While Ralph Fiennes is one of the best Heathcliffs I've ever seen and I was elated that the second generation was kept intact, this 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights left me indifferent. Accurate to the book it may be (for the most part), but as a film on its own merits, it isn't nearly as entertaining as other versions are.
Juliette Binoche is miscast as the passionate Catherine, proving much too cold for the part (a problem shared with the 1939 version, which cast the equally icy Merle Oberon). It was also a mistake to have her play her own daughter, Cathy: the character is supposed to resemble her father Edgar, not her mother. Sticking a blonde wig on her is not good enough.
While I'm glad the second generation is there, they rush through it much too quickly, to the point where it felt tacked on. A shame, but I'll give the filmmakers points for trying at least. It's more than the other feature length versions of the book have done.
The look of the film is good, capturing the wild beauty of the moors and the genteel life of the 18th century upper class. The mood is appropriately Gothic. The music composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto is beautiful, capturing the raw emotion and darkness of the story just as well as Michel Legrand's score for the 1970 version captured the longing and otherworldly aspects. I enjoyed the framing device with Emily Bronte herself wandering the wilderness, going through an abandoned house as she begins to tell the story in voice over.
Overall, not a bad film and one of the better versions in terms of faithfulness to the original text, but Binoche's miscasting bogs down the central relationship and the rushed ending takes away much enjoyment.
Juliette Binoche is miscast as the passionate Catherine, proving much too cold for the part (a problem shared with the 1939 version, which cast the equally icy Merle Oberon). It was also a mistake to have her play her own daughter, Cathy: the character is supposed to resemble her father Edgar, not her mother. Sticking a blonde wig on her is not good enough.
While I'm glad the second generation is there, they rush through it much too quickly, to the point where it felt tacked on. A shame, but I'll give the filmmakers points for trying at least. It's more than the other feature length versions of the book have done.
The look of the film is good, capturing the wild beauty of the moors and the genteel life of the 18th century upper class. The mood is appropriately Gothic. The music composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto is beautiful, capturing the raw emotion and darkness of the story just as well as Michel Legrand's score for the 1970 version captured the longing and otherworldly aspects. I enjoyed the framing device with Emily Bronte herself wandering the wilderness, going through an abandoned house as she begins to tell the story in voice over.
Overall, not a bad film and one of the better versions in terms of faithfulness to the original text, but Binoche's miscasting bogs down the central relationship and the rushed ending takes away much enjoyment.