Binoche's reappearance as Young Cathy. We've just barely gotten over the unforgettable sight of Heathcliff holding Cathy's body in his arms before he is confronting Binoche as her uncle. This is where another scene from the book could have come in handy: Isabella's escape from Heathcliff. After we see Isabella beaten down by Heathcliff's brutality, this is a satisfying moment, but the movie leaves it out. The director adds one idea, to do with Cathy and her daughter, that I liked and won't spoil for the viewer. I also liked the way he wrapped the story back around, showing us the beginning from another angle. The ending scenes are worth the whole movie. I was amazed at how, even though I'd been virtually hating Heathcliff for much of the movie, at the end he won my sympathy. I was not distracted by Sinead O'Connor, since I didn't recognize her, but only thought she looked and sounded perfect for Emily Bronte. Her narration adds just the right touch of ghostliness to the story. In spite of its flaws, I highly recommend this to Bronte fans.
Rating:
Summary: Could be better
Review: As much as I like Juliette Binoche as an actress, I sincerely thought the role of Catherine Earnshaw did not suit her at all. It was not convincing - Catherine Earnshaw is a complicated profound and yet mislead person - she is here played as a smiling happy-go-lucky person, laughing incessantly, even when discussing such a serious matter as matrimony with Ellen Dean. She took it with a pinch of salt. I think Emily Bronte did not wish her to be quite so light hearted.
However Ralph Fiennes plays Heathcliff beautifully - the role suited him very well, and so for Ellen Dean.
Rating:
Summary: Wuthering Heights
Review: Studying Emily Bronte's novel for my A-level English Literture course, I immediately fell in love with the intensity and passionate nature of the story and had high hopes for the video. I was not disappointed. Ralph Fiennes, to me, was the epitome of Heathcliff and he managed to create a feeling of sympathy for a character many would claim little deserved it. The scene when Cathy is lying dead and he breaks in to see her was truly heartbreaking and it certainly had me in tears. The soundtrack was very atmospheric and certainly added to the overall success of the film. The only slight criticism was the accents of the characters (yet, again Fiennes was excellenet), but Juliette Binoche's French accent spoilt it slightly for me, and those words she did pronounce in an English fashion were not spoken in traditional Yorkshire dialect as I would have expected. Nevertheless, this is just nit-picking and the overall effect was a film that definately stays with you once the television has been switched off.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Version of all...
Review: This version of Wuthering Heights is not only the best in cinema, music, casting, costume, but it is also the most accurate and follows the book very closely. Please put it on DVD...videos are a thing of the past, now!
Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: I have to say that Ralph Fiennes was absolutely perfect in the lead role as was Juliette Binoche. I found Ralph to provide the right mixture of intensity, charisma, torment and dishevelled confidence that was required to bring Heathcliffe to life. It is not difficult to see why he was obssessed with Catherine as she was carefree, passionate and naive about her shortcomings. She didin't have the courage to be with Heathcliffe due to the class difference between them. Heathcliffe was a borderline character who had the potential to be a loving and devoted man to Catherine however with her doubts, he turned nasty, spiteful and obssessed with taking revenge on all that stood for stature - all the things that set them apart. In attaining money, he lost his humanity but not his drive to toil and torment Catherine and the people around her. He even curses her soul to never leave his presence as he could not bear the thought of losing her. You do feel sorry for Heathcliffe but you hate him at times for his cruelty that he justifies because of his torment. Catherine was his sole reason for being and she took it away. As detached as he can be, he was very aware of his feelings for Catherine which gave you reason to keep watching. It was a simple setting for the movie to allow full focus on such a complicated story that makes you walk away feeling disheartened but moved.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and Wonderful
Review: I thought this portrayal of Wuthering Heights was incredible! I loved it! It was dark, it was mysterious, and Heathcliff was both maliciously cruel and passionately in love. I thought they could have developed Catherine's sadistically playful tormenting of him more, but for the most part, they did a great job!
Rating:
Summary: TOO DARK?
Review: I remember seeing a professional review of this movie saying it was "To Dark"..Obviously the review never read the book. It is one of the darkest love stories every told and glossing it over, as in the Hollywood versions, doesn't do it justice. The look of this movie is perfect and totally believable. I assume that those who find it problematic haven't taken a look at what is happening in the world lately. The affects that evironment and lack of love can have on a child can be profound. In Heathcliff we see a child, taken from the streets, given a home, but not without the taunting of an older, "brother" and the care he receives only last until his adoptive father dies. Then he is treated as the lowest of servants. Is this so unrealistic that we cannot see "Heathcliffs" amoung us today!What we see is a man, full of hate and anger, but DESPERATELY clinging to the one person that gave him happeness, even after her death. (PLEASE MAKE IT INTO A DVD)
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and wonderful!
Review: I am so surprised to see that some people found this version to be inaccurate. I have a feeling they are only comparing this to older movie versions and not to the book. This is the most accurate version ever made! All actors/actresses were fantastic. Sinead O'Connor, donning a wig, looks eeringly like the few and rare drawings of Emily Bronte, and cleverly introduces and finishes the story for us, in the author's eyes. The music will stay with you for days-very haunting and beautiful. The ending was very clever and makes you teary-eyed. One minute you hate Heathcliffe, his brutish nature and brooding, and the next you feel his pain deeply. The whole movie, scenery, cast, music and dialogue was well put together and certainly worth owning and seeing over and over again. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: not Wuthering Heights
Review: This version of Wuthering Heights was worth watching -- if only to see Ralph Fiennes in yet another period movie -- at his best dramatic/moody/viscious persona. This is how I like to see him perform. Not the character he portrayed in Oscar and Lucinda. This is Ralph Fiennes at his best -- and he convinced me of Heathcliffe's raging jealousy, dogged pursuance of his goal to destroy all that was left of Cathy's legacy as well as his (few and far between shots of) devotion and passion for Cathy herself. I have seen all three versions (the ones worth seeing) of Wuthering Heights. My favorite is still the one with Timothy Dalton (yes, believe it or not) and I cannot remember the woman who played Cathy (a British actress). This movie came out in the 70's and was fantastic. Timothy Dalton was young and a perfect brooding Heathcliffe. The music, screenplay, adaptation and everything was perfect. Unfortunately, this movie isn't even listed. Juliette Binoche is one of my favorite actresses -- but this part was not for her, IMHO. She was not expressive enough or convincing as Cathy. The house wins -- the best Wuthering Heights I've seen yet!! And Sinead O'Connor was wonderful as Bronte -- her voice was monotone as she described the day she discovered The Heights and I enjoyed getting into that mood to watch the movie very much. I would recommend seeing this version - but please try to find the version with Timothy Dalton if you're a real Wuthering Heights fan like me!
|
