Review of Wuthering Heights (1992) by Raisul I — 15 Dec 2015

This is one of my favorite books and the adaptation does not get it right. Ralph Fiennes Heathcliff is simpering half the time and Binoche gives a flat, french-accented performance as the supposedly lively Catherine. The sets look like cardboard.

I thought starting it with Bronte was so dumb. Do you start Hamlet with Shakespeare sitting down to narrate? Guess he wasn't enough of a babe. Wtf.

I don't know why every adaptation I've seen so far shows the ghosts. I think the only way to get the ambiguity on film would be to have it offscreen. Also, none capture how much of a villian heathcliff is, they all focus on Catherine's frivolity but not her rebelliousness or badassness- she's selfish but she's not stupid. They all show Heathcliff getting kicked around but none really get at the generational effects of abuse which I would argue is the major point of the book.