Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights [DVD]

Another of my favorite films! This version is so much more entertaining than any of the earlier versions, and I'm an oldie fan. Totally dig Ralph Fineness! And my IDOL, JULIETTE BINOCHE!! 👍🏻

Keeping my review vague to avoid spoilers, this version of Wuthering Heights is one of the few that closely follows the book by showing both generations of the story and keeping many key elements in. The characters are well acted and written although some elements that I feel helped the book are missing in this film such as the dogs at the beginning or the added lines when the man is first started by the ghost. Picture and video quality are really good for being a 90s film but would greatly benefit from a blu ray release if ever there was one. Overall this adaptation of Wuthering Heights has haunted me in a good way ever since I watched it in the way that its very well written with a story that truly impacts you with a phenomenal music score. I highly recommend this version as it so far is both the most enjoyable and most accurate. I find myself thinking about it even months after watching it...

The performance of Binoche and Finness in Wuthering Heights was amazingly powerful. People often criticize the movie, but, I believe, the director was extraordinarily faithful to the original story. All criticism was directed at how sadistic Heathcliff(Ralph Fiennes) was towards everybody. It is the director's right to add or omit whatever he finds necessary to make a movie version of the book. In this case, the director's choice was to have the characters semi identical to the book's original ones. It's very simple, if you loved the novel, you would love the movie and forgive the portions that were omitted, and admire the total focus on Heathcliff's anger, and evil side. It's not the movie/director/actors' fault that the novel original characters are actually defected, imperfect human beings. Even though Wuthering Heights is a great piece of literature, a wild emotional story that is written in a fascinating way, the characters always puzzled me. If everybody is calling Heathcliff a sadistic crazy man, what then is Catherine? I believe that Catherine is even more sadistic and cruel than any other character in the novel. Catharine was completely engaged in self worship and didn't care about any other human being. The only thing she loved about Heathcliff was his love and devotion to her. She enjoyed breaking his heart, breaking her husband's heart, and enjoyed torturing Edgar's sister with her sense of entitlement to Heathcliff and his love. "..Why did you betray your heart Catherine?....I forgive my murderer, but yours, I will never forgive..." yeah, Fiennes got to me saying these words, but for the love of God, how delusional can people be? Nobody broke Heathcliff's heart but his Catherine, and no one killed Catherine. Five stars, to Wuthering Heights for its timeless depiction of human dark side, and when I say dark side, I mean every character in the movie except Catharine the daughter. To me, Catharine the daughter is the only character with some common sense and virtue. I would give more than five stars to the movie if possible, simply because Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche captured so well, the darkest side of love and selfishness as the stars of a great novel.

Wow, I'm amazed at some of the harsh criticisms for this adaptation, esp of Juliette Binoches performance. I thought she did a wonderful job. I've seen her in a couple movies but after I saw this I looked up more movies featuring her, as well as Ralph Fiennes, whom I was mesmerized with as Heathcliffe. It brought me to the reviews where I discovered there's more adaptations of Wuthering Heights. I've seen the Lawrence Olivier version but until this one I never thought to become a collector. But thanks to this version, I am now. This will definitely go down as one of my favorite movies. I like it better than the 1930s one. In fact, I will purchase this one. Visually, it's perfection. So much to love about this movie.

This is one of my most favorite movies!! I've watched it so many times!!!

This is a serious attempt at a cinematic rendering of Emily Bronte's actual novel rather than the usual simple lifting of the romantic aspects of the plot. The Yorkshire moors are seen as a dark, disturbing, threatening presence, echoing or contributing to the natures of Cathy and Heathcliff. The haunting, sparse musical score underlines the mood of sadness and unease. I would not have thought of Juliette Binoche for Cathy, but not only does she look much the way I always imaged Cathy, she perfectly captures the character's mix of wildness, mischievousness and cruelty at conflict with her bourgeois origins. Her take on Cathy's daughter is also clever, accentuating the similarites of appearance and gestures while lacking the mother's passion and wildness so that Heathcliff subjects himself to constant self-torture, reminded of his love and that she is lost forever. Fiennes, who looks far from my imagined Heathcliff, does a superb job with a difficult, complex character, balancing his obsessive nature and innate cruelty to allow for sympathy while understanding how his hurt and hate bring about his bizarre plan for revenge. The movie is not without its flaws, principally the strange choice of making Bronte a character and narrator. Whatever the motive, the occasional voice over merging Emily's words with the character's speech serves no purpose other than to annoy. Maybe the idea was tto back up the title claim of "Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights;" or maybe they were trying to echo the book's narrator, but the dual narrators of the novel serve a purpose, providing a frame and also as two opposing views, one accepting the supernatural while the other debunks it (a bit like Mulder and Scully). On the same note, I'm not sure the movie really handles the supernatural element of the story very well. However, it is a fine movie and definitely the one to get if you want a picture that reflects the actual novel. If you prefer a straight period romance go with the excellent 1939 version.

