London, February 29, 2024
Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” Is All Heat, Little Heart
The new film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel prioritizes a visually arresting style over the source material’s emotional depth.
- Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, is a visually bold but emotionally shallow adaptation of the classic novel.
- The film emphasizes a heightened, contemporary aesthetic, featuring a modern soundtrack and striking costumes.
- Critics note the adaptation’s failure to fully capture the “strangeness, intensity, and violence” of Brontë’s original work.
- The film’s casting choices, particularly the continued whitewashing of Heathcliff, remain a point of contention.
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star in a new film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” that’s generating buzz—and debate—for its decidedly modern take on the gothic romance. The film, directed by Emerald Fennell, is already being described as a visually striking, if somewhat reductive, interpretation of the beloved novel.
More than a decade ago, The New Yorker published a piece titled Can Wuthering Heights Work Onscreen?, in which Joshua Rothman argued that Brontë’s classic is beloved “not just for its romance but also for its strangeness, its intensity, and its violence.” These qualities, he noted, are often left out of the many films and miniseries the book has inspired, which tend to reduce the story to the doomed romance of Catherine and Heathcliff.
Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights,” could be the most reductive version of this material ever made, but it’s undeniably visually arresting. As she demonstrated in her 2023 satirical thriller Saltburn, Fennell cares little for subtlety, and here she’s made an ode to mad, passionate excess.
You could say she tells the story in broad brushstrokes, but she’s not even using a brush—more like bright red spray paint. She’s cast Robbie and Elordi as a Catherine and Heathcliff you won’t soon forget, even if their love affair is ultimately more photogenic than it is deeply moving.
The story begins in the late 18th century, when young Catherine Earnshaw, who loves to run wild on the Yorkshire moors, finds a companion in Heathcliff, a scruffy urchin who comes to live with her and her father at Wuthering Heights.
Years later, Catherine and Heathcliff, now played by Robbie and Elordi, are intensely close, sharing a tense, almost incestuous attraction. Their love is palpable, even as Catherine considers a match with Edgar Linton, a wealthy aristocrat who has moved into a grand estate nearby.
Catherine marries Edgar, portrayed by Shazad Latif. Heathcliff departs in a rage, only to return years later, having amassed a fortune and fueled by a desire for either Catherine’s return or revenge. He stirs jealousy by pursuing Edgar’s ward, Isabella—played with sharp wit by Alison Oliver.
This trajectory mirrors previous adaptations, including those directed by William Wyler and Luis Buñuel. However, Fennell aims to make the story her own, injecting a contemporary sensuality rarely seen in Brontë adaptations. Catherine and Heathcliff engage in more passionate encounters than usual, staged for both emotional resonance and dark humor.
However, the film’s emotional core feels underdeveloped. While Elordi and Robbie deliver committed performances, they are often overshadowed by the film’s stylistic excess. The soundtrack, featuring songs by Charli xcx, and the production design—including a bright red acrylic floor and Met Gala-inspired costumes—feel anachronistic. Robbie’s frequent costume changes sometimes make her feel more like Barbie than Catherine Earnshaw.
Fennell’s anachronism suggests that the love story transcends its period setting, but the film’s choices remain conventional in its handling of race. The novel describes Heathcliff as a “dark-skinned gypsy,” and his casting has long been a point of contention. Previous adaptations, including one by Andrea Arnold in 2012, have featured actors of color in the role. Arnold’s version, somber and realistic, offers a stark contrast to Fennell’s more flamboyant approach.
