Wuthering Heights (2011) - Arnold's take on the Brontë classic is an unusual treat

♥♥♥♥

 

1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Sound (lost to Drive)

 

 

+ Best Romance of the Year

 

A gorgerously composed poster for Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's same-titled 1847 English classic and only novel, written by Olivia Hetreed (Finding Altamira (2016)) and great English co-writer-director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank (2009)).

The father in a poor, English country home takes pity on a young negro slave named Heathcliff and takes him into his home. But when the man dies, the strange boy is left completely to the whims of his violent, racist son, - and his own enormous affection for his dead benefactor's daughter Cathy.

SPOILER Whereas Heathcliff's change from boy to adult mostly involves his having grown wilder and more savage, Cathy's appearance alters completely in this version of the story, as they have an affair that becomes the downfall for them both.
Arnold's Wuthering Heights uses unusual, anachronistic fonts for its titles and credits, and Mumford & Sons have made two songs for it, one of which is an acoustic track that runs over the end credits, which is strange and a little off. But it is still a good film, impressing especially with its crackling sound design and its beautiful, unusual aesthetic, (cinematography by Robbie Ryan (Slow West (2015))), which frequently, - and consciously, - lets objects and characters slip in and out of focus.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

 

Here is a short trailer for the film

 

Cost: 5 mil. £, equal to approximately 6.5 mil. $

Box office: 1.7 mil. $

= Box office disaster

[Wuthering Heights premiered September 6 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 129 minutes. Natalie Portman, John Maybury, Abbie Cornish, Michael Fassbender, Gemma Arterton and Peter Webber were involved with the project at different times before it landed with Arnold. With James Howton portraying Heathcliff, this is the first Wuthering Heights adaptation to have a black actor play the part. Filming took place from September - November 2010 on location in England. The film opened #73 in just 1 theater to an 8k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #67 in 12 theaters and grossed 100k $ (5.9 % of the total gross), the 3rd biggest market. The 2 biggest markets were the film's native the UK with 963k $ (56.6 %) and Holland with 130k $ (7.6 %). Wuthering Heights is fresh at 69 % with a 6.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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