Emerald Fennell's Bold 'Wuthering Heights' Adaptation Sparks Critical Fury and Audience Adoration
The critical verdicts are in for Emerald Fennell