Wuthering Heights in Leeds

The Yorkshire Post has a video featuring last night's screening of Wuthering Heights at the opening gala of Leeds International Film Festival. The clip includes scenes from the film as well as interviews to the cast, etc.

Impact Magazine reviews the film.

Lucy Pardee must be praised for her casting of Shannon Beer and Solomon Glave as the young Catherine and Heathcliff in the first half of the film. Solomon Glave gives a first class performance bringing a new dimension to the role as a black actor. The dialogue for the film is sparse but Glave truly conveys Heathcliff’s pain and struggle as a black child growing up in a strongly Christian family in North Yorkshire. Arnold portrays the bond between the two children in an incredibly sensitive way. There is a scene following Heathcliff being whipped at the command of Catherine’s brother Hindley, where Catherine licks Heathcliff’s wounds. This scene is possibly the most moving of the entire film demonstrating the immaterial bond and love between the two characters.
I wish the same praise could be given to Kaya Scodelario playing adult Catherine, previously known for her character as Effy in E4’s Skins. After the blossoming character of Catherine that Shannon Beer formerly provides, I could not help but feel a little let down by Scodelario’s performance. Although undoubtedly beautiful in her role, it is difficult to engage with her as Catherine as she heavily relies on dialogue, of which there is little. Alternatively, James Howson is credible in his acting debut as the adult Heathcliff but once again is outshone by his younger self. Howson neglects to bring forward the cruelness in Heathcliff’s character of which we see flickers of earlier in the film, which is fundamental in the demise of the love story.
The real beauty of the film comes from the panoramic views of the Yorkshire countryside, showing the bleakness and splendour of the setting. Arnold shows nature at the forefront, and uses the moors to enhance the raw temperament of the film. Although we are given hints that we are watching a period drama the focus is not on the extravagant costumes or grand country houses that is so common in other exponents of the genre. It could easily be set in modern day, as an audience we are not bombarded with the excessive plot provided within the novel. Arnold must be applauded for her adaptation for the ways in which she has attempted to show the brutality of love by keeping the union of Catherine and Heathcliff at the heart of the film. I would not recommend this as a feel good film but the dark and emotive performances alongside the striking use of nature and scenery make Wuthering Heights stand out amongst the many previous adaptations of Emily Brontë’s English classic. (Charlotte Hoare)

CineLeeds also posts briefly about this film.

The York Press comments on how more tourists are visiting the region and thinks that Jane Eyre 2011 is partly responsible for it:

International tourism has risen much faster in Yorkshire than elsewhere in Britain, latest figures have revealed.
The value of international trips taken to the region has increased by 22 per cent compared with three per cent nationally.
Tourism bosses say the growth follows extensive marketing and PR campaigns overseas, including Germany, France and Asia.
In the USA and Canada, the official tourism agency Welcome To Yorkshire has been working with VisitBritain and Universal Films to attract people to the county as part of the release of the latest film adaptation of the Brontë classic Jane Eyre.

Writer Claire Tacon discusses Wide Sargasso Sea in the National Post.

Growing up, I found an early-1900s edition of Jane Eyre in a box of leftovers from my father’s antiques business. It had a burgundy cover with a matching place-holder ribbon and the miniscule type was interrupted by a series of illustrations, each captioned with a line from the text. At thirteen, I read and reread Brontë’s novel until it became a kind of comfort food. It didn’t make me want to write, but it made me glad to be a reader.
Then someone put a copy of Wide Sargasso Sea in my hands. I’d always imagined art as a conversation — here was Jean Rhys speaking to the dead, offering a rebuttal on Bronte’s depiction of the madwoman in the attic. Rhys’ sparse, voice-driven text takes a scalpel to the original — her Mr. Rochester is a brutal fortune hunter and Antoinette, his Creole first wife, a victim of circumstance. After reading it, I could never feel the same way about Jane Eyre. That power to sway a reader hooked me. Like a kid itches to get their mitts on a deck of cards after seeing some slight-of-hand, I wanted to pick up a pen. The rhythm of Rhys’ writing also attracted me, along with her use of multiple points of view and her ability to present a character trapped between two cultures. I wasn’t convinced I could ever produce something so sophisticated, but I sure wanted to try. Years later, Rhys’ opening still inspires me: “They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. But we were not in their ranks. The Jamaican ladies had never approved of my mother, ‘because she pretty like pretty self’ Christophine said.”

