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Toronto 2011: 'Wuthering Heights' reenvisions a classic

19.09.11

  Following its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and subsequent appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival, Andrea Arnold's atmospheric adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" quickly became a movie many were talking about. It has gathered supporters and detractors in seemingly equal numbers.

Responding to her daring take on Emily Bronte's classic novel -- Arnold covers only the first half of the book -- some regarded the film as lugubrious and formless, while others found themselves in thrall to what they saw as its bold spell. As Arnold herself mentioned in a Q&A following the North American premiere during Toronto's first weekend, she put back in "all the pain and violence and spit and blood" missing from many adaptations.

She also said that she had not watched any previous films made from the story -- most notably the 1939 version with Laurence Olivier in the male lead of Heathcliff. Arnold structures her film so that it cleaves cleanly in half. In the first section, young Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) is taken in by a farming family and over time he and Cathy (Shannon Beer) bond as more than siblings if only tentatively as lovers. After abruptly leaving in a jealous fit, Heathcliff (now played by the roguish, brooding James Howson) returns some five years later with money, a fierce attitude and the new determination to win Cathy (Kaya Scodelario).

Source: Los Angeles Times