Review of Wuthering Heights (2011) by Hassan V — 13 Mar 2012

The first half of this film is just wonderful. The two unknown actors who play a young Heathcliff and young Catherine are fantastic and Andrea Arnold brings out the best performance of the whole film from the cold, stinging Yorkshire landscape. With shoestring dialogue and delicate camera work and the howl of wind replacing any soundtrack it is a raw, haunting piece. It is not an adaptation of the book, but a total re-write; it gives a classic story a rare shock of new.

Unfortunately the second half of the film turned my amazement into frustration. When dialogue stepped up more, the two actors replaced by the older and less effective ones and the Yorkshire moors gets shoved aside by a dull period manor house. I spent most of this half just thinking about the themes explored in the first hour.