WUTHERING HEIGHTS
UK, 2011, 129 minutes, Colour.
James Howson, Solomon Glave, Shannon Beer, Kaya Scodelario, Lee Shaw, Nichola Burley.
Directed by Andrea Arnold.
Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s 19th century literary classic. There have been a number of versions, especially the romantic doom and gloom of William Wyler’s 1939 version with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. In a cinematic sense, Olivier with his theatrical delivery became the visual equivalent of the Bronte prose and Merle Oberon’s classic beauty was that of Catherine Earnshaw. The Internet Movie Database lists 15 version since 1920. Luis Bunuel made a version in Spanish (Abismos de Passion). Keith Michel and Claire Bloom in 1962 and Ian Mc Shane was Heathcliff on television in 1967. Anna Calder Marshall teamed with Timothy Dalton (also a smouldering theatrical presence) in 1970. In the 1990s, Ralph Fiennes was Heathcliff to Juliet Binoche’s Catherine. Tom Hardy, who has proven himself a strong and versatile actor, was Heathcliff in a British television in 2009 with Charlotte Riley.
Audiences expecting a continuation of that kind of classic cinema should not venture into this much more experimental interpretation unless they want to see something quite different and to be challenged.
Andrea Arnold made her mark with awards for her contemporary domestic dramas, Red Road and Fish Tank. Now she takes her visual style back into the 19th century and the Yorkshire moors and dales.
A gathering in the dark. Dim hallway. A face. Sky vista. A half-framed picture of two riders. Quivering camera.
This is the technique that Andrea Arnold brings to this 129 minute version of Wuthering Heights. It is both intimate and sometimes off kilter. It is dark. It is grubby. It is episodic. Characters are sometimes glimpsed, then contemplated in close-up. The first part of the film, centred on the dingy Earnshaw farm, has little relief. The second part of the film with much more attention given to the Linton mansion is much more sunny (at times), even with blue skies, the interiors, with some red walls, far more colourful than we had become accustomed to.
The director and her director of photography are attempting an interpretation of the novel via the visual style rather than literary style, although the screenplay offers much of Emily Bronte’s words. It is a disruptive style, at times upsetting, at times puzzling with its idiosyncratic handheld camera work that avoids finesse or neatness. And there are several jolts as characters use expletives that Emily Bronte may not have even known.
This is the context for unsettling characters. Hindley Earnshaw is a brute. His foreman, Joseph, has moments of cruelty. The rest of the family are there, often in the dark, not particularly delineated. Except for Cathy, in her teens, a wild, impetuous young woman. Into this household comes a black slave, bought in charity in Liverpool, to be brought into this Yorkshire life and to become a Christian, Heathcliff. Already this is a jolt for purists, but one of the most interesting features of the film. At first, Cathy spits at him. But, soon, they are kindred spirits, escaping to the top of the heights, riding over the moors. Heathcliff becomes the centre of the film. His plight holds the interest and the emotions.
When Cathy goes to the Linton home and finds herself at home in this different environment, Heathcliff leaves. He disappears for some years.
When he returns, there is different casting for both Heathcliff and Cathy. The continuity between Solomon Glave as the young Heathcliff (offbeat and memorable) and James Howson as the older and more sophisticated Heathcliff is well sustained. This means that Heathcliff’s made passion and revenge and his cruel marriage to Isabella more credible. However, the younger Cathy (Shannon Bear) is what can be called a buxom country lass, full of verve, even of song, impetuous, contradictory, at home at the Earnshaw farm rather than at the Linton’s. However, the older Cathy (Kaya Scodelario) is glamorous and svelte (despite her attempts at a rough accent). Many audiences will find it hard to accept this transformation. Which undermines the drama and Cathy’s responses to Heathcliff.
Edgar Linton is what was once called ‘a wet and a weed). Isabella is hard done by. Nelly Dean must have been there earlier but emerges more significantly when Heathcliff returns. It is Lee Shaw as Hindley who is the most consistent character.
Doubtless there will be more versions of Wuthering Heights. This is the more puzzling and challenging one.
1. The impact of this version of Wuthering Heights? The traditional films? The novel? Romantic, stark, dingy?
2. Emily Bronte and her writing skills, the characters of Wuthering Heights, its atmosphere? Status and language? Descriptions? Emotions and passion? The range of film and television versions? Her experience in her age?
3. Andrea Arnold, the starkness of her film, the experience of Heathcliff, family?
4. The use of half the original story? Highlighting characters and themes? Compact? Moods? Narrative and emotion?
5. The visuals, the ratio for the framing, traditional? The poetic style, naturalistic, realistic, surreal, stylised? The handheld camera? Movement? The framing of characters and action – and not framing them? The detail? The dinginess of the first part and the transition to full colour?
6. Colour, darkness? The musical score, the songs, the 19th century songs and mood?
7. The opening, Heathcliff, the focus, the writing on the wall, banging his head, his grief, mood?
8. The return to the story of the Earnshaws? The farmhouse, the farm, dark, dirty, dingy? Mr Earnshaw and his return from Liverpool, bringing the young Lasker? Emily Bronte describing Heathcliff as swarthy? Gypsy? The African background, the mystery? The Christianising of Heathcliff? The Earnshaws, their beliefs, the baptism, Heathcliff fleeing from the church? The Earnshaws accepting Heathcliff? The death of Mr Earnshaw? The reaction against him? Hindley and his harsh treatment, Heathcliff as a slave, working hard, the racial antipathy? Joseph, foreman, the beating of Heathcliff? Heathcliff as a loner, the conditions in which he lived, survival?
9. Cathy and her place in the family, her age, ordinary? Her spitting on Heathcliff? Despising him, changing? Riding with him, sharing with him, going to the heights? Falling in love, unconsummated? The effect on each of them and their presents to each other?
10. The family, the younger children, Hindley, his character, harsh, animosity?
11. The visit to the Lintons, the contrast with their home? Cathy going to the house, changing? Heathcliff and the comparison with Edgar? Disdain? Isabella and her fascination? The impact of the house and the interiors?
12. Catherine and her being wilful, Heathcliff and his experience, leaving?
13. The passing of time, the young Earnshaw growing up, Heathcliff’s return? The continuity of the actors taking Heathcliff’s role? His success, the confrontation with Hindley, renting the room, paying – and ultimately getting the documents to own the place?
14. His visit to the house, the brightness of the colour, the red walls, gentility? His place in this context?
15. Cathy – and the difficulty in continuity between the two actresses playing her? Her abandoning Heathcliff? Marrying Edgar? Wilful, Edgar as a weak man, a gentleman? Isabella and her fascination? The role of Nellie Dean as housekeeper? The visits, the meals, Edgar going riding with Cathy, the passion, the sharing?
16. The effect on Heathcliff, his anger and rage?
17. Isabella, Heathcliff’s decision to marry her, the harsh treatment, her unhappiness, her pregnancy, hatred?
18. Hindley, his going into decline, Heathcliff’s power over him?
19. Edgar, his visit, his contempt for Heathcliff?
20. Cathy, the passing of time, pining, her death?
21. Heathcliff, his grief and anger – and the film ending? Not showing the next generation? The blend of passionate and romantic with the fatalistic?
