New Wuthering Heights production

Yesterday there was a truly excoriating article about it in the main part of the Times - and a gushingly enthusiastic piece in the Arts section, by a journalist who was raving about the male lead (‘hottest man on the planet’ ) or some such, and TBH sounded about 14 and a half.

Must say I had expected to avoid it anyway, since I can’t bear period pieces - especially classics - where they’ve ’sexed them up’ and modernised the dialogue so that it sounds so wrong and really grates on me.

Wuthering Heights can never be well-adapted for stage or screen, it is far too complex a novel.

I don't know if the director ever read the book, but I suspect not.

I won't be seeing the film...

I think a lot of people will go to see it but probs the same crowd who loved fifty shades of grey.
Such a shame that we treat our literary giants like this, a sign of times, making everything about instant gratification and ‘likes’.

There is undefined violence in the novel, and all-consuming passions without explicit sex, and everybody seems to hate every body else, but the costumes and the adaptation, sound dreadful.

Such a shame that we treat our literary giants like this I agree Fallingstar .

I remember a school trip (all girls) to see Wuthering Heights in 1970. The film starred Timothy Dalton and was greatly enjoyed by a hormonal group of 14-15 year olds!

Im quite looking forward to seeing it !!

I would rather see/read something for myself, than take a critics word.

I saw the trailer when I went to see Hamnet.

lavish! Not in tune with my memories of the book umpteen years ago.

It's been very hyped up. However critics can often be very divided about films, reviews can differ between 5* and 1* and of course one person's opinion isn't definitive, or shouldn't be. In the end audiences will make up their own minds. The Box Office receipts will bear that out.

keepingquiet

Wuthering Heights can never be well-adapted for stage or screen, it is far too complex a novel.

I don't know if the director ever read the book, but I suspect not.

I won't be seeing the film...

It could probably work as a TV adaptation - given enough episodes.

I read Wuthering Heights years ago but didn't really enjoy it. I disliked the heavy use of dialect as it slowed down the pace for me, disliked every character intensely and didn't enjoy the storyline. The setting seemed so bleak to me too.
I watched the original film with Laurence Olivier which was highly sanitised.
I'll pass.

I watched the film 'Emily' the other night about Emily Brontë. It depicted her as being very strange and odd, also being reclusive and unwilling to engage with people. Not really knowing much about her, does anyone know if she really was like this?

They also portrayed her having a love affair with her father's curate William Weightman which, according to Google, never happened.
It seems every time they make a new adaptation of a classic novel, they have to turn it into a Brigerton and completely spoil the original book.

Have read a lot about the Brontes, and read most of the Brontë novels. In my opinion Emily was definitely ploughing her own furrow, today we would probably say she is neurodiverse, certainly she never conformed to what was expected of a young woman growing up in a parsonage at that time. Quite often she would just take off and walk across the moors often caught out by a storm and come home drenched. I don’t think any attempts to rein her in would have been happily received, but by all accounts she loved her family dearly.
A free spirit in a time when women were stifled is how I prefer to think if her. Certainly marriage would never have suited her.

It was Anne Bronte who had a brief romance with Weightman, but why should facts get in the way of a good story?

I watched the beginning of the film Emily and thought what I saw quite good, and may catch the ending later.

She was a fierce spirit for sure, and that is well documented- but she had a tough life, as did all the sisters.

The film critic I read said it ought to have been titled Fifty Shades of Grim.

I started watching Emily but didn’t like what I saw so gave up. It did have some very good reviews though when it first came out.

Grandmabatty

I read Wuthering Heights years ago but didn't really enjoy it. I disliked the heavy use of dialect as it slowed down the pace for me, disliked every character intensely and didn't enjoy the storyline. The setting seemed so bleak to me too.
I watched the original film with Laurence Olivier which was highly sanitised.
I'll pass.

I didn’t really enjoy it, either, despite being a fan of other Brontë sister novels. I often re-read favourites, but have never felt the urge to revisit WH.

Withering Heights is one of my favourite novels but despite there being at least 30 screen adaptions (cinema and TV) over the years, I am yet to see one that isn't woeful. Its complexity and imagery make it impossible to translate into film. I believe Emily Bronte was writing about herself (or at least her inner self) when she created Cathy.

I have to admit Wuthering Heights is not my favourite either but I do like Emily’s poetry. I think the book is a tortured and complex tale of possession and jealousy. Is by no means a simple romance or a lust filled romp.
Have read Jane Eyre many times though, is a firm favourite, and the other works of the Brontë sisters.
If they ever do a fifty shades of grey production of Jane Eyre - perhaps they already have - will not be happy.
They should stick to Bridgerton and similar productions instead of trashing literary works that our nation should be proud of.
Am pretty sure the French wouldn’t do this to Balzac or Hugo.

I hated shades of grey, but going tomorrow to see new wuthering heights film. I have read the reviews but prepared to be open minded. Baz Lermans version of Romeo and Juliet was outstanding, but cautiously received by some.

The book was always problematic in its message about love and obsession. Is that love? Is it what we want to teach our daughter. Not seen it but maybe they have shown that?

If you saw saltburn and didn’t like it then you won’t like this ., personally I like to see a director shake things up .. and the visuals if nothing else will be great ..
where would we be if the arts did not challenge our perspectives . Life would be so boring and predictable ..

Blimey. Think a good number of you need to chill. It’s art. It’s interpretation. It’s creativity. No one is forcing you to watch it.

As for the snooty comment about the director not reading the book 😳 is this based on firm evidence?!

Maybe it’s me that needs to chill (and consider my membership of Gransnet 🤣). And yes, I am a grandma. Pile on if you want!

It's only a film and you don't have to see it if you don't want to. The director Emerald Fennel a one time actor in Call the Midwife, directed Saltburn, I watched it twice because the first time I had no idea what was going on. It was quite shocking and a complete copy of The Amazing mr Ripley. This has completely put me off seeing Wuthering Heights. But I probably will because I am a huge fil family.