I haven't seen every Wutherign Heigths adaption, but I have seen a lot of them and this one is at the bottom of my list for now. What do you get when you strip a gothic novel of all of all of its mystery and ethereal romanticism? Turns out that the result is a rather tame and uninspiring drama. Ironically this one just comes across as more melodramatic without the proper framework to soften the heightened emotionality and the flowery language, especially as they're acted out by out by actors in their forties. The result was downright hilarious at times when it wasn't plain distracting.
There was nothing about this adaption that said Wuthering Heights to me, it could have been any old movie. It has none of the complexity or atmosphere of the book, and on top of that they saw fit to rewrite the characters to a point where they have little in common with their original counterparts.
Adaptions seem to have a hard time finding a good balance between Cathy and Heathcliff to make them feel like two halves of the same soul rather than allowing one to overpower the other; whether that's reducing Cathy to the innocent victim of Heathcliff's abuse (2009 mini-series) or making Heathcliff childish and downright pathetic (this movie).
I haven't been able to find a perfect film adaption yet, but I wouldn't recommend this one. If you love the book or if you're looking for an adaption that captures it's spirit, I'd recommend the 1970 version with Timothy Dalton for the first generation, or the 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. Even the 2009 mini-series with Tom Hardy did a better job with the supporting characters.
There was nothing about this adaption that said Wuthering Heights to me, it could have been any old movie. It has none of the complexity or atmosphere of the book, and on top of that they saw fit to rewrite the characters to a point where they have little in common with their original counterparts.
Adaptions seem to have a hard time finding a good balance between Cathy and Heathcliff to make them feel like two halves of the same soul rather than allowing one to overpower the other; whether that's reducing Cathy to the innocent victim of Heathcliff's abuse (2009 mini-series) or making Heathcliff childish and downright pathetic (this movie).
I haven't been able to find a perfect film adaption yet, but I wouldn't recommend this one. If you love the book or if you're looking for an adaption that captures it's spirit, I'd recommend the 1970 version with Timothy Dalton for the first generation, or the 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. Even the 2009 mini-series with Tom Hardy did a better job with the supporting characters.