Relive the classic Wuthering Heights, where love in the wilderness grows, so painful, so desperate

Author of this article: Chuan Meimei

On a cold winter night, I brushed twice the Wuthering Heights (2011 version) movie, which is adapted from the British "strangest novel" of the same name, and has been adapted and made in many versions, each adaptation retains the illusion of the ghost in the original book. I feel that this is the most faithful and respectful of the original author's intention.

It's a sad love story where sadness and desert grip you from beginning to end. The male protagonist misses the love of his life too much, and with the help of the ghostly vision, he can see the girl he loves again to comfort his broken heart.

A gypsy orphan Heathcliff (James Housen), who was picked up from the streets by the old manor owner Mr. Enshaw, has been humiliated since childhood, but the owner's golden lady Catherine (Kaya Skodario) appreciates his wild nature. Heathcliff, who grew up as a teenager, developed a strong fiery love for Catherine. But the worldly hierarchy destroyed his love. Catherine is married to Master Linton (Oliver Milburne) of Thrush Manor. Heathcliff's longing and love for Catherine were unforgettable over the years, and eventually transformed into a strong hatred of the outside society, and then into a ruthless plot of revenge. All love, all hatred turned into a howling wind, sweeping over lonely graves and blowing through desolate fields.

Wuthering Heights is the work of Emily Brontë, one of the sisters of British female writer Brontë, and is one of the masterpieces of English literature in the 19th century. The poet and novelist has lived in this world for only thirty years, and this is her only novel. Anne Brontë, author of Brontë Emily's Wuthering Heights and Brontë Charlotte's Jane Eyre and their little sister Agnes Grey, are considered "the most dazzling wonders of world literature".

Woolf thinks Wuthering Heights is harder to understand than Jane Eyre, and Emily is greater than Charlotte. Charlotte is always eloquent and passionate "I love, I hate"; But there is no "me" in Wuthering Heights, and she writes stories that are not just "I love, I hate," but "we—humanity as a whole," and "you—the eternal power." Maugham's assessment is that "beneath the surface of human nature, latent forces can elevate love to the sublime." This makes it have its own extraordinary height compared to other novels".

The film opens with a shot that continues to advance at breakneck speed, transporting the audience into the gloomy and desolate Gothic atmosphere of Wuthering Heights in remote Yorkshire in northern England, and the camera is fixed on Heathcliff, who lies in Catherine's bedroom, he misses his childhood playmate, his adolescent favorite Catherine, and he knocks his head directly on the floor and makes a loud clanging sound. At this time, the wind howled by, the window lattice whistled, and in the distance in the night there was a rare figure of a woman in white, that was her Catherine's ghost, the love of his life, he burst into tears, and even wailed, in the harsh wind, it set off the male protagonist's grief-stricken mood.

Many years ago, it was also such a cold, icy and snowy night, he was brought to this manor by the old manor owner Enshaw, and since then he has had a home. As the housekeeper Nelly said, you were abducted to England by someone, you are too young to remember anything, you are an orphan. The old master of this house said that I saw that he was lonely and helpless and brought him here, which is in line with the spirit of Christ.

Fate has since played a small joke on him. The old lord of the manor took care of his son Hindley and his daughter Catherine, treated him as your brother, and loved him to live together. Brother Hindley was born a jealous and violent boy, and he called him a "nigger" and "fool". When the old manor owner died, he became the head of the household, abused Heathcliff, drove him to a barn, and did not allow him to speak to Catherine.

Catherine liked the wildness in him, and the two of them rode together to run and play in the wasteland. But Hindley treated him as a man, sent him a job, and beat him severely if he disobeyed, and Catherine could not stop him. Catherine took him to the hillside to lift his shirt, and saw the blood marks on his back kissing his wounds with pain, which gave Heathcliff great comfort and affection. As they grew up, they had each other in each other's hearts.

But an accident broke them apart. Catherine and he went to the neighboring Thrush Villa and were bitten by the family's dog, and they treated her and kept her in place. So Catherine met Young Master Edgar Linton. It is also Ha, every girl has her first love in her heart, but it is impossible for the worldly vision to not affect her view of choosing a mate. She quietly tells her housekeeper Nelly that Degas Linton has proposed to her. She loved Heathcliff in her heart, but her brother treated him as a human being, and if I married him, I would lower my status. And Linton is handsome and rich, and she chose the future owner of Thrush Manor, which is understandable.

Heathcliff happened to hear Catherine agree to Edgar's marriage proposal that day, and in a fit of anger he ran away from home. That desert night was miserable and rainy and crazy, the young man was also very willful to say and go, he heard Catherine behind him call his name and ignored it, unfortunately he did not hear Catherine's inner confession after "God knows how much I love him, he is another me!" "By mistake, he missed her, and she missed him!

Think of this as a love tragedy that happened in the remote countryside of Britain in the 19th century of the last century, and there is no way, the era has not advanced to the 20th century or the 21st century today. Since the two love each other, and they can't let go like that, then they will be separated from each other, return to the arms of Heathcliff, and a lover will eventually become a dependent. However, the Emily era was impossible. Heathcliff has made a statement, you come with me, I will raise her as my own child. But Catherine did not have the courage to step out of this traditional barrier, and she was depressed all day long, then became terminally ill, and finally gave birth to her daughter.

This is a fatal blow to Heathcliff, even if he marries Catherine's sister-in-law Isabella (Nicola Bullley), he can't love her, he is wrong again and again, he makes the Linton family uncomfortable. The novel and film end up denying this Heathcliff, who later designed to lead Hindley into a gambling trap and take Wuthering Heights to his name. I have deep sympathy for this character, is his love tragedy somehow not guided by Hindley's evil hand? He returned home to take revenge on him, in line with karma. What a kind and lovely young man he used to be, he was forced into such an evil man by Hindley.

The famous Japanese detective writer Keigo Higashino has this passage in the novel "White Night Walking": "Human nature, this thing, do not have any hope of moral purity for anyone." Everyone in this world is half-human, half-ghost, and no one can look too close." It's really brilliant.

If Hindley were as kind as his old father Enshaw and treated Heathcliff, a wandering child, would he be squeezed into such evil? If Catherine hadn't been so greedy for wealth and chose to wait for the wild boy who loved him in her heart to return home, wouldn't it have been a happy ending. However, there is no "if" in life, there is a saying that the only thing that life does not have is regret medicine.

I don't know 176 years ago (the novel was published in 1874), British Bronte Emily, a prodigious female writer, did she have this life experience at that time, she only lived for thirty years, how can she be so profound and amazing in the writing and revealing of human nature, this is probably talented.

Finally, by the way, legend has it that some people began to translate this novel into "Roaring Heights", and later the translator Mr. Yang Wei first renamed it "Wuthering Heights", which is undoubtedly the most accurate and appropriate translation in 70 years. Whether in a novel or a movie, the natural landscape of the harsh desert overgrown with weeds and raging winds further deepens the tragic consciousness and disillusioned human power of the work, giving people unparalleled shock and touch. So the difference between the word roar and roar further highlights the intrinsic precise meaning of its essence.

The 2011 version of "Wuthering Heights" was directed by female director Andrea Arnold, and in the poetic natural scenery of the film, the passion of love in the original book and the cold mystery of the mountain villa were successfully captured. The film won the Outstanding Technical Contribution Award at the 68th Venice Film Festival in 2011 and the Golden Lion Award at the 68th Venice Film Festival. It can be called a classic of famous movies, and it is worth counting. However, some shots of the desert are bizarre and destructive, but they do not seem to be pulling away, bringing visual blur and chaos to the audience. However, the overall flaws do not hide that the classics are perpetuated.