Imagine: "Wuthering Heights" set in present-day California. A cast of teenage soap opera stars which includes Aimée Osbourne (Ozzy's eldest daughter) in an apocryphal, totally expendable role. Heathcliff (Heath in the movie) as a wannabe rock star who rides his motorbike with Catherine (Cate) on the back. Emily Brontë's novel (the first half, in fact) retold as an extended, insufferably cheesy music video. Is this a hallucination? Unfortunately not. It is the TV movie "Wuthering Heights", produced by American Network MTV in 2003.
In spite of everything, the movie was not the absolute mess I was expecting when I rented the DVD.It is significantly at its best when it decides to be faithful to the novel. The setting, which substitutes Yorkshire moors for a stormy lighthouse in front of a brave sea, is surprisingly effective. The same can be said of the womby beach caves where the young lovers hide, a perfect double for the wooden bed of the novel. Moreover, the characterization of Heathcliff (blond Mike Vogel) as a young Kurt Cobain lookalike is not as crazy as it might sound. The destructive,passionate nature associated to Cobain's myth was always there in Brontë's hero. In the movie, Cate (Erika Christensen) settles for snobbish Edgar/ Edward (Christopher Masterson) mainly because she is afraid of the intensity that Heath's love requires.
Logically for an MTV production, the use of music is quite intelligent. The lovers' attachment is reflected by their "secret song" (the title is "More"), a ballad composed by Heath featuring vocals by Cate. Instead of the "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff" scene, Heath runs away because he feels betrayed when he hears Edward playing "More" on his violin. Whenever Cate longs for her lost love, there is always a radio or a CD playing the song.
On the other hand, Isabella/ Isabel's (an extremely young Katherine Heigl) transformation from spoiled brat to pitiful figure feels painfully real. After she makes Heath famous on the Internet in order to lure him into bed (this is the 21st century, after all), he dedicates "More" to Cate in his presentation concert. A tearful Isabel has nobody to comfort her except the teacher she used to bully ("Couldn't it be that he never loved you, my dear?").
Will this movie attract the new generations towards the novel? Maybe not, but it is remarkable to see how even in this era of cynicism, we still long for irrational love.
In spite of everything, the movie was not the absolute mess I was expecting when I rented the DVD.It is significantly at its best when it decides to be faithful to the novel. The setting, which substitutes Yorkshire moors for a stormy lighthouse in front of a brave sea, is surprisingly effective. The same can be said of the womby beach caves where the young lovers hide, a perfect double for the wooden bed of the novel. Moreover, the characterization of Heathcliff (blond Mike Vogel) as a young Kurt Cobain lookalike is not as crazy as it might sound. The destructive,passionate nature associated to Cobain's myth was always there in Brontë's hero. In the movie, Cate (Erika Christensen) settles for snobbish Edgar/ Edward (Christopher Masterson) mainly because she is afraid of the intensity that Heath's love requires.
Logically for an MTV production, the use of music is quite intelligent. The lovers' attachment is reflected by their "secret song" (the title is "More"), a ballad composed by Heath featuring vocals by Cate. Instead of the "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff" scene, Heath runs away because he feels betrayed when he hears Edward playing "More" on his violin. Whenever Cate longs for her lost love, there is always a radio or a CD playing the song.
On the other hand, Isabella/ Isabel's (an extremely young Katherine Heigl) transformation from spoiled brat to pitiful figure feels painfully real. After she makes Heath famous on the Internet in order to lure him into bed (this is the 21st century, after all), he dedicates "More" to Cate in his presentation concert. A tearful Isabel has nobody to comfort her except the teacher she used to bully ("Couldn't it be that he never loved you, my dear?").
Will this movie attract the new generations towards the novel? Maybe not, but it is remarkable to see how even in this era of cynicism, we still long for irrational love.