The Telegraph says it’s “resplendently lurid, oozy and wild”. The Independent, however, went with “astonishingly hollow”. Emerald Fennell’s new film “Wuthering Heights” has attracted some definitively mixed reviews.
Less divisive has been the response to the film’s music. Fennell’s last effort, Saltburn, had a similar reception to her new movie – but it unquestionably provided Murder on the Dancefloor with a second life. For “Wuthering Heights”, she turned to Charlie XCX. The ‘Brat’ superstar isn’t a Folk Witness staple, but her soundtrack – smart, dramatic and unpredictable goth-pop, featuring guest appearances from John Cale and Sky Ferreira – has been roundly praised. Using modern pop music in a period story underlines the timelessness of Emily Brontë’s tale, gives the film (which I haven’t seen, I should say) a bit of anarchic edge, and doubtless brings in a younger audience who might otherwise dodge a 19th-century drama.
It also lends more impact to the presence of a song Brontë might actually have heard – broken token folk ballad The Dark Eyed Sailor. It’s sung – exceptionally well – by Olivia Chaney.
“Emerald Fennell found and chose this live recording from a radio session I did with Mark Radcliffe” in 2013, Chaney – this film’s Sophie Eliis-Bextor, I seem to be saying – wrote on Instagram. Composer Anthony Willis “orchestrated around my performance [originally just vocal and harmonium] and even based the music for the closing scene on my arrangement”. The film’s editors regarded it as “a sort of emotional essence or touchstone of the film”.
You can see why. Chaney’s Dark Eyed Sailor is passionate, intense, dignified and even concludes with that rarest of outcomes in a trad song: a happy ending.
She’s particularly good at the denouement: the woman’s rebuking of her disguised lover (“I’ll never forsake my dear, although we’re parted a many a year / genteel he was and no rake like you”) and the subsequent shift to joy as she realises who he is. The return to the third person ‘conclusion’ brings another subtle shift. It’s immaculate, engaging storytelling. “A cloudy morning brings in a sunny day,” indeed.
When she recorded the song for Radio 2, Chaney made the mildest of slips: instead of singing “seven long years”, she accidentally alliterated the phrase, so it became “seven yong years”. It’s a rough edge smoothed, reasonably enough, in Chaney’s new recording of the song, out now as a single, but it’s a charming imperfection I love: a feature, not a bug, arguably the closest we’re likely to get to a mondegreen these days. The minor imperfection to me suggests the singer’s abandonment to the song. And if anyone understands the value of imperfection, it’s Chaney, who penned a song of her own on the subject. I don’t know if ‘seven yong years’ made it into “Wuthering Heights”, but I hope so.
—
“Wuthering Heights” – which also contains a choral version of The Sussex Carol, by the way – isn’t the only recent film of interest to folkies. A great part of Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound is dedicated to a folk song collection expedition, conducted by Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor), whose romance must, in 1917, be kept secret.
Lionel’s performance of The Silver Dagger (which is threaded through the trailer, below) seems to unlock David’s understanding of him. Their mutual appreciation of songs is their first bond.
My first thought upon hearing Mescal sing was ‘wow, he sounds just like Sam Amidon!’. And it turns out there’s a reason why – Amidon was musical advisor on the film. He helped choose a remarkable collection of songs: Country Life, The Unquiet Grave, The Snow It Melts the Soonest and The Old Churchyard, among others. Amidon wrote an illuminating piece about the experience for The Guardian, and his influence is in O’Connor’s voice as much as Mescal’s. These actors can be very canny when they’re observing someone, can’t they? It’s Briana Middleton, as Thankful Mary Swain, who delivers the most stunning performance, mind, of a song called Here in the Vineyard. I’m disappointed to be unable to find a clip to share with you!
The History of Sound is a quieter affair than “Wuthering Heights” – and its critical reception was muted, with Sight & Sound proclaiming it “lacks emotional intensity”. I found it moving – and the songs were key to that, offering eloquence when perhaps the characters are unable to. Well, if it’s one for the folkies, it’s one for you, Folk Witness reader. Seek it out!
Olivia Chaney’s Dark Eyed Sailor is available now via Bandcamp
Be First to Comment