Saturday, June 9th @ 12pm > Dreamland Film Center > 812 E Market St
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When you see Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, forget about the plot of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel and remember how the novel feels—desolate, passionate, and desperate. Many events from the novel that spark such feelings occur in the film: rebellious Cathy and wild Heathcliff, raised like sister and brother, still share a brutal love against the backdrop of the windswept moors. But instead of story, the film relies on imagery to convey animal need and spiritual catastrophe. The camera ponders deeply textured landscapes accentuated by palettes coordinated with phases of characters’ lives. A plunge into blank-screen darkness becomes more important than world-famous dialogue. A moth or a flower fills the frame with the same marred beauty as close-ups of the leads’ faces. The faces themselves are a likely starting point for debate: for the first time, the foundling Heathcliff is black, which shapes the plot in both subtle and startling ways while offering keen insight into the novel’s ambiguously “dark” antihero. Some viewers might also find controversy in the overt and sometimes grotesque sensuality. The film’s bold moves make it an experience unto itself, and it’s a powerful addition to its namesake’s legacy. – Andrew Cooper
DIRECTOR Andrea Arnold
SCREENWRITER Andrea Arnold, Olivia Hetree
PRODUCERS Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin Loader
CINEMATOGRAPHER Robbie Ryan
EDITORS Nicolas Chaudereuge
CAST Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Solomon Glave, Shannon Beer, Steve Evets, Oliver Milburn