Wuthering Heights
Well. Here we go. For all the chatter and discourse, the wide spread of ratings and opinions (even amongst my mutuals, which is shocking), Wuthering Heights is finally out, and to my shock, it's pretty tame and really bland in parts.
I'm just going to get this out of the way: this isn't an accurate adaptation. Having seen so many adaptations in the past few days, none of them are, and nor would I want them to be. In my opinion, the point of adaptation is never to reproduce or replicate a story from one medium to another, and I find that desire incredibly boring.
There's plenty of discussion to be had about the whitewashing of characters, the omission and race swapping of other characters, and the stark changes to the story, but for the purposes of this review, I will solely focus on the film presented.
When adapting to film, what I far prefer is somebody coming in with a distinct point of view and vision for the story they want to tell, and that Fennell does... well, kind of.
In her already incredibly controversial filmography, Fennell has presented such an eye for visuals, producing starkly unique images, images which provoke and challenge the audience and using the film medium to tell her story as much as dialogue and plot.
It really shouldn't be understated the technical craftsmanship on display in this film. I mean, seriously, this film is dripping in style. Fennell proves that she is more interested in making large-scale, high-budget stylish films than most of her contemporaries.
Having seen so many adaptations prior to this, it's so refreshing to see her vivid imagination burst on screen. She's not concerned with realism, a thing which plagues most modern blockbusters, and instead opts to make the most gorgeous film possible.
Sure, do the costumes and production design make sense for the time period? No, not at all, but it's not going for that. It's still using these elements to tell a story. The glossy pastel nature of Thrushcross Grange, filled with costumes of plastic, latex, and harsh block colours, symbolising the unnatural state of Cathy's life there, a life not filled with love. Rooms barren except for a few seats, rooms trapping her within her own skin, it is a phenomenal feat the design of this place.
Meanwhile, Wuthering Heights is a dark, bleak, but ultimately more real place, a place which could easily make monsters out of people. The nature between these places represents the time when they are both free from the shackles of their lives, a place where they are free to love.
The film follows in her stylistic footsteps of her previous endeavours by having a real master of sound. If there's a single aspect which understands the motivation of the novel, it has to be the delicate score and the soundtrack. The deep, harrowing strings reflecting the feelings of Cathy, the bursts into song when their love is on screen, it just works so well. Not to mention the soundtrack from Charli XCX, which is unbelievable, but that's its own thing.
At the end of the day, all of these technical elements could be brilliant, but if there's not a story there to match, then it's just not going to click, and this seems to be the aspect causing so much hate, but if I'm being honest, it's the part which confuses me the most.
The screenplay for this movie is so sanded down to the point that it essentially becomes a typical romance movie with a dash of manipulation.
Judging it just on the film presented, it's kind of boring? What Fennell has decided to do is really dial in on the obsessive nature of their love, of how they misinterpret each other and how their shackles in their life, the positions they are born into and the positions they force upon themselves keep them from being together. There's a clear link here to sex and that being the reason that keeps them coming back to each other, something I think is really interesting. If the film was interesting in exploring this any further than a montage of sex, some fingers in mouth and some broken eggs.
If Fennell was going to go in this direction, it would've been nice if she went for it. If she followed on from Saltburn and really made this into the physco sexual romance that's being told to you. Yes, that's not Wuthering Heights, but it's this version. That novel deals with repression and here it's more obsession, but I fear it's just not all that interesting watching their romance.
There are great performances from Robbie and Elordi. I really liked Robbie and the film feels more so from her obsessive perspective and the regret and guilt she feels. But really when it comes down to it, it's quite a bland romance between characters that have very little going for them. Cathy gets quite a bit. I do like the intention behind really narrowing in on her as it feels like you witness her spiral more naturally, but Heathcliff is really not that interesting and when he returns the film kind of loses what they want to do with his character. He engages in BDSM with Isabella why?
There are threads of an interesting story here, linking sex and death like the intro to this film which goes nowhere, playing into the physco sexual realitonship between Cathy and Heathcliff since they were kids, the queering of Nelly and how that changes their relationship, nothing is exploring in much detail to the point it just feels like a very well-made standard romance. I truly am so shocked that this has provoked as large reactions as it has as I think it's pretty standard romance, I want Fennell to go full freak