And The New Yorker's The Book Bench discusses Moby Dick:

To my mind, there are only two other works with which it bears comparison: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” (1818), and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” (1847). [...]
We don’t know if Melville read Brontë’s rural, gothic creation, but its uncontained spirit—in which the wild Yorkshire moors themselves become the monster—would seem to me to be an apt fellow-traveller for the author who launched the Pequod into the mid-nineteenth century. All three books are caught between the primeval old and the impossibly new, between an abiding sense of certitude and the dissembling future. [...]
In the alchemical process of critical and cultural assimilation, Melville’s monstrous creation—like Shelley’s Creature, like Brontë’s Heathcliff and Cathy—took on, especially through its susceptible adaptations to other media, a modern typology of Manichean and cinematic proportions. (Philip Hoare)

The Daily Cardinal has an article on 'Dating: As told by Brontë':

I was musing about this while reading "Jane Eyre" and realized Charlotte Brontë inserted a lot of dating and relationship advice in her novel. Some of it might be a little outdated, considering how (sadly) no one wears breeches or works as a governess anymore, but there are still relevant tips for the modern single gal.
1. No one will buy the cow if they can get the milk for free.
Sounds like that lecture grandma gave you? Well, Mrs. Fairfax might not be the originator of this idea, but she certainly supports it. She sees Jane come in from the garden after sending a scandalous hour with Mr. Rochester at a scandalous hour and warns that she won't be marriage material if she continues acting so improperly. Although Mrs. Fairfax is unaware Jane's behavior wasn't too terribly promiscuous, her advice is pure genius.
Now, calling this idea "genius" doesn't mean I completely disapprove of sex before marriage. This may have been what Brontë was alluding to, but it has a different meaning today, especially for us college students. Hooking up is unlikely to lead to a relationship. It just isn't going to happen. If you do choose to hook up with random guys/girls, don't get too attached: You're being used. Sure, sometimes people find the love of their lives through a one-night stand, but it's not exactly the norm. People like free milk; they don't like paying for things they can get for free.
2. If you discover your fiancé has a wife, run away. Far away.
This really doesn't need an explanation. If your significant other is hiding something huge like a crazy wife, get out of there!
3. Don't say "yes" if you don't think the person is right for you.
When Jane runs away from Mr. Rochester, she meets St. John. He proposes, mainly because he thinks she would make a good missionary's wife. Jane, however, doesn't want to marry him. She doesn't love him; she can't stop thinking about Mr. Rochester. Brontë's bottom line: Don't marry (or date, for us way-not-ready-for-marriage students) unless you see potential.
4. Forgive.
Jane goes back to Mr. Rochester even though he lied to her. Here is one moral I don't necessarily agree with. Rochester was an idiot. He hid a lunatic wife from his new fiancé who Jane only found out because someone outed him at their wedding. This is an extreme case, but doesn't it seem likel that someone who tells a huge lie is going to do so again? I get that she loved him and all, but really Jane? Going back to marry him? Seems like an unwise idea to me. Use this tip with discretion.
5. Don't hide your intelligence.
Brontë is all about portraying a witty and experienced protagonist. Jane doesn't sit and simper like other girls; she challenges Rochester and always has a response for him. It's this, in fact, that moves Rochester to fall in love with her. Even though she's not beautiful like Blanch, she's the one for him.
Jane provides hope for all the smart girls and guys out there who might not think of themselves as attractive. Even though Brontë always described her as plain, Jane succeeded in the world of love, and you can too. (Sara Schumacher)

Too bad the article ends up by wondering,

Taking dating advice from a woman who died a spinster? (Sara Schumacher)

Because she actually died a married woman, having turned down quite a few marriage proposals in her lifetime.

Inchiostro reviews Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre in Italian. Ellinky writes in Czech about governesses with special attention to Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey.