Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights info:

Director: Emerald Fennell

Writer: Emerald Fennell and Emily Brontë

Starring: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, and Hong Chau

Intro

Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. It’s mid-February now. That means Valentine’s Day is behind us, the Super Bowl has come and gone, and there is nothing left to do but wait for Spring, March Madness, and the Academy Awards. Thank goodness this is the shortest month of the year because it feels like the longest. Hopefully the nice weather gets here soon, but in the meantime… Movies!!!

While I’m writing this, it’s the day after Valentine’s Day. My wife and I had a very lovely day together. The kids stayed with grandparents while we had some time together shopping, dinner at a new restaurant, and a movie, of course. What better movie to watch on a day for lovers than a love story? But before I talk too much about “Wuthering Heights”, let me get my spoiler warning out of the way. If you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to know what happens, then head over to my homepage and check out what else I have going on. Then come back here when you are ready.

Wuthering Heights recap

Ok, “Wuthering Heights” is directed by Emerald Fennell. She’s only directed three major motion pictures, and she’s already making a name for herself. Between this and “Saltburn” alone, a lot is going on. It’s wild to think that this story is taken from the novel Wuthering Heights, published in 1847 (written by Emily Brontë. To think that a story written 179 years ago is still garnering enough attention to have a movie made now is quite an honor.

I have to be honest, other than the name, I knew very little about “Wuthering Heights” until this past weekend. I also did some research and found out that this is not a direct retelling of the story, but more a provocative interpretation that really pushes the limits. The story begins as Heathcliff is taken in by the Earnshaw family. The young daughter, Cathy, is overjoyed, and the two become pretty good friends and start doing everything together.

As the two grow older, Heathcliff (Elordi) and Cathy (Robbie) discover too late that they are in love with each other. Cathy is asked to be married by Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif). At first, she accepts, but when she wants to back out, she is tricked by her longtime caretaker, Nelly (Chau). Heartbroken, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights, and Cathy (also heartbroken) marries Edgar.

After five years, Heathcliff returns, and that starts a dangerous game between the two star-crossed lovers. Cathy fails to tell him that she is pregnant with Edgar’s baby, and the two of them continue to meet in private to consummate their love. Eventually, she has to push him away because of her marriage and upcoming birth. This leads Heathcliff to marry Edgar’s sister Isabella (Alison Oliver). The marriage is nothing more than a torment to Cathy, the same way he feels about her.

She toys with his emotions, and in return, he punishes her by being with another woman. After this goes on for a while, Cathy thinks that she has lost the baby. But when Nelly convinces her otherwise, she continues on her destructive path. In the end, she had lost the baby, and Cathy died from a mixture of that, despair, heartbreak, and starvation. It’s quite a disturbing scene, and Heathcliff’s reaction is very real and very human.

My thoughts

As I said earlier, I knew nothing of the story of “Wuthering Heights”, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Since I’ve watched it, I’ve done some research and found out that the book was just as raw, tender, and unhinged as the movie… just in a different way. Both Cathy and Heathcliff want to be together, but are torn apart by various forces. Then they self-sabotage both themselves and the ones they care about. Even as I write this and have had two days to think, it’s still hard to know where my mind is with this film.

I can’t say it’s a bad movie because the actors really did a phenomenal job in their roles. Robbie and Elordi both do great. So many times, you can really see the pain and agony on their faces and see it in their actions. The score sounded great and went along with the story very nicely. I’m not a big fashion/costume design guy, but that all looked in place as well.

The bad side was that this was just a very uncomfortable movie to see. I’m sure it didn’t help that my wife absolutely loathed the entire thing, and we were watching it on a Valentine’s Day date night. Pretty much every main character in the movie has something bad happen to them, has a sad story, or gets taken down by all of the bad around them. Technically, it’s still a love story, but it’s also a tragedy at the same time. Should I like it? Maybe. Do I like it? … I still don’t know.

It’s rare to watch a movie where there are two main characters who are so eerily similar. At times, they are likable, but most times they are not. Other than the love scenes, when they were on screen together, that was when they were at their worst. The longing for each other was almost better than being together. In the end, I think I will settle on a 6 out of 10 for this one. Not terrible, but also not really enjoyable to watch. If that makes any sense.

Watch or wait?

Well, if you couldn’t tell by now, I would wait. I’m sure there are plenty of people just like me who rushed out to see it on opening weekend, thinking it was a love story. But, how it makes you feel afterward, you’d be better off being at home with a pillow to cuddle with immediately.

Ok, that’s it for me this week. That means it’s your turn. I know it’s still fairly new, but have you seen “Wuthering Heights” yet? If so, I would really like your opinion on it. Are you torn on your thoughts? What did you think of the story or the characters in the story? Let me know in the comments, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.