Il.dvd non è in lingua italiana. Solo inglese o francese..il film è una riproduzione molto buona del testo di Emily Brönte . Gli attori principali sono bravissimi entrambi. A mio parere,un'ottima racitazione

He is the epitomy of the Heathcliff I'd imagined. The film does have it's flaws; Juliette Binoche tries her utmost to master a Yorkshire accent but cannot quite pull it off, so her performance is marred slightly. Also as a film, the story can feel rushed at times. However Fiennes Heathcliff simply burns with a brooding intensity every time he appears on screen. His eyes convey so much emotion; love, hate, anger, jealousy, sorrow, loneliness even when he is not speaking. The scenery and soundtrack are stunning, as is Mr Fiennes ! This film is an essential for the collection of any Ralph Fiennes fan.

Have read this book around 20 times over a 50 year period. Bought the DVD after wartching Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon on a steaming service. Only problem is forgot none of my computers have a Dvd slot anymore nor the home entertainment systems. Almost ceratoainly a must watch for those who have kept onto their old tech.

jedenfalls ging es mir so. Manche Filme, speziell Verfilmungen von Büchern, sind so, naja - ich will nicht sagen primitiv, aber halt eben ohne Tiefgang verfilmt, dass man sie anschaut und gleich danach abhakt. Nach dem Motto : gesehen, ist ok, mehr aber auch nicht. In Unkenntnis des Buches - das muss ich hier einschränkend erwähnen - habe ich mir u.a. aus Gründen des englisch-Lernens diese DVD gekauft und keine Sekunde gezweifelt, dass es eine gute Kaufentscheidung war ! Man kann prima mit den Untertiteln dem Film folgen, auch mit rudimentären Englisch-Kenntnissen, denn die Gestik und Mimik der Schauspieler hilft über so manch unbekanntes Wort. Von Emily Brontë habe ich bisher noch kein Buch gelesen (ich denke, das werde ich unverzüglich nachholen ! ) mir ist die DVD über Rezensionen aufgefallen und das Thema hat mich interessiert, von daher bin ich ganz unbefangen an den Film herangegangen. Ich muss sagen: SUPER !!! Ralph Fiennes ist natürlich untoppbar - superklasse mit der Rolle des Heathcliff besetzt und gespielt, der Mann ist ja ganz nebenbei sowieso eine Augenweide !!! Hm, hm... Und auch Juliette Binoche fand ich in ihrer Doppelrolle sehr gut, in ganz kurzen Momenten kam sie manchmal etwas farblos daher, aber das ist vernachlässigbar im Gesamteindruck des Filmes. Wunderschöne Bilder, Landschaftsaufnahmen, DIE Musik !! und die leise, eindringliche Stimme der Erzählerin, die Anfang, Mitte und Ende beschreibt. Da bekommt man echt Gänsehaut. Den Film habe ich mir schon mehrfach angesehen und jedes Mal wird er besser. Ich unterlasse hier jegliche Äußerung zum literarischen Wert, den tieferen Aspekt des damaligen gesellschaftlichen Abbildes etc. etc., dafür bin ich nicht so der Experte, das überlasse ich anderen. Für mich war es einfach ein wunderschöner Film und hier beim Schreiben bekomme ich schon wieder Lust, ihn mir ein weiteres Mal anzusehen, er ist einfach nur megafaszinierend.... Wenn ich also eine Empfehlung aussprechen darf .... schauen Sie ihn sich an, Sie werden es nicht bereuen!