🎬 I promise every minute you spend either not intending to view or not actually viewing Wuthering Heights is a minute wasted. From its disorienting start (Husband turned to me and asked, “Are we in the right theater?”) to its expected and known conclusion, I believe it to be easily one of the finest moving pictures of the last century. It is entirely resplendent even in its incessant tragedy and glorious, damned and fated doom.
I gasped, “Oh my god,” out loud over and over because what I was seeing pulled breath out of my lungs which I couldn’t stop from happening. The scenery, costumes, performances - all of them pulled at me. Pulled at me, and yet I kept an emotional distance from the characters. I don’t mind because the story is devastating. It’s better for me to feel a bit detached and view it from an almost anthropological perspective.
Still, a movie has never given me chills until this one. The realism and grit, and the dreamy, overtly prominent symbolism ensure every single frame of film and shot composed are intentional and necessary. The stunning 5-10 second shot of Catherine’s wedding dress’s train billowing behind her as she walks through a desolate field (later echoed by heavy drapes billowing in Catherine’s desolate room) is worth the price of admission alone.
If this isn’t my absolute favorite movie then it has to be one of the top 2 or 3. (I can’t let go of The Wizard of Oz as my #1, but I’ll let this one bump The Shining down to #4 and place it at #2, moving Hedwig & The Angry Inch to #3.)
I have only two caveats: First: See it on a big, larger than life screen in Atmos. The couple hours you’ll spend suffering in a dumpy chain theater are worth it to be able to delight in every terrible detail. Tell them to stuff their weird studio promo, plastic giveaway compact with a logo on it (seriously wtf is that about?). I can see how a smaller screen and smaller sound system would leave viewers unimpressed. The movie doesn’t entirely rest on modern tech, but it certainly takes full advantage of it to create a cinematic experience unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. (And I saw Captain EO at Disneyland, just saying.)
Second: Consider it a standalone piece of art. Don’t look for a page-by-page adaptation of the novel or a scene-by-scene adaptation of the original movie. See it for what it is, and you’ll appreciate it more.
