A birthday card

I didn’t forget my second unofficial red-letter day this year – but I forgot the “birthday card”. So, it will be makeshift, but I am officially “away” from my blog anyway – on holiday deep down in the past …

The day before yesterday I saw “Wuthering Heights” with Ralph Fiennes who I am looking into right now. The film (from 1992!) is rather boring, at least the first half of it, though there are good bits. And it is impossible anyway that I will ever see a satisfying film adaptation of this novel because I hate it … But then, at some point, I got completely swallowed up by watching Ralph Fiennes play Heathcliff. It is strange: in his case I never expect it, and it ALWAYS happens! Nonetheless, this was still different because Heathcliff is one of these characters I always thought could never “come out” of a book. I think every single person who ever read the book has this crushing experience about Heathcliff: that he is just totally horrible but that we FEEL for him. And in films this usually doesn’t work, not even if they are a great adaptation of the story - as this one isn’t. But at some point I just couldn’t look away anymore, seeing Heathcliff “coming out” of the book. It was just totally horrible and REALLY good at the same time. And – as it usually happens – only by seeing this I understood that it is an important text nonetheless. There is a reason why the books we hate are often the most important.

Every time I see this happen: one of these iconic characters unexpectedly coming out of a book I feel like witnessing something really, really important. This is just the newest example (- which is, in fact, probably the oldest …) And it doesn’t happen THAT often. The realization that THIS actor is the only one who will ever play this “impossible” character as he/she has to be played. As of now there are five of these events I remember: Of course Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy, then Ralph Fiennes playing Heathcliff, Ciaran Hinds playing Mr. Rochester, rather recently Rosamund Pike playing Gudrun Brangwen, and Richard Armitage playing John Thornton.

I must admit: I hate birthdays. My own in particular, of course, but also in general. Birthdays, anniversaries … I hate them because they keep reminding me of the annihilation of good things. But what I have just seen reminded me that it is not so. Something “structurally” great like this is never just “gone” – though what happened afterwards might make it appear relative. It is even supposed to appear relative because of it. But, apart from the fact that readers will always have the chance to discover it anew, it is at the bottom of everything else that happened. Other great things happened because of it, and they will go on happening!

With this in mind: Many happy returns – and a great time playing theatre again!