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Those to whom Emily Brontë’s only novel, Wuthering Heights, is important, have approached Emerald Fennell’s adaptation warily. It’s a book that a lot of women have grown up on, and the trailers raised questions. Would it be too steamy? Too modernised? Would it miss the point? We, however, residing outside that demographic and never having read the novel, can’t meaningfully consider the issue of adaptation, and are more interested in the film taken on its own terms. Is it good?
The answer is yes. Fennell’s direction is visually expressive and inventive, and tonally confident. We disagree on aspects of Cathy and Heathcliff’s dynamic, José arguing that theirs is as deep as a romance gets despite – or perhaps because of – how toxic they are for one another; Mike questioning Cathy’s commitment and suggesting that the film doesn’t sell the idea that social status and financial obligation requires her to forgo Heathcliff. We also consider the blind casting, sexual dynamics and depiction of BDSM (or BDSM-like) activities, and the female gaze that’s built in to everything – this is a film about a woman, based on a novel by a woman, screenwritten, directed and produced by women, and aimed at a female audience.
With José Arroyo of First Impressions and Michael Glass of Writing About Film.
Eavesdropping at the Movies 