(no subject)
"THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL" (1996) Review
I cannot count the number of times I have seen either movie or television adaptations of either Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel, "Jane Eyre" or Emily Brontë's novel of the same year, "Wuthering Heights". There was also a third sister who was also a novelist, namely Anne Brontë. She had also written a famous novel. Published in 1848, it was titled "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
Despite the novel's success upon its publication, the reputation of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" seemed to have faded over the years . . . to the point that many literary critics had developed a dismissive attitude toward it by the early 20th century. However, the novel's reputation has grown considerably during the last decades of the 20th century. Although there have been references to Brontë's novel during this later period, there have been only two on-screen adaptations of the novel by the BBC - a four-part miniseries in 1968 and a three-part miniseries in 1996. I have yet to see the 1968 production, but I have seen the more recent miniseries at least three times. After my latest viewing, I decided to write a review.
"THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL" begins with the arrival of a mysterious woman in black named Mrs. Helen Graham and her young son Arthur at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan manor located in Yorkshire. Helen is determined to establish an independent existence as an artist in order to support herself and Arthur. Due to her aloof and blunt manner, her new neighbors become determined to pry into her private life and learn everything about her. Only one neighbor, an attractive local farmer named Gilbert Markham manages to befriend her. But when Helen becomes aware of the growing attraction between her and Gilbert, she decides to reveal the truth about her past. Gilbert learns from reading her diary that she had fled from her husband, who is an alcoholic landowner. He also happens to be an abusive spouse, a womanizer, and a destructive influence on their young son.
As far as I know, there have been three previous Brontë productions in which its narratives were conveyed in a non-linear fashion - "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" (1939), "JANE EYRE" (2006) and "JANE EYRE" (2011). However, both Emily and Charlotte Brontë wrote their respective novels with linear narratives. Anne Brontë did not . . . at least for her 1848 novel.