Wuthering Heights (4/5 Stars)

I “read” Wuthering Heights in high school, and I make sure to put that in quotations because my lasting impression of the book was incomprehensibility. I have an idea of what made it so. I vaguely remember my teacher (forget which one) remarking that there was an original Welsh version (or something like that, maybe English still but a lot of Welsh words) and it was easier to read the translation to modern English version. But I never got around to reading the newer version, and indeed never got all the way through the incomprehensible version I had started reading. Not many books in my life have defeated me, but I was young, and this one did.

I wonder if I would have more luck giving it a try today. I also recall trying to read “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen in high school and not getting past five pages, the dense and high falutin language intimidating my pubescent mind. But ten years later (more or less), after much practice in reading, I was able to manage with pleasure what had frustrated me before.

So, could I read “Wuthering Heights” now? Maybe. It isn’t high on my list though. And having seen this movie, I’m not more inclined to read it than before. You see, I know this movie is way different than the book, it has to be given the way it has been approached. And part of me, well, I kind of like the idea of thinking that the book is more or less like the movie I just watched. Because that would be kind of awesome.

We can make a list of what is different from the book and by the end of this list, we will have to conclude that it is not fair to judge the movie by its faithfulness. The writer/director Emerald Fennel has clearly committed to her own vision, drawing inspiration from the novel, and nothing further.

We can first posit on our basic understanding of romantic literature of the 19th century that the book contained depictions of the English moors as they were and the people who inhabited them at the time. That these people acted within the typical bounds of typical people and when they acted eccentrically, they acted within what was deemed eccentric for eccentric people. That they had at their disposal those materials, costumes, and furnishings that one could purchase around that time. In other words, the book confined itself to the bounds of realism.

Where to start with the movie. Let’s start with the casting. In the role of Nelly, a female companion to the daughter of the Lord of Wuthering Heights, is Hong Chau, who is Chinese. The character is Nelly is not Chinese in the book. This movie uses color blind casting in two main roles (The other role is Edgar, one of the lesser angles in the Love Square, is the Actor Shazad Latif, who is mixed race English/Pakistani). These choices continue to prove the rule of color-blind casting, which is, in a story where race/ethnicity does not matter to the plot (usually because in the world of the story, everyone is of the same race, Wuthering Heights being no exception) it doesn’t matter what what race/ethnicity the actors are. Hong Chau, the actress, is well cast as Nelly. So is Shazad Latif.

Then there is Margot Robbie who would be the ideal choice for Cathy (one of the greater angles in the Love Square) fifteen years ago. She, at 36, is I believe playing a 20-year-old or something like that. It is a bit like Audrey Hepburn, at 32, playing Holly-Go–Lightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s who was 18 or something like that. Then there is Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff (another of the greater angles in the Love Square), who does not look like he belongs in the 19th Century at all. He is a male model from the 21st century. If you don't know what he looks like, take my word that he was perfectly cast as Elvis in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla.

I mentioned a Love Square. My basic understanding of the plot in both the book and movie is that Heathcliff and Cathy fell in love as children, but since Heathcliff was poor, Cathy married the rich guy next door, Edgar, but then Heathcliff leaves and comes back rich, and to torment Cathy and/or make her jealous, he becomes engaged with Edgar’s ward Isabella, played here excitedly by Allison Oliver, who is nearer to the correct age, race, and level of beauty than anyone else. Because these people are gorgeous, and adaptations can do what they want, Emerald Fennel has them engage in the very act of adultery (dare I say, the sex itself), which I’m pretty sure wasn’t in the book because I think I would have noticed that in high school. So the brooding, yearning, and unrequited love of the book is now brooding, yearning, and very requited, though still tragic. I bet that this is a more entertaining way to tell the story.

Then there is the cinematography, makeup, costumes, and the production value. It would seem that at every possible opportunity, Emerald Fennel told her team to just go for it and give her the most indulgent, sumptuous, and opulent option available. I mean, this movie is scrumptious. Look at Heathcliff riding his horse over the moors at golden hour. See Cathy’s RED DRESS make its way through a thick moorish fog. Edgar has a room in his house that has a fireplace made out of plaster hands. There are several scenes where the characters just happen to be doing and saying dramatic things while getting drenched in pouring rain. And on and on.

Forget accuracy. What I want from a writer/director is an idea that is committed too. You can say what you want about this movie being anachronistic or unfaithful, but it is clear that the deviations from realism are features, not bugs, as they say. Emerald Fennel had a vision that was over the top and she has delivered on that vision. To enjoy this movie, you must meet her on her terms. And enjoy this movie I did. As with any good B-movie or guilty pleasure (I could compare this with Road House, sure), the movie cannot be deemed “good” in the standard sense. You can’t be drawn into it like a “good” dramatic movie because so many of the choices that have been made are not serious. But it is Not Boring. And, if you are in the mood to curl up on the couch with a pint of Super-Fudge Chocolate Ice Cream and a full-bodied glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to observe the hot acts of gorgeous people on cold moor nights for a couple of hours, well, I recommend it.