This book was adapted into movies by Hollywood three times in 1939, 1970 and 1992. Later, in 2004, Italy also launched a TV movie based on this book. CCTV once broadcast it in the "Sunday Cinema" column. A dubbed version of this Italian TV film has been produced. These films are the result of popularizing the stories of the original works, which may seem to the average audience to be fine, but those who have read the original works may seem unbearable for the movies to adapt the original works in this way. In this way, from the perspective of being loyal to the original work, none of these films can be regarded as adaptations that are loyal to the original work.
Before talking about the movie I have to say a few things about the book: what I think is crucial in the book is what Catherine said to Nellie before Heathcliff left, even though it only involved Catherine. myself, but I think these words also apply to Heathcliff. All the actions of the hero and heroine in the book can be judged and interpreted through this passage. As for the other characters in the book, they all revolve around the hero and heroine. exists. Catherine chose to marry Edgar mainly for the consideration of reality and life. With the current thinking, we can't accuse her of anything, but the problem is that the only person Catherine really loves is Heathcliff, which is not even her own. It can't be changed, and for this reason, her choice has become the starting point of future tragedies. From the moment Heathcliff left, both Heathcliff and Catherine were no longer normal people, so their behavior after this time could not be measured by the standards of normal people, Nor is there any "sanity" in these actions. Later, when talking about movies, we will use these as standards to measure.
First of all, let's talk about the most classic 1939 version. This version basically starts from Lockwood to the villa in a similar way to the original, and then let Nellie unfold the story in a way of memory. I watched this film many years before I read the original book in its entirety. I was very impressed with the episode of Katherine talking to Nellie when I watched the movie, but when I read the book and then read the episode, I found that, Although Katherine is still allowed to talk to Nelly like this, the content of the conversation has changed, so the meaning of the plot has changed, and for this reason it no longer has the meaning of the original book. The real "off-line" of this film started when Heathcliff and Catherine stumbled into Thrushcross Heights (although it was not reproduced as it was before, but fortunately it was not a big problem), needless to say, such a plot that was originally in the teenage years was changed. In adulthood, this plot was also given another meaning-that is, Catherine began to yearn for a rich life, and the subsequent plots were also rewritten with the change here. By the way, in this film the Linton family is more like a big family who moved from the city. It is said that in the original Linton and Earnshaw families should be local residents, but the Linton family is richer in comparison. That's it. As a result, the plot in the later part of the film also has a different meaning - at this time, Heathcliff may be more of an old lover to Catherine. As for the plot of the second generation, which was extremely boring in the original book, there is no need to exist in this film, so this film completely omits the story of the second generation. But I have to say that Heathcliff played by Laurence Olivier in this film is indeed very perfect. He fully performed the image and temperament of Heathcliff in the original work. In this film, Heathcliff's character and behavior are generally similar to The original remains the same. As for Merle Oberon's Katherine, it's not perfect but not bad. This film has achieved that with the deformation of the original work, which should also be changed later, so simply as a love film, this film is still quite good, which is why this film can become a classic. . At first, I thought that the phrase "Chinese Emperor, Indian Princess" that Catherine said to Heathcliff when she was a teenager was original to the film, but after reading the book, I found out that it was from the original book, but in the original book, this sentence was said by Nellie. Yes, but it seems that in this film it is impossible for Nellie to say that.
The 1970 and 1992 versions that were launched later tried to make the readers of the original work find more feelings in the film, but because the overall setting was still unfaithful to the original work, these settings seemed to be counterproductive, not only destroying the film itself. The integrity also makes these plots lose their meaning in the original.
