Les Hauts de Hurlevent

In many ways, this really worked for me: Arnold captured the perfectly romantic sensuality, spontaneity, the urge to destroy and obsession with harsh nature, while perfectly translating them into contemporary language with his unmistakable visual style (detail, frenetic camera, unique work with depth of field and raw mood swings). The first half is almost perfect - emotions flow from the speechless interplay of the main characters and the landscape. The second part is a little more laborious - that which used to be based on the shots themselves is suddenly laboriously grafted there (also through redundant retrospectives) and Arnold does not show much storytelling dexterity - the story falls apart and emotional eruptions are awkwardly screwed, manneristically staged... the precise rhythm of the "children's" part also falls apart. But it is definitely not possible to marginalize this film. Although it does not develop many hints and remains indebted to some attempts to update it, it is still a degree bolder and more stimulating than Fukunaga's Jane Eyre. I'm kind of romantically torn by it... which is okay for an adaptation of a romantic work, with a film by one of my favorite filmmakers for a change to be considered... (26/03/2012)