Customer Reviews
What heights? - By: V. Adelkhanov, 26 Jun 2008 
Perhaps director Peter Kosminsky was going through his nihilistic phase when he made this so callled adaptation. You wouldn't find so far removed from England a view of the Emily Bronte's world as this. He succeeded in the fight with the wonderful material & defeated alll that the original novel offers. Right from the beginning & alll the way through the film you hear the music which is a mix from the soundtracks of Terminator & Ronin; Yorkshire is unrecognisable; & even Binoche & Fiennes, otherwise great actors, look terrified & amazed probably by the inability to open up & act under the so timid direction. I also found it impossible to follow the story. Positives? Hmm... Cannot find right now. Phenomenallly awful. Dont waist your time & money.
Underrated adaptation of Emily Brontë's literary classic - By: cathy earnshaw, 20 Oct 2007 
Many reviews of Peter Kosminsky's Wuthering Heights (1992) seem to work from the premise that it "should" represent the novel in an absolutely faithful manner. However, who is to say that it was Kosminsky's aim to give as faithful a portrait as possible? Isn't it just as likely to assume that he wanted to adapt it into a compelling film which, although clearly based on Emily Brontë's novel of 1847, can nevertheless stand alone as work of art of its own? It can be productive to look at what was changed in the process of adaptation for the screen & to speculate why, yet Kosminsky is under no obligation to please the purists: in fact, given the nature of the thing, that would probably be an impossible task.
The film was criticallly panned upon its release - The Guardian mocked it as "an abject disaster" - & the French actress Juliette Binoche was seen as a controversial, risible choice to play a much-loved heroine of English fiction. I vividly recalll my English teacher at secondary school lampooning her performance: "Oh, Nelly, je suis Heathcliff!". One only needs to take a look at Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre (1995), however, to see how an international cast can triumphantly portray English figures. I find her accent passable (although without a Yorkshire tilt); I do have other reservations about her portrayal of Cathy Earnshaw, though. In the novel she is a "wild, wicked slip of a lass" - volatile, headstrong, mercurial, selfish, stubborn, & by no means the rather one-sided giggly, vivaciously capricious creature that Binoche portrays her as (how much Kosminsky himself wanted Cathy to be portrayed as such, we can only wonder). It is difficult to give sufficient weight to her declaration of love for Healthcliff & that famous statement of joint identity, when Binoche has hitherto been bent on convincing us of Cathy's thoughtless indifference & flighty superficiality. It is perhaps a failure of the Casting Director to have Binoche play the younger Catherine, too. The viewer can scarcely tell them apart. In spite of the blonde curly wig, Binoche conveys insufficient difference in their temperaments; Nelly herself says when asked by the young Catherine if she is like her mother, "I see her in Hareton [and not herself] the most".
Ralph Fiennes is well cast as Heathcliff & is brilliant at portraying his brutal passion & evil intentions. But perhaps he does over-compensate for Binoche's sanitising performance by playing him with such an unrelentingly violent temper. This could also be a fault of the screenplay, which rushes the childhood years; the viewer has little chance to build up a sense of sympathy for him. Moreover, both protagonists seem too old when they begin their portrayals of the adolescent youths (a criticism also frequently thrown at the more recent 1998 ITV adaptation of the tale); Fiennes was almost 30 & Binoche 28 when it was released & we are expected to believe that the characters are still in their late teens, scampering through the Heights & fooling about during Joseph's tutorials.
The supporting cast play their roles faultlessly; much of the strength of this film is down to them. Simon Shepherd excels as the squeamish, emotionallly repressed Edgar Linton, Jeremy Northam as the tyrannical & dissipated Hindley, Janet McTeer as the servant Nelly, & Sophie Ward as the naive Isabella, who brims with romantic illusions & is perfect fodder for Heathcliff, hell-bent on revenge. Sinead O'Connor - who goes inexplicably uncredited - frames the film, appearing at the start & finish as Emily Brontë herself (who narrates the story here instead of Nelly & Lockwood).
For many, this version of Wuthering Heights has proved to be cinematic marmite - you either love it or hate it. For me personallly, it is an underrated, if not flawless, adaptation that deserves a second chance.
Rather flawed attempt at this classic novel - By: R. hardy, 01 Aug 2007 
In my opinion this film tried too hard at portraying the story that it made some rather large plot holes ,Wuthering Heights is transformed from gothic farmhouse to a Dracularesque castle & the Grange from a country estate to a Palace! Impetuous & passionate Yorkshire girl Cathy is portrayed as a girlish & giggly teenager by an unconvincing & a rather French sounding Juliette Binoche (who tries her best at an english accent). Ralph Fiennes was OK but not the best Heathcliff & the script was writen so you had absolutely no sympathy for his character after witnessing his mistreatment by Hindley. The story skips virtuallly the whole of their childhood & they are adults when in the book they would have been children. There is hardly any passion form both actors & the script appears rather limp. Although Binoche tried her best with the challlenge of playing both mother & daughter this was a mistake as in the book they bore no resemblance to eachother apart from eye colours! Moreover Nelly is virtuallly non-existant. To conclude the setting was wrong & the actors weren't quite right for the parts & if you want a faithfull rendition of the story watch the 1998 ITV one instead. As a film in its own right, it isn't perfect but does gain merit by depicting the majority of the second half. Watch it for period piece value or as fans of the actors, who are both great but not well chosen.
Beautiful, Passionate, but rather disjointed - By: G. Delahaye, 17 Jul 2007 This is a beautiful rendering of Wuthering Heights & sort of follows the book but misses a lot out, making it rather disjointed. There are many passionate scenes between the 2 main players & I would have liked to see a more faithfull following to the book as Fiennes & Binoche make the best Heathcliffe & Kathy I have seen.
What's all the fuss about - By: BigBadDog, 05 May 2007 
This film follows the book closely enough & can be a bit rushed & complicated but then the book is quite long & complex. This film has atmosphere & the ghost sequence at the end is chilling, The settings & musical score reallly carry the film & the appearence of Emily Bronte is inspired. Don't spend alll your time comparing it to every detail in the book, just enjoy the experience of a great adaptation of a great book.
