Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights isn’t a respectful adaptation so much as a vibrant, often unsettling, reimagining. Released today, the film arrives amidst a renewed interest in Brontë’s gothic masterpiece, fueled in part by the film’s own provocative marketing and a sell-out frenzy for the novel itself, as noted by the Los Angeles Times. But Fennell’s vision, as several critics are already pointing out, prioritizes a visceral, contemporary experience over strict fidelity to the source material.
The core narrative remains: the intertwined and destructive relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, born into hardship and ultimately consumed by their own passions and pride. However, Fennell doesn’t shy away from amplifying the novel’s inherent sensuality, adding “steamy scenes inserted from the director’s imagination,” as she herself stated in an interview with The Times. This isn’t a subtle addition; the film reportedly features explicit imagery, a departure from Brontë’s more restrained approach, which contained only “mere glimmers of physical intimacy.”
This willingness to “go too far,” as Fennell put it, is a defining characteristic of the adaptation. The film’s visual style, described as “ravishing” and “steeped in colour” by GQ, leans heavily into the baroque and the bizarre. Scenes like Cathy (Margot Robbie) slowly submerging her finger into a gelatinous fish, or the constant presence of unsettling imagery – a fireplace adorned with plaster hands, skin-toned upholstery – are less about illustrating the novel’s themes and more about creating a deliberately jarring atmosphere. It’s a stylistic choice reminiscent of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, but, as one critic observes, lacks the same emotional resonance.
The performances, too, are filtered through Fennell’s lens. Jacob Elordi, as Heathcliff, initially appears shrouded in mystery, hidden behind a wig before revealing a carefully curated brooding aesthetic – a single earring signaling the passage of time. While Elordi’s physical presence is undeniably imposing, the film doesn’t quite unlock the character’s full potential for monstrousness. The actor, known for his role as Nate Jacobs in Euphoria, seemingly holds back from fully embracing Heathcliff’s darker impulses, a missed opportunity to truly embody the character’s destructive nature.
Margot Robbie’s Cathy is similarly stylized, “distractingly dolled-up in ribbons that infantilize rather than garnish her beauty.” This aesthetic choice, while visually striking, contributes to a sense of detachment, preventing Robbie from fully conveying the character’s internal turmoil. The film’s attempts at depicting Cathy’s sexual awakening, such as a scene involving masturbation against a boulder, feel performative rather than genuinely revealing.
The comparison to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette is apt, but ultimately revealing. Coppola’s film, despite its own stylistic flourishes, maintained a core emotional truth. The anguish of Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette felt palpable, her desires believable. Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, however, often feels more concerned with shock value than with emotional depth. The film’s needle-drops of Charli XCX, while adding a contemporary edge, feel more like a deliberate provocation than an organic extension of the narrative.
Fennell’s adaptation isn’t aiming to be a definitive Wuthering Heights. It’s a “loose adaptation,” as GQ describes it, a personal interpretation born from the director’s own teenage experience of reading the novel. It’s a film “for silly, semi-culturally literate people who love bright colors,” a visually arresting but emotionally distant take on a timeless classic. While it may spark conversation and draw new audiences to Brontë’s work, it’s unlikely to satisfy purists or those seeking a faithful adaptation of the novel’s complex psychological landscape. Fennell, as she herself acknowledges, is offering her own version, one that kneels at the shrine of Emily Brontë but doesn’t necessarily worship there.
The film’s reception is already proving divisive, with some praising its boldness and others criticizing its superficiality. What’s clear is that Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is a film designed to provoke a reaction, and on that front, it appears to be succeeding.
