13 February 2026
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Hurlevent) **
Emily Brontë wrote only this one novel which was published the year before she died at age 30, in 1848. Its dark gothic tale of the deep, tormented love between the two main protagonists, Katherine and Heathcliff, nevertheless became one of the most read and contentious novels of English literature. It has had more than a dozen film adaptations ranging from a trashy, modernised MTV version to the great 1939 film by William Wyler with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. And its tragic, mysterious hero Heathcliff has been portrayed by not only Olivier, but such stars as Richard Burton, Ralph Fiennes and Tom Hardy. So it’s a big one to tackle.
This latest version by the iconoclastic English director Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”, “Saltburn”) has come into much controversy. She would of course make this intense drama of two bodies and one soul on the moors of Yorkshire into an extravagant, steamy, Hollywoodized romance. That is her style. Her drastic changing of the book’s storyline and the diminishing of its emotional and psychological depth; her too-contrasted homes in Katherine’s (Margot Robbie) evolution to ‘ladyhood’; her casting of the beautiful Jacob Elordi as the raw, forceful Heathcliff are all unfortunate. Her version is simply “style over substance”.
If one knows the novel, the film is both bewildering and almost insulting. But if one is ignorant of the book in spite of its illustrious past it could then be a mannered, glossy entertainment for the masses. Why not, in this slick, immoral world of ours…?
CRIME 101 ***
Remember the 2003 “The Italian Job” and the excitement of a great heist? Well, this cat-and-mouse game between a clever serial thief (Chris Hemsworth) and an honest cop (Mark Ruffalo) in L.A. will keep you on edge as you begin to care for each personality, including an interesting character played by Halle Berry. There’s even a cameo by veteran Nick Nolte and a really nasty piece of work whom you will detest, played by Barry Keoghan, from “Saltburn”.
This is an exciting thriller, with cool yet meaningful dialogue, a few minor holes, but tautly directed by Bart Layton. You’ll want to share it with your friends.
SEND HELP! ***
Now here’s an ultramodern, feminist version of Robinson Crusoe, Tom Hank’s “Cast Away” or even a bit of the 2022 award-winning “Triangle of Sadness”. A bright young woman who cares more for perfection in her work than for her looks and a new, superficial boss who won’t give her the raise she deserves end up on a deserted island after a plane crash.
She proves to be a clever survivor type, quickly taking over the task of caring for the injured boss and generally managing to make life bearable for the two of them.
Will they get along here, and can she finally convince him of her competence?
Every day proves to be a new challenge and the film keeps us in suspense till the very end.
The editing is brilliant, Rachel McAdams is excellent and director Sam Raimi (“The Quick and the Dead” and three of the “Spider-Man” films) knows how to keep the tension both tight and amusing. Super ending!
URCHIN **1/2
This well-done, realistic tale by Harris Dickinson of a homeless loser (Frank Dillane) on the streets of London will repel you yet is a very true depiction of what it is to be a drug addict trying to get out of his miserable life. He almost manages, but it’s a bloody hard climb.
Done in Mike Leigh fashion, this is a worthy work which is relentlessly drab but makes us ponder on the reasons for such a destiny.
(showing at the Grütli)
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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