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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 10 November 2011
This article is a review of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. |
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“’Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather,” author Emily Brontë.
Even director Andrea Arnold misfiring is still a cinematic force. Both RED ROAD and FISH TANK are formidable pieces of filmmaking. And if her debut and sophomore projects are five star works, then I’d say two-and-a-half of Arnold’s oeuvre is so far. The first half of WUTHERING HEIGHTS is masterful, and rightly won the cinematography prize in Venice. The atmosphere is so rare for a period piece: brooding, sensual and foreboding. That’s what happens when you get a gifted helmer and remove them from their comfort zone – see Scorsese with THE AGE OF INNOCENCE or KUNDUN with what benefits can be reaped. There is an earthiness and oppressive claustrophobia to this interpretation of a young black boy being taken into a British home out of charity two centuries ago. This newly christened Heathcliff is welcomed with a mixture of interest and hostility; the former comes from Cathy, and this is their love story. Changing the lead’s race adds an unusual friction to a tale adapted numerous times.
The beauty and isolation, and acting of the two very talented young protagonists (played by Solomon Glave and Shannon Beer), are harnessed and presented in a register almost unbearable at times. However, what lets the side down is the same undoing that befell SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – the adults are just not credible and charismatic enough, especially when the kids have been knocking it out of the park for a huge chunk of the running time. Here 70 minutes in the story jumps forward to the grown-ups. Also the compelling visual ticks that characterised the earlier part to mesmerising effect are repeated instead of evolved. A spectrum of satisfaction then, but seriously worth exploring.
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