Wuthering Heights
2011
**
Director: Andrea Arnold
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer, Solomon Glave, Oliver Milburn, Nichola Burley, Eve Coverley, James Northcote, Lee Shaw, Amy Wren
Some time in the 19th century, Mr. Earnshaw brings a homeless dark-skinned teenager back to his Yorkshire farmhouse, and names him Heathcliff. The boy feels like an unwanted outsider, but forms a strong bond with his adoptive sister, Catherine. As the years pass, their codependent friendship develops into a tumultuous love story. In spite of the restrictive 4:3 aspect ratio, Robbie Ryan's low-light camera work really captures the harshness of life on the foggy, muddy and windy moors. Overall, Andrea Arnold's adaptation of the first half of Emily Brontë's classic novel is atmospheric, but terribly long. All the mood comes at the expense of the characters who never truly come alive. Especially Heathcliff (for the first time played by a black actor), who remains an unsympathetic and undecipherable brooder. Halfway through the film, Arnold alienates us from the characters even further by changing her leading actors, who bear very little resemblance to their younger counterparts.
