Wuthering Heights - 16th July 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night takes on a classic story tonight, as we sample the 2011 adaptation of;

Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold wrote the screenplay, and directed this controversial 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic love story. This classic tale of obsessive love of Cathy, by Heathcliffe, takes a sombre turn, as Arnold defines a very bleak and moody dynamic with her screenplay.

Just to bring those who haven't read this Brontë classic up to date, it follows the life of a poor orphan boy; Heathcliffe, who is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy.

This movie is almost as dreary, bleak and desolate as the windswept Yorkshire moors, where it is set. Andrea Arnold opted to film with a lot of hand held cameras and jump-cut editing, with very dark, dismal and minimal lighting. As a result, the film is difficult to follow, the dialogue is very sparse in the first part of the film and doesn't really build any momentum at all.

I'm sure those of you with an eye for an artistic film, may jump to it's defence, but even with some stunning scenery, I'm afraid art or no art, this film is destined for the bargain bucket.

I cannot really add any further to this, I am sure there are better versions of the story out there, maybe one that may do justice to the Brontë original. This one however seemed to be art for art's sake. Even the use of strong language seemed to lend itself more to the arty-farty brigade, rather than adding some gritty gravitas to the story. Just because you introduce modern day swearing into a classic piece of literature, doesn't make it more of a classic, in fact it presents itself as being pretentious and self indulgent on the part of the director.

The only thing that could have saved this movie, would have been the appearance of Kate Bush, running over the windy moors, belting out her greatest hit!

In short; terrible.

In long; arty, pretentious and terrible.

As for the TNiFN scores; 3 out of 10.

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