''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights'' is a 1992

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...

's 1847 novel ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' directed by Peter Kosminsky. It marked

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ralph Fiennes, various accolades, including a British Academy Film ...

's film debut. This particular film is notable for including the oft-omitted second generation story of the children of Cathy, Hindley and Heathcliff.

Plot

The story is that of the fierce passionate love between the moor-loving, wild girl Catherine Earnshaw and the poor equally wild spirit her father takes in to be raised as her brother, Heathcliff. When her father dies, Catherine's biological brother, jealous that Heathcliff was their father's favorite, treats Heathcliff as a servant and has him beaten. The story tracks the story of Heathcliff's and Catherine's story of fierce love and the story of Heathcliff's rage, pain, jealousy and vengeance that he pitilessly enacts on the man that gets in the way of his marrying her, Edgar Linton. The story of Heathcliff and Catherine's love is painted in intense Romantic tones in contrast to the superficial artifice and shallow feeling of high society as represented by the Lintons. Ultimately Catherine dies and a devastated Heathcliff begs her to haunt him as a ghost. The story then follows how her daughter with Linton, and his son with Linton's sister – whom Heathcliff tricks into marrying him and then treats with great cruelty – fall in love. Theirs is the happy romantic ending that Heathcliff and Catherine are denied, except after death, walking as ghosts together on the moors.

Cast

Production

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

was forced to use the author's name in the title of the film as

Samuel Goldwyn Studio Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the lot located on the corner of Formosa Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, as well as the offices and stages that his company, Samuel Goldw ...

(later sold to

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

) owned the rights to the simple title ''Wuthering Heights'' due to the copyright on their 1939 film version of the novel. Paramount only distributed the film domestically with its International theatrical distributor at the time

United International Pictures United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M ...

distributing the film in the United Kingdom while independent distributors distributed the film in other countries. The film stars

as the tortured Heathcliff and

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 60 films, particularly in French and English, and has been the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Juliette Binoche, numerous accolades, ...

as the free-spirited Catherine Earnshaw, in a precursor to their later, successful collaboration on '' The English Patient''. The role of Heathcliff opened up doors for Ralph Fiennes to play

Amon Goeth Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Mononym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah * Amon of Toul ( 375– 423 AD), second recorded Bishop of ...

in ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

''. American director

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

said he liked Fiennes for Goeth because of his "dark sexuality."

Critical response

The film received mostly negative reviews from film critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a score of 25% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 4.20 out of 10. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote favorably of the film, and notes the fidelity of the movie to the dark sensuality and cruel side of Emily Brontë's character Heathcliff: "Ralph Fiennes makes a demonic Heathcliff, his startlingly blue eyes the only concession to a matinee audience. This performance reminds us that early reviewers of the book were not wrong, when they wondered at the morbidity of its romanticism."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights 1992 films 1992 romantic drama films British romantic drama films Films based on Wuthering Heights Romantic period films Films set in Yorkshire Films set in the 19th century Paramount Pictures films United International Pictures films Films directed by Peter Kosminsky Films scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto Films set in country houses British films about revenge 1992 directorial debut films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films English-language romantic drama films