Best movie of this year hands down!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Being a person fond of cinema filming and acting, dedicating years on this hobby, as acting did not become my profession I confess this is my best film. The cast is extraordinary for the roles- Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes in the main roles! Exactly one can imagine Cathy and Heatcliff. None version is so close to the book! Immense work done by the cameraman and the screenwriter introducing somebody who will tell the story. I have just look on the TV version done 2009 with Tom Hard- beautiful actor, but sweet and artificial for this role and it again remained me how good has been Ralph Fiennes in this role. If Juliette Binoche was British the film would had enormous success- because English made a big fuss of her not being English! If you find the 1992 version just look it- you will like it!

Not the best version of Emily Bronte's masterpiece, on their own terms of the ones personally seen so far the Laurence Olivier and Robert Cavannagh get that honour. None of the adaptations are bad, even my least favourite the 2011 film and while there is a lot wrong this film adaptation isn't a bad one either. The main problem with the film is that it's very rushed which is why the supporting characters(the Lintons in particular, it did affect Simon Shepherd as Edgar too as there is very little sense of meekness which is a huge part of the character) don't get enough time to shine properly with a come and go vibe and why some of the second half felt jumpy narratively. If the film was longer than it was it would have helped. The ending is also far too abrupt and bittersweet and Juliette Binoche did seem too shallow and classy to start with, the giggling was indeed too much. The film is a stunner visually though, the photography is very fluid, the costumes are true to period, most of the make-up and hair is fine though Heathcliff's hair is far too straight and greasy and with the locations you can really feel and smell the atmosphere of the Yorkshire moors. The script is literate and emotional, the famous lines that are included are very well delivered and the story for the first half at least is coherent and respective of Emily Bronte's writing. With it too there is a real sense of broodiness and tragedy. That it included the events after Cathy's death is most laudable. The acting is good enough. Binoche's acting is much improved and she is every bit the self-centred and spiteful Cathy, even without make-up too she is astonishingly pretty. Her chemistry with Fiennes is intense and moving, the scenes on the moors are beautifully done. Janet McTeer stands out in support, Jeremy Northam doesn't have enough screen-time but he plays the tormentor-to-tormented character of Hindley to a tee and Jason Riddington is a charming Hareton. Sinead O'Connor does a lovely job as Bronte herself. The two best assets are the music score and Ralph Fiennes' Heathcliff. The music is hauntingly beautiful with the brooding moments having a shade of melancholy, of all the Wuthering Heights adaptations only the Timothy Dalton version has a better music score. Heathcliff could have been more of a tortured soul here but Fiennes give a truly powerful and often scary- you wouldn't want to mess with or be in the same room as him- performance, but he does bring a humane side too. In conclusion, far from perfect but like the Timothy Dalton version when it's good it is great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The original 1939 classic movie of Wuthering Heights, with Olivier and Oberon, is excellent for its time. However, this version only depicts the basic plot.This story centers on Heathcliff and is about deep love between Heathcliff and Cathy, love lost, Heathcliff's bitter and deep anger over this, Heathcliff's blame for the love loss on the Cathy as well as on class exclusion, and revenge toward all those involved in the lost love. An essential element is for the movie to depict Heathcliff's bitterness and immense vengeful anger. Now in order for the immense anger to be explained, the prior deep love between Heathcliff and Cathy must be fully depicted. I think the 1992 and 2009 movie versions are the best. Both are excellent but both are flawed.The 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes is better organized and time-sequenced. This version emphasizes the bitterness, anger and vengefulness of the main character, Heathcliff, as superbly depicted by Fiennes. The flaw is that the early love between Cathy and Heathcliff is shown in a skimpy and summary manner. This is a flaw since this deep love needs a full and detailed portrayal in order to explain Heathcliff's later deep bitterness. As a result Fiennes' Heathcliff is a terrible fellow whose behavior is somewhat inexcusable. The 2009 version with Tom Hardy is slightly convoluted, and lightens Heathcliff's vengefulness (making Heathcliff more of sympathetic character to the viewer), which is a flaw compared to the 1992 Fiennes version that properly displays Heathcliff's revenge. However, the 2009 Hardy version does portray the early love between Heathcliff and Cathy with due elaboration (which is lacking in the 1992 version). As a result Heathcliff is more of a tragic figure than a villain.An ideal version would be the 1992 Fiennes version, with the deep vengeful anger as Fiennes displayed, but that also fully depicted the love as did the 2009 Hardy version.Both the Hardy 2009 version and the Fiennes 1992 version are excellent but I prefer the 1992 version as the best available.

OK, so I'm reviewing this compared to the 1939 and 1970 versions. For those of you who love the 1939 version, I'm sorry, but the soundtrack is just plain awful. That said, if you took away the soundtrack and applied a contemporary one, we may be talking about a serious contender.The 1970 version suffers from having a miscast Cathy, and as much as I admire Juliette Binoche, I have to knock a mark off for the same issue here, although that said, she really does her very best and aside from the French accent that is just about detectable, there is no doubting the passion she brings to the role.Ralph Fiennes is every bit as good as Olivier and Dalton. In fact, I would say his performance edges them out, possibly based on the fact that he has more scope to play with as this version is more faithful to the book. He really nails it, although funnily enough, at times he sounds like Leonard Rossiter; even that cannot detract from a powerhouse performance. Not since Peter Finch's Boldwood in 'Far From The Madding Crowd' has an actor been worthy of the words 'hotbed of tropic intensity', but Fiennes is most definitely worthy of that description.The music? Well, let's not mention the 1939 soundtrack again. The 1970 version was beautiful in terms of the score, but the 1992 version brings tears to the eyes and is more varied.This, in my opinion, is still the version to beat, and I loved the performance by Sinead O'Connor too...Seven years on, and I happened upon the soundtrack again today - it has stood the test of time. It just fits the mood and tone of the movie so well that it's genius. So from that point of view, in my opinion, Ryuichi Sakamoto should be regarded as one of the finest composers of all time. Since I wrote my original review, Ralph Fiennes has had huge success as Voldemort, but for me, he will always hold a special place as the definitive Heathcliffe. It's an absolute travesty that a Blu Ray is not available for this, although you can always download the HD version via Amazon or Apple etc.