Wuthering Heights

Being released to take advantage, no doubt, of another obscure little movie which also paired Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche (I think it was called The English Patient), this 1992 version of Emily Brontë’s classic love story only played Europe and cable, which is why you missed it. Well, here’s your chance to see a decent mangling of--in my humble opinion--the greatest novel in the English language. Fiennes stars as Heathcliff, the strong-willed orphan boy who, after he’s taken in as a free servant by the Linton family, becomes bosom buddies with the fiery Catherine Linton and a mortal enemy of Cathy’s brother Hindley. Growing up wild and independent on the English moors, the young Heathcliff and Cathy eventually do what the story dictates they must: become Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, who continue the escalating affair until Cathy marries the landed neighbor Edgar and Heathcliff disappears, only to return a couple years later with newfound wealth and a plan for revenge. Why the 1939 Laurence Olivier/Merle Oberon classic works, and this re-telling does not, is difficult to pin down. Anne Devlin’s script here seems quite faithful, Fiennes and Binoche try very hard to both capture the intricacy of their characters (Binoche, the winner by a hair), but ultimately, Heathcliff is too complex a creation for Fiennes; Cathy, too tough, for the two note (carefree or weepy) Binoche. It doesn’t help matters any that director Peter Kosminsky has helmed the film with very little sense of visual flair and even less of dramatic pacing. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)