When the trailer for “Wuthering Heights” first dropped, there was a mix of emotions circulating online. From criticisms of time-accurate costumes to the question of casting (or miscasting), and speculations that everything was a dream, it felt like the internet was divided on its thoughts of this film before it even came out.
Hearing the director and writer, Emerald Fennell speak about the movie being an adaptation (with a very heavy emphasis on the word “adaptation”) and knowing the style of her previous work, it was clear that this movie was not going to be anything like the original book or any of the films prior. This particular adaptation tells the story of Catherine “Cathy” Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), and their tumultuous and forbidden love.
The story begins when Cathy’s wealthy father Mr Earnshaw (Martin Clunes), comes home to Wuthering Heights with a young boy named Heathcliff, claiming to have found Cathy a friend in lieu of their young companion Nelly Dean (Hong Chau). As a result of “saving him” from poverty, Mr Earnshaw promises to clothe and feed him as long as he remains a companion for Cathy. But as they all grow older, Cathy and Heathcliff’s kinship only becomes stronger, with Cathy and Nelly’s bond growing weaker, while the status of the Earnshaw’s are slowly being diminished due to Mr Earnshaw’s bad gambling habits.
All the while, a rich and kind man named Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) moves in next door with his sister Isabella Linton (Alison Oliver). Being the ever so wild and curious person she’s always been, Cathy travels across the ways to peer over the tall walls of the home, and gets a glimpse of the luxuries of the rich. When she’s caught by Isabella, she abruptly falls from the wall when Edgar quickly comes to her aid and takes her in while she heals. After being away from home for weeks, she comes back to Wuthering Heights, a new woman. Dressed in an expensive gown with a newfound perspective on life, her taste for a lavish life overshadows her love for Heathcliff – if only momentarily.
Filled with agony and confusion, Cathy confides in Nelly about her conflicting feelings. But when Nelly’s advice is met with harsh remarks from Cathy, she uses the opportunity to have Cathy speak ill of him and their fates if they were to marry, knowing Heathcliff was peering into the room and listening by the door. Completely heartbroken, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights, and Cathy begrudgingly marries Edgar Linton. Only for Healthcliff to come back five years later as a man of high status and beauty.
Fans of the original novel are going to be upset with this adaptation, there’s no question about it. It feels like the bare bones of the novel have been ripped out, and what’s left is a surface-level story of a love once lost and forbidden romance under the guise of an otherwise rich and controversial narrative written by Emily Brontë. What remains are the same given names of characters throughout the novel with completely different backstories.
But what we have to remember is that Fennell has been advertising this movie as an adaptation the entire press run, not something that would be an exact carbon copy of the original novel. Maybe the movie would have been better received if it wasn’t a story of Heathcliff and Cathy, and instead an original period drama with inspirations drawn from the book. Regardless, the backlash is something that will no doubt be brought up in conversation, and it honestly already has been. Particularly in the choice of having Heathcliff present as a white male rather than a man who is clearly stated as ethnically ambiguous in the book, causing an onslaught of important conversations around whitewashing in Hollywood (which will and should continue to be a topic of discourse for years to come).
That said, this movie is exactly what was marketed. A sexy romance between two people who can’t and shouldn’t be together. A classic story of love and its hurdles between a class divide. An unapologetic raw love story. It’s intimate, utterly dramatic, full of yearning, at times quite ridiculous, and filled with an overly exuberant visual aesthetic, reminiscent of some of the stylistic choices of Saltburn. The music by Charli XCX also aids in the modernised telling of this period drama, and never feels too jarring or ever takes away from the scenes. So if you take away the fact that this is supposed to be Wuthering Heights and keep in mind that the movie stresses the quotation marks in the title, this movie is stunning.
Robbie and Elordi also play so well off each other. At times, it’s definitely hard to dissuade the fact that the characters are supposed to be in their late teen years, but other than that, their chemistry is palpable.
To really enjoy the movie, it’s probably best to disregard any sentiment of this being a true depiction of the beloved novel, because this adaptation of Wuthering Heights is by no means a play-by-play of the book. “Wuthering Heights”, for everything that it is and has said it will be, is a beautiful story full of love and yearning, and if anything, a subtle nod to the characters of the original narrative.
