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!