The 1970 version, although unexpectedly opens with Katherine's death (and I don't know why until the end), but then when the story begins, it's almost reverted back to the original: for example, Nellie begins with Hindley. Children of similar age rather than old ladies, Hindley brought a wife and other places when he returned from studying in the city for a few years, making it feel that the film seems to be completely faithful to the original. But wait a minute, Heathcliff and Catherine actually broke into Thrushcross Heights when they grew up, and the film became more and more outrageous after that, and the distance from the original book was getting further and further, although at this time it was still Some scenes from the original will emerge. In this film, Catherine said that sentence when Heathcliff was running away. Although Catherine was indeed very flustered and anxious at this time, what she was most eager to do at this time was to chase Heathcliff back. Yes, at this time she has no time to say these words at all, the plot arranged in the film is not reasonable at all. The most deviating part of this film from the original is the setting of the character Heathcliff. It is almost impossible to see that he has any revenge in the later period, which is why he has a completely different ending from the original - when Catherine After his death, Heathcliff became in a trance. Hindley took the opportunity to shoot Heathcliff to death. The result was to completely overturn the ending of the original book, which is why the film did not mention it at all. to the story of the second generation.
It can be seen that the 1992 version has two intentions: one is to attract the majority of young audiences now, and the other is to let readers of the original book find more feelings from this film. However, the result of this is that the interior scenes of this film do not fully reflect the characteristics of the place and era in which the original work is located, and the actors of this film do not match the characteristics of the time and place where the original work is located in terms of appearance and make-up. It makes people feel a little nondescript; in terms of restoring the original work, the film before the official story begins, that is, Lockwood's visit to the villa, gives people more sense of the original than the previous version, but when the official story begins Instead, it looks like a scene from the 1939 version, after which Heathcliff and Catherine still stumbled into Thrushcross Heights when they were adults (although they saw a different scene from the previous version), so this film is still the same. There are some scenes from the original book, and even this film restores some of the stories of the second generation, but the whole is still farther and farther away from the original book. Ralph Fiennes, who played Heathcliff in the film, did a pretty good job. But in my opinion, the biggest flaw in this film is Juliette Binoche's performance of the role of Catherine. She plays Catherine always gives me a kind of absent-minded feeling, and even she often laughs absent-mindedly, especially when she gave Chennai Li actually laughed when she was talking - it's not that Catherine couldn't laugh, but it depends on when, Catherine talked to Nelly because she was flustered, because she was full of contradictions, and she couldn't laugh at this time. Yes, Catherine has never been as serious as she was in this conversation - this smile of Catherine completely ruins the plot, and in this film Catherine laughs disgustingly and annoyingly; Juliette Binoche also played Little Casey later, but it seemed to me that she was more suitable for the role of Little Casey, but she had a little less smile when she played Little Casey. As mentioned earlier, this film has an incomplete restoration of the story of the second generation (it did not fully restore the love of Little Casey to Little Linton), which is also the second generation adaptation of most current film and television works. The way of the story, it is said that this part of the plot in the original book does not make much sense, so the restoration of this part of the plot in this film will not have a qualitative impact on the loyalty to the original work (of course, if you only pursue metaphysical loyalty to the original work, then there may be different feeling). The most daring of this film is to try to tell the story as the author himself. These commentary monologues are not only superfluous, but also destroy the feeling of the original book, which even leads to a strong jump in the film's plot. As a result, there is a lack of coherence (this method can be said to be the same as that of the new version of A Dream of Red Mansions, although this film is a bit more clever in comparison), which is the most clever part of this film. Finally, a retrospective ending was added to Heathcliff's death: under the guidance of Catherine as a child, Heathcliff came to heaven, met Catherine... and then found the dead Heathcliff the next day. This is just a tragic ending movie's idiomatic way, and it is completely contrary to the original.
Finally, let's talk about the 2004 edition produced in Italy. When I read this edition in its entirety, I felt that the screenwriter did not read the original, but just adapted the script of the 1939 edition, and extended and played on this basis. The result was already ten times different from the original. Thousands of miles away. I really have nothing to say about this film, after all, the characters in it and the original have basically nothing in common except that they have the same name. But here I have to mention Heathcliff in this film. According to the setting of this film, he should not have much revenge, but this film also makes him always worry about revenge like the original. suitable. From this point of view, the film did not follow the changes in other places with the deformation of the original. Compared with the 1939 version, this film has left some traces of the second generation.
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