I don’t know exactly why, but in recent years there seem to be more and more of these British TV adaptations of classic novels that look gorgeous, but nobody on screen seems even vaguely like a human being. Now I know that when adapting a novel, by necessity you have to cuts bits out and do some things by shorthand, but at the same time I don’t know why everyone on screen in these latest prestige productions has to be presented like a cardboard cut-out.
In this latest ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, it seems each character is only allowed one character trait, so Heathcliff is brooding and angry, Cathy is high-spirited, Hindley is the pure essence of evil and Edgar is just a well-meaning doofus who gets fed up. Yes, it’s true they were these things in the book as well, but there was a lot more to it than that, which this two-part adaptation fails to capture, except in brief snatches.
However it dutifully takes us through a slightly altered version of Heathcliff and Cathy’s story, told in flashback, from Heathcliff being brought from humble beginnings into a posh family, but never accepted by his reptilian new brother Hindley, to his falling for Cathy, only to feel deserted and eternally heartbroken when she marries Edgar. This causes him to become bitter, hate-filled and determined to seek revenge on all those around him. However the second part of the story, involving Heathcliff and his treatment of his, Cathy and Hindley’s children, while present, is rushed through at lightning speed, so that it’s there, if only briefly.
While this new version looks very handsome, it can’t stop itself from going over the top at every opportunity and telling the story in the way a GCSE student might recount it to you, rather than in a way that actually makes for good drama. From the script to the direction to the acting it’s all, well, a bit cartoonish. It also fails where many other Wuthering Heights adaptations have fallen down in the past, in the depiction of Heathcliff. He is admittedly an incredibly tough character to portray, as he spends much of the time being incredibly cruel and full of spite, yet you still need to understand what’s driven him to this and at the very least you need to appreciate why both Cathy and Isabella are so obsessed with him, and also how his eternal connection to Cathy, forged when they were children, underpins everything he does. Unfortunately after the first 20-minutes he’s solely a cruel twat, and there’s little that allows you to understand the passions and obsessions either he or people surrounding him possess.
However the Blu-ray does look very nice, and while there is quite a lot of grain during some of the darker scenes, otherwise it all looks very handsome. Admittedly the picture quality isn’t as good as many Blu-rays of big, expensive Hollywood movies, but even so it’s a good looking disc compared to a lot of the TV HD discs we’ve had. However you just get a normal Dolby Digital soundtrack, rather than any of the spiffy new hi-def audio formats, but it serves its purpose well. The only real special features is a brief behind-the-scenes featurette, which is okay, but has more the feel of advertising than anything genuinely informative.
Ultimately though, as with most attempts to adapt Wuthering Heights, those who want to know why Bronte’s story has become so beloved will only really understand by reading the book, but if you don’t mind a rather OTT and simplified version without a believable human being in sight, this is a very good-looking version.
Overall Verdict: It’s a tough book to adapt, and this version is just too simplistic and lacking in fleshed out characters to succeed. It looks nice though.
Special Features:
Making Of Featurette
ITV BD Trailer
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
