The first film of the Festival was Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold.
Having not read the book, I was unsure of what to expect, but the result I saw on screen did honestly not encourage me to go out and grab a copy.
The whole film, while being competently shot, seemed very fragmented and jumped from scene to scene in time frames that apparently spanned months at a time.
It never really gained any momentum and lacked a cohesion throughout to get me dragged into the story.
The dialogue seemed to play second-fiddle to the visual and this also made it difficult for a Bronte novice like myself to really understand what was going on.
And I'm all up for gathering new, local talent but the acting left quite a bit to be desired from pretty much the whole cast.
It all felt very stilted and forced, and while James Howson's performance as Heathcliff was quite powerful physically, it seemed to falter when he was required to talk and show emotion.
That causes problems when you end up with one of the most famous love stories written lacking in any sort of raw emotion needed to pull it off successfully!
It sort of ended up like they were just really good friends who kind of fell out, then met again and fell out again... but hey, those were simpler times and maybe that's what it is actually about.
Like I said, I haven't read it!
Final Rating: 3/5*
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