Wuthering Heights (United Kingdom, 2009)
Instead of doing either the job application or the marking that I *should* be doing, I thought I'd write up a few thoughts on the ITV production of Wuthering Heights which has just finished screening on the ABC. I am a huge fan of the book and so any adaptation would have to work hard for me to enjoy it. I didn't think this production was perfect but I did enjoy it. In the main it seemed to stick to the events of the novel, although tonight's second and final episode seem to contain a few scenes inserted purely for dramatic affect.
I have always loved the passion of Wuthering Heights. That and the amazing descriptions of nature which the book is full of. I've never been one of those people who completely fell for Heathcliff and were convinced he was a new kind of Byronic hero and that thus all his crimes were entirely forgiveable. I think Heathcliff is a bastard but a bastard who is undone by circumstance and whom just *might* have been different had he been able to marry Cathy. Hindley, on the other hand, is an out and out bastard with no redeeming qualities - although perhaps if his father had loved him things again may have been different.
One of the things that frustrated me about the ITV production was how short it was - less than 2 1/2 hours all together which meant that events got squeezed together rapidly and apart from Heathcliff and Cathy, character development was relatively negligible. I don't think they left out anything hugely important though. No mention of Catherine and Hareton's upcoming wedding at the end but I did like the way they ended it with the funeral procession with Heathcliff and Cathy's ghosts looking out from the windows of Wuthering Heights.
I liked Tom Hardy a lot as Heathcliff, although I think it was a mistake to make him also play Heathcliff as a middle-aged man in the scenes set in the "present" - he was too young for that. Nonetheless I thought he was very charismatic as Heathcliff and conveyed his angst and violent nature as well as his passion for Cathy very well. At times I found myself falling for him just a bit, which as I said is not how I usually feel about Heathcliff! Tom Hardy's looks had a bit to do with that though...he is now on my list, along with Ben Wishaw, Dominic Cooper and Rupert Friend, of hot young Brit actors to watch out for.
I thought Charlotte Riley was a very good as Cathy. She made a good couple with Tom Hardy - wikipedia contains rumours the two continued their relationship off the set, although they quoted Riley as denying this but weren't clear whether she was denying the relationship or denying that Hardy left his partner and child to be with her. If Cathy had been poorly cast I would have been very disappointed, but Riley made a good fist of the role so I was more than satisfied with her performance.
I was confused by Heathcliff's reference in the first episode to sleeping with Cathy - the whole point of the book is that they have this passionate but unconsumated love. I was wondering at first if they were going to try to suggest that Catherine was Heathcliff's child rather than Edgar's but they didn't seem to imply that at all. That was one difference. There were a couple in this final episode - I don't recall Heathcliff almost killing Hindley (although it doesn't suprise me and is completely in character for him); and I certainly don't recall Cathy meeting Heathcliff on the moors when she is heavily pregnant. Nonetheless those scenes did make for good drama.
I would like to see a six or even eight hour mini-series of Wuthering Heights - there is so much in the book that anything less does feel rushed. I thought the creators made the right decision to cut Lockwood out of the story, since his only role would be as a narrator. I liked Sarah Lancashire as Nelly, although, opposite to Tom Hardy's Heathcliff, I found her "younger" Nelly/Ellen not as convincing as the middle-aged version. I guess it's easier to age someone than try to make them look younger!!
I liked the integration of some of the lines of dialogue from the book directly into scenes: they worked quite well. At one stage I thought Heathcliff might have said "What's up?" but I think it must have been "What's that?" as the former is just too modern and informal. I haven't spent the last few weeks teaching students not to use informal language when translating film subtitles from Chinese to English not to notice things like these!
Watching the series has made me want to read the book again, so that's got to be a good thing.
I have always loved the passion of Wuthering Heights. That and the amazing descriptions of nature which the book is full of. I've never been one of those people who completely fell for Heathcliff and were convinced he was a new kind of Byronic hero and that thus all his crimes were entirely forgiveable. I think Heathcliff is a bastard but a bastard who is undone by circumstance and whom just *might* have been different had he been able to marry Cathy. Hindley, on the other hand, is an out and out bastard with no redeeming qualities - although perhaps if his father had loved him things again may have been different.
One of the things that frustrated me about the ITV production was how short it was - less than 2 1/2 hours all together which meant that events got squeezed together rapidly and apart from Heathcliff and Cathy, character development was relatively negligible. I don't think they left out anything hugely important though. No mention of Catherine and Hareton's upcoming wedding at the end but I did like the way they ended it with the funeral procession with Heathcliff and Cathy's ghosts looking out from the windows of Wuthering Heights.
I liked Tom Hardy a lot as Heathcliff, although I think it was a mistake to make him also play Heathcliff as a middle-aged man in the scenes set in the "present" - he was too young for that. Nonetheless I thought he was very charismatic as Heathcliff and conveyed his angst and violent nature as well as his passion for Cathy very well. At times I found myself falling for him just a bit, which as I said is not how I usually feel about Heathcliff! Tom Hardy's looks had a bit to do with that though...he is now on my list, along with Ben Wishaw, Dominic Cooper and Rupert Friend, of hot young Brit actors to watch out for.
I thought Charlotte Riley was a very good as Cathy. She made a good couple with Tom Hardy - wikipedia contains rumours the two continued their relationship off the set, although they quoted Riley as denying this but weren't clear whether she was denying the relationship or denying that Hardy left his partner and child to be with her. If Cathy had been poorly cast I would have been very disappointed, but Riley made a good fist of the role so I was more than satisfied with her performance.
I was confused by Heathcliff's reference in the first episode to sleeping with Cathy - the whole point of the book is that they have this passionate but unconsumated love. I was wondering at first if they were going to try to suggest that Catherine was Heathcliff's child rather than Edgar's but they didn't seem to imply that at all. That was one difference. There were a couple in this final episode - I don't recall Heathcliff almost killing Hindley (although it doesn't suprise me and is completely in character for him); and I certainly don't recall Cathy meeting Heathcliff on the moors when she is heavily pregnant. Nonetheless those scenes did make for good drama.
I would like to see a six or even eight hour mini-series of Wuthering Heights - there is so much in the book that anything less does feel rushed. I thought the creators made the right decision to cut Lockwood out of the story, since his only role would be as a narrator. I liked Sarah Lancashire as Nelly, although, opposite to Tom Hardy's Heathcliff, I found her "younger" Nelly/Ellen not as convincing as the middle-aged version. I guess it's easier to age someone than try to make them look younger!!
I liked the integration of some of the lines of dialogue from the book directly into scenes: they worked quite well. At one stage I thought Heathcliff might have said "What's up?" but I think it must have been "What's that?" as the former is just too modern and informal. I haven't spent the last few weeks teaching students not to use informal language when translating film subtitles from Chinese to English not to notice things like these!
Watching the series has made me want to read the book again, so that's got to be a good thing.