Movie Review: Wuthering Heights (2026)

 

Even during a time where people regularly decry about how homogenized and safe movies have become, some filmmakers have still been able to turn into polarizing figures. Among these lucky few directors whose work inspires passionate takes/arguments galore is Emerald Fennell. The mere mention of the British writer/director behind Promising Young Woman and Saltburn in certain corners of the internet effectively serves as an alarm that activates a sleeper cell of cinephiles so full of venom and disgust towards her work that they make the Snydercut cult that have spent the past few years trying to get James Gunn removed from his post at DC Studios look like pleasant, reasonable people. For her third film, Fennell decided to further expand the already sizable target on her back by moving away from original stories and trying her hand at an adaptation. Much to the disgust of English lit majors and the Fennell haters that felt Saltburn did an awful job tackling its themes of class everywhere, the work she elected to adapt was Emily Bronte's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is widely considered to be one of the most seminal pieces of literature ever written and the complicated romance between the wealthy Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff-a poor boy her father took in off the streets and raised alongside his children- at the center of the story has led to it being adapted on screen dozens of times around the globe since 1920. While I can't comment on how well Fennell's Wuthering Heights adapts Bronte's novel or how it stacks up against any of the previous screen adaptations, I can say with zero hesitation that I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Wuthering Heights is built around a romance that had been simmering under the surface for quite some time that eventually morphs into something ugly due to the shame, pain and jealousy that stemmed from not allowing that love to blossom when it still had the opportunity to grow into something beautiful. The primary contributing factors to this sullying of something pure are Catherine (Margot Robbie) believing that she would be degenerating her family name by marrying a peasant and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) being so hurt by this revelation that he transforms into a cold, vengeful prick. When Heathcliff reemerges with some money several years after Catherine has married a wealthy businessman Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), they finally act upon the feelings they had previously pushed down for so long, and shit gets real messy for both of them real fast. 

Despite the comically misleading marketing referring to it as "the greatest love story ever told", Fennell's film leads with feelings of lust, obsession and jealousy. There's a version of this story where Catherine and Heathcliff build the love they've always dreamed of, but the ones occupying the screen here are too bitter, wounded and selfish to build a relationship that is anything other than purely primal. The animalistic nature of its toxic, doomed romance is perfectly complemented by the stunning Gothic-inspired darkness consuming beauty aesthetic that drives the film. Pairing lavish sets/costumes with the fog-filled landscapes of the British coastline and downtempo music handled by the dynamic duo of Charli xcx and composer Anthony Willis allows the film to cast a hypnotic spell that often looks like a dream but feels like a nightmare. Pulling off a long-unrealized romance that materializes in a much more hideous way than it could or should have requires an incredibly delicate dance from the creatives and thanks to Fennell's rich, visceral atmosphere and the chemistry between Robbie and Elordi that tows the line between sizzling and just plain wrong, Wuthering Heights is able to pull it off. 

I get why people wouldn't be able to get down with a movie that draws its emotion from the gut, heart and eyes over the mind, but I honestly feel like Fennell is able to really explore the evolution of Catherine and Heathcliffe's relationship by committing to conveying the specific impulse-and-pleasure-driven emotions they were experiencing during their ill-fated affair. It wouldn't have felt right to have bigger, headier emotions get in the way of a courtship that is so clearly defined as two rotten souls hoping that the special connection they once had during the days where their hearts were purer will magically return (Spoiler alert: It doesn't!). Now, this approach shortchanges certain characters-particularly Catherine's confidant/servant Nelly (Hong Chau) and makes fully buying the delivery of the inevitable tragic conclusion a difficult ask given all the shitty things these characters do ahead of it, but that was a price I was ultimately willing to pay given how convincing and engrossing every other aspect of the film is. Fennell has a conviction in executing her vision that is special and as long as that remains intact, her movies will keep striking a chord with me. 

 

Grade: B+