Wuthering Heights

[GCAcademic]

Anyone planning to see this? From the trailer I was expecting it to be marmite and not in any way a straight adaptation of the novel, but the reviews I've seen so far are universally uncomplimentary. I'd already booked to see it, so will go in with an open mind!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I fell in love with Yorkshire when I saw it. Have been on holiday multiple times since and hoping to relocate there this year - 16 years later!

The thing about "Wuthering Heights" that disappointed me most was the lack of glorious Yorkshire countryside on screen.

@Paperwhite209 Envy. I lived in Yorkshire for uni, and would absolutely go back

Yes the Moors aren’t as prevalent as you’d assume, I suspect that’s down to the narrow part of the book it focuses on. I thought the film felt quite claustrophobic which reflects Cathy’s world for much of the story really. The times you see the Moors are when she is being free and wild with Heathcliff. The limited freedom she has.

I saw it last night and loved it too. Read Wuthering Heights for A level and Uni but not recently. It's absolutely not supposed to be a literal re-telling it was how the book made her feel when she read it as a teen and my inner 16 year old very much agreed. It is at times very much an exercise in style over substance, but what style. Absolutely not a perfect film but a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours spent at the cinema and hopefully will drive a lot of young people to the source material. If it's not your thing that's fine but the idea it will be a flop is ridiculous and I also think it's great that two of the biggest films of the year so far are helmed by female directors - in a similarly gothic vein I'm looking forward to Maggie Gyllenhal's new film about Bridge of Frankenstein too!

Me too. The Times review was not positive. It’s a shame as the novel owes much to the Gothic novels which preceded it and some of the themes of control, manipulation and revenge would have modern day relevance well beyond a “love story”.

I’ve booked to go see it with colleagues 🙈 - we’re all English teachers. I’ve not read any reviews, but the trailers I’ve seen don’t appear to be anything like the book.

I have just watched the Laurence Olivier version! Obviously very dated but the gold standard as far as I am concerned and made me cry (again!)

sounds more ludicrous than I had imagined

I think Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in the 90s would have been perfect and had Tim Burton directed it, that would have been the classic we all wanted.

I think I'd be in tears of despair if I watched it

I saw it today. I prefer the Lawrence Olivier/merle oberon version.
I still enjoyed it, the interiors and Margot's dresses were amazing and OTT!
Film adaptations of books rarely live up to the original though because you build up a picture in your head of the characters etc.
But the cinema was freezing, and all the 'Wuthering' on the soundtrack was making g me feel even colder!

Guys, this is testing me for real. I feel so stupid,” says Grace Deutsch, whose profile goes by the name Grace’s Mini Library, in a typical TikTok post about Wuthering Heights. “And I have a theory that anyone who says that they absolutely loved this book only says that to sound smart. I’m so serious, because, like, what do you mean?!

The above is a Gen Z person writing about her experience of reading the actual book. I think youngsters who read the book based on the film will possibly give up. Unless they're English Literature students possibly.

There was an article in the Daily Fail today (I visited elderly mum after seeing the film!) about Gen Zs being distraught by the film as they were expecting a happy ending 🤦🏼‍♀️

I must admit that I didn't really feel particularly emotionally involved/invested in it though, not even at the end. It could have been slightly shorter (maybe cut a bit of the soft porn section!)

But so what? If they hadn’t seen the film they might not have ever tried? Maybe it’ll introduce them to it. Maybe they’ll give up, it’s certainly different, maybe they’ll read it all, and they can decide themselves if they like it.

I don’t think it’s a universally loved look. It’s well respected but I think a lot of people found it a hard read, I think it’s meant to be! I only read it when I was 38. I find the coveting of it a bit pretentious tbh, no one owns WH, it’s not uneducated to not like it, nor enjoy it, and it’s not uneducated to enjoy an artistic interpretation of it. I enjoyed the film more than the book, there I said it! I think books and films are separate entities, they do different things and can be respected separately, films can’t usually convey the depth and breadth of a book, but maybe for me in the case of WH that’s not a bad thing 😂

Have just caught last 15 mins of WH on TV. It was the 1939 version with Merle Oberon, Larry the luvvie, David Niven. Obvs US the rooms are so big and staircase so wide. DP says 13inches to the foot scale.
Shall try and find it on Catch-up tomorro.

There's a 1978 BBC serial on iPlayer at the moment which is very faithful to the book in all its savagery and fully covers the second half with Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw. Also a recent interview with Kay Adshead (who played Cathy) talking about the filming.

Yes I've started watching that.

I live a 10 minute drive away from Howarth, home to the Brontes and the Museum. Absolutely love Howarth and I’m kind of dreading the crowds descending on the place after connecting with the story. But I’m sure it will be welcome by the businesses there. Some beautiful independent and quirky shops. Everyone should visit Howarth at least once in their lifetime.

SPOILER ALERT 🚨

watched the film on Friday. Read the book twice in my teen years and glad that I didn’t have a fresh memory of the actual plot. As a stand alone I enjoyed the film on its own merit. No it was not faithful to the book.

I watched the film with my eldest adult dd. She now wants to read the book as I told her it wasn’t the same. She had to try to shut her ears off as we left the screen as another woman was telling her companions what the actual book storyline is. My mobility is poor so I struggled down the stairs making overhearing difficult to avoid.

The previous poster who is taking her 15 year old daughter 😂 she is going to have an awkward ride home in the car. Cathy in this film is caught having a wank on the moors by Heathcliff and he then sucks her fingers.

I’m boycotting it, I think EF peaked at Promising Young Woman and I can’t say I fancy her adaptation of what is one of my favourite books ever.

I spent all my summers in Haworth as a child at my grandparents and still visit family there frequently.

I haven’t read a promising review yet and I just don’t think I need to see it or listen to the butchering of the Yorkshire accents.

I enjoyed it but I can see why some purists didn’t like it.

Some of the criticism (not here) is starting to sound like those Star Wars wankers who think they can do a better job than Lucasfilm and start a crowdfunding campaign to make their own.

I saw it tonight, I agree it’s not for the purists but it’s still a very entertaining and scenic film with lots of good moments and chemistry. I think it went so off piste compared to the book that there’s no comparison to be drawn really, it’s a kind of standalone thing to be judged on its own merits. So in that sense I wasn’t disappointed.

Read it for A level and hated it. But then, compared to my other A level texts (Hamlet, Paradise Lost), it just didn't grab me. We found Cathy insufferable and wouldn't have put up with hc. Although it's been 30 years, so I may be forgetting stuff too.
Read again in uni.
Read again recently and found it much more enjoyable. Lockwood's prissiness is highly amusing; like he's walked into the wrong novel. Nelly Dean is much more a character than I remembered.
I kind of got Cathy more too. I'm not sure it's hc himself she's actually in love with, or what he represents. She spends an awful lot of time looking out of windows at the moors and hc is that. But she recognises that to marry him would mean poverty. At 17, I would have been all: who cares about that? But she's actually more sensible and understands that doing what society would have her do makes long term sense.

And a hc and Cathy romance would have totally burned itself out.

I'm going for work in just under a month's time.