Review of Wuthering Heights (2011) by Barry T — 19 Nov 2011

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is one of the most brilliant and emotionally gripping books I have ever read. And Andrea Arnold's adaption is probably the greatest adaption I have ever seen. Raw, passionate, powerfully atmospheric, and unforgivably gritty, it remains completely faithful to the book, whilst being so far removed from traditional costume drama that it feels new and original.

Wuthering Heights is one of those books that generate vastly polarised opinions. Many people, myself included, hail it to be one of the best books in the English language; others condemn it for being unrelentingly cruel and depressing. But that is one of the reasons it is so brilliant. Bronte shows us extremes of human depravation, passion and jealousy, and the violent, unforgivable actions that those emotions drive us to. It isn't a love story in the traditional sense, yet it is one of the greatest portrayals of love ever written.

This screen adaption, though cutting the latter half of the book, doesn't lose any of those attributes. By focusing on the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff rather than Heathcliff's revenge, Arnold allowed herself to fully develop the bond between these two characters. I was a little disappointed in this omission, but in retrospect, the film remains complete without it.

I cannot recall film in the last 5 years that has had such a cutting attention to detail. The camera drags you down into the mud of the Yorkshire Moors, to see every blade of grass, every drop of rain, every hair. The hand-held camera work, blurring, in and out of focus, now on the characters faces, now on a beetle crawling through the grass. The wind howling through the microphone, a tree branch rapping against a window, a horse breathing, the constant drip of water. Mist. Rain. Moors. Every aesthetic wonder described in the book is pulled into focus and studied in amazing detail.

This is one of the most beautiful, ugly, wonderful, harrowing films I have seen, certainly this year, probably for several years. The pain and misery of the characters is believable. The wonder and wildness of the setting is uniquely portrayed. The minimalist script, cinematography, and lack of any musical score all serve to develop the most vital aspects of Wuthering Heights; atmosphere.