Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Alice Bell (Ruth Wilson) is a lonely laborer at a sheep farm. After getting news of her father's death, she returns to her family's rundown sheep farm despite being haunted by a family secret. Her bitter brother Joe (Mark Stanley) is angry at her 15 years absence and her attempt to revive the farm. He has plans to sell the stock and abandon the tenancy.This is dark, bleak, brooding, and not that exceptional. It's all grindingly dark and brooding. The dialogue is sparse. There isn't much surprising. Wilson is able to portray this darkness. It would be nice to have more. It's all one note and oppressively depressing.

Life on the moors is far bleaker than ever Heathcliffe and Cathy's trials and tribulations would have us believe as a doomed romance.It is presented here as a Tragedy wherein everyone is trapped mentally and physically in a hellish life into which they have been born with no escape possible.A thoughtful take on existentialism. And most definitely not for Americans or those that favour Hollywood cartoon acting and violence.

SPOILER: A welcome change from the British film industry away from lame comedies and its obsession with the plight of minorities and urban dramas to this excellent but disturbing Northern masterpiece. You certainly won't leave the cinema uplifted but if you're a drama fan you'll be well satisfied. I was more shocked than I thought I would to see the lasting effect of child abuse. This is really the foundation of the film which shows how the effects of a dark family secret can resonate for ever. Some excellent strong performances by the actors. This is a very visual film and the use of audio to enhance the impact of the scenes is well worth a special mention.My rating 8/10 Highly recommended if you like powerful dramas

If it had a better script, a better telling of the story and a better director this could have been a great film, instead it is just a farming fighting siblings plod along, sometimes hard to understand the accents, and with a lot of films that don't actually tell you what going to happen, but you can sort of work it out, well with this there is no working out, the whole story line is flawed, and there is not enough dialogue to help you understand the full story. Shame really Ruth Wilson does a fantastic job, if one did not know better she could have been that person, and not a film star, the rest of the cast did what they had to do with such a bad script...........Great scenery, mostly filmed i think in North Yorkshire.