Wuthering Heights as seen on Masterpiece Theatre

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
as seen on Masterpiece Theatre
2009

First off, let's get one thing very clear. This is NOT your mother's Wuthering Heights. Nor is this the Wuthering Heights you may have been forced to sit through in tenth grade English class. This is a grown up, sexy, dark, haunting Wuthering Heights. Get your paper bags and your smelling salts, because this film may cause swoons and shortness of breath.

Book purists will be satisfied with the faithful interpretation presented here in the film. There are very few changes, the chief among them, being the ages of Cathy and Heathcliff when they first meet the Lintons, and then the ensuing courtship. In the book Cathy and Heathcliff are quite young, barely teenagers, when they first come upon the Lintons. The ensuring courtship seems to take place not far from that age, which might seem a little awkward. In the film, both Cathy and Heathcliff are portrayed a slightly older, thus when the courtship and proposal happen, there's less squirming and questions about age. Any other alterations in the film are minor, artistic, and true to the characters and storyline. (Remember few movies are EVER exactly like the book.)

While the book is an undisputed classic, it shines in this film. Yorkshire and the moors which figure so heavily in the book are given enough respect in the film to become characters in the film itself. The camera work, the location, the cinematography, everything is just beautiful. It is not beautiful like a Hollywood sound stage. This film was actually made in Yorkshire and on the moors. So what Bronte herself was talking about, what she had grown accustomed to living among, we are able to see and witness. It is a desolate beauty, a beauty that is wild, and sad, and haunting all at the same time. (On a side note, the actress who plays Cathy - Charlotte Riley - is the first Yorkshire woman to perform the role. So both what we see and hear is authentic.)

The book's prose allows us to understand there's some attraction and jealousy between Cathy and Heathcliff, in the film that love affair, an affair that destroys all around them if they cannot have each other, comes to life with such heat that you might just find your wall paper peeling. (Keep in mind that when one of them gets spiteful, the coldness of heart might be enough to freeze the paper in place. So don't redecorate just yet.)

Ladies, kick the men out of the house for a spell, schedule slumber party, or take advantage of a camping/hunting/fishing/ ... trip and curl up for a spell.

It runs 141 minutes. It was a Masterpiece Theatre mini-series. It's not rated. But if it were, it would certainly not be R, nor would it be G. Available at your public library.


Here's a few scenes to whet your appetite :)


The trailer: