morrison-dylan-fan
Searching round online a few weeks ago for details about surreal film maker Luis Bunuel's (co)-directing debut L'age d'Or,I was astonished to find out that Bunuel had actually film a near-forgotten adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel Wuthering Heights.With a fellow IMDb'er having told me for months about various adaptations of Bronte's novel (which I've not yet read!) that she has enjoyed,I felt that it was the perfect time to join up with Bunuel,and to enter Bronte's wuthering world for the first time.The plot:Mexico:1800-Returning to Mexico after a number of years,Alejandro decides to pay a visit to the villa where he used to work as a servant for a family.Due to Alejandro having professed his love for the families foster daughter Catalina,the main refuses to allow him in.Not taking no for an answer,Alejandro goes around to the back of the villa and breaks a window in,so that he can finally get a sight of Catalina for the first time in years.Unexpectedly stopped in his tracks,Alejandro is met head on by a towering figure called Eduardo,who along with being the owner of the villa,is also Catalina's husband.Ignoring Eduardo's demands for him to leave,Alejandro rushes to Catalina,who tells Alejandro that she is still passionately in love with him.Delighted at hearing her expression of love Alejandro tells Catalina that she can join him,and that they can run away together.Destroying all of his dreams,Catalina tells Alejandro that despite being deeply in love with him,she is unable to runaway,due to being pregnant with Eduardo's child.Furious at Catalina's 'betrayal',Alejandro decides to get revenge by taking advantage of the mass gambling debt that her brother Ricardo has made,by agreeing to pay off his debt,if Ricardo agrees to sell his ranch and to become Alejandro's servant.As he begins to settle down in Ricardo's ranch,Alejandro notices that Eduardo's sister Isabel appears to be attractive to him.Striking Eduardo and Catalina where he knows it will hurt most,Alejandro quickly gets together with Isabel,and a few days later begins making plans for their marriage.Despite each of them attempting to tear the other one apart,Alejandro and Catalina soon discover that not even death,can fan the flames of their love.View on the film:Whilst the guy is not exactly the first person that comes to mind when I hear the term 'Old Romantic', (with him including some scenes of a butterfly getting killed so that the audience can see what a big softy at heart he is!) the dedication that co-writer/(along with Pierre Unik,Julio Alejandro and Arduino Maiuri) director Luis Bunuel gave to getting his adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel on to the big screen, (Bunuel had been attempting to film the novel since 1931!)shows itself to have been worth all of the effort,thanks to Bunuel perfectly balancing Bronte's tornado Romance with a chillingly mysterious,shadow socked Gothic Horror atmosphere.Backed by Raul Lavista's stirring score,Bunuel reveals his doom-laden world by having raindrops scatter across the screen as the thunder in in the background matches Alejandro harsh knocks at the villa's door.Along with the scattering rain,Bunuel also allows shadows to gradually cover the character's faces,which along with giving the title a strong Gothic Horror bite,also perfectly shows the brutal,horror monster like attitude that all of the character's have for each other,with Bunuel displaying the characters lust for power to be something that is covered in doom which blocks anyone from seeing the deadly path that they are unknowingly on.Giving the movie a vicious swipe of Bronte's Romance,Bunuel brilliantly combines his Gothic Horror atmosphere with a strikingly stylized tornado romance,as Bunuel shows in chilling clarity the distance that Alejandro and Catalina will go in order to archive their ever last romance,with the grim,oddly romantic final moments being enclosed around a Gothic Horror shine which Catalina and Alejandro finds they are unable to break out of,even in death.Despite only being placed in the movie due to producer Oscar Danciger being desperate to end their contracts after a planned Musical Comedy of his had failed to enter production, (which would lead to Bunuel moaning about how none of them were any good) each of the actors give superb performances,with Irasema Dilian and Jorge Mistral each bringing contrasting elements to Alejandro and Catalina doomed romance,thanks to Mistral showing Alejandro's lone cry desperation to strike Catalina where it hurts,whilst the very pretty Dilian shows that Catalina is prepared to strike back,but has to pull her punches due to the conflicting feeling that she shares for Alejandro and Eduardo.Joining Dilian and Mistral,Ernesto Alonso gives a delightfully curled lip performance as the out of his dept Eduardo,whilst Luis Aceves Castaneda gives a charmingly bonkers performance as the half craze Ricardo.Avoiding the risk of the movies edges being worn down by the 24 years that it took to get made,the writers give their adaptation a deliciously spiky quality,by showing all out the character's being unwilling to compromise their desires,which along with giving each of them a grotesque edge,also allows the writers to use Alejandro and Catalina's failure to compromise as a method to give the title a tragic,romantic tap.Placing Alejandro and Catalina's relationship at the centre,the writers brilliantly take a reverse psychologically route in Alejandro attack's by showing each of Alejandro vicious strikes to be something that digs deeper into his and Catalina's veins,as Alejandro and Catalina begin to discover how turbulent their wuthering relationship has become.
Reese Francis
Like most of Bunuel's works, the main (and also the most interesting) layer of this film is the mental one. Yes, there are lots of dialogs, but it can be easily watched without hearing a word, due to Bunuel incredible talent of telling stories, feelings, fears, desires and lust exclusively through images. Only a bunch of directors are capable of achieving such a purity in visualization.Abismos de pasiòn is a very classical story, filtered through Bunuel's will to further inspect desire (both sexual and mental). Alejandro is clearly ruled by his passion and instincts; characteristic which is praised by Bunuel, envying it.
Red-125
Abismos de pasión (1954) is Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, directed and co-scripted by Luis Buñuel.This film was produced in Mexico, where Buñuel lived for 20 years as an exile from Franco's Spain. Believe it or not, the film works. Colonial Mexico in 1800 probably had many similarities to the rigid, socially conscious society of England at the same period. Buñuel's film is set in rural Mexico, in an region as isolated as the English moors.Jorge Mistral plays Alejandro (Heathcliff), Irasema Dilián plays Catalina (Catherine), and Ernesto Alonso is Eduardo (Edgar). These actors were apparently popular Mexican stars of the time, and they play their roles with a ferocious intensity that fits Brontë's writing style. The whole effort has an over-the-top quality to it, but, when you think about it, so does Wuthering Heights. Abismos de pasión isn't a film for everyone, but it's a must for Buñuel buffs.
