Pass the Popcorn: Movies from where I Sit

A few years ago, by accident, thumbing through the bargain DVDs at a store, I found a 1992 film of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes.  It is worth watching alone for the young beauty of the stars.  They are gorgeous, passionate and the chemistry is terrific.  The story is faithful to the novel, and the supporting actors are all well cast.  At 106 minutes, the movie is a ride on the moor in another century, and after, you miss the world you've entered, though it is strange and mysterious.  The tone of Bronte's masterpiece is that well captured.  When you see the story on screen like this, you realize the eroticism of the characters more strongly, and also, with modern attention, the abuse that drives these people crazy.  Cathy's and Heathcliff's isolation and manipulation as children has consequences, and we see the pattern of manipulation repeated before it is finally broken in the end.  Binoche plays both Cathy Earnshaw and Catherine Linton beautifully.  Empathy for these people is garnered by careful revelation of their underlying sensitivities.  The feelings in this film are timeless and universal, and the look of the Yorkshire area and the costumes are powerful additions to a tale of young people left to grow wild and untended, who find their own garden in the wilderness but are forbidden to have the solace they desperately seek.  Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon were great in the 1930s film, but this version is more immediate and nuanced.  It would be fun to watch them one after the other and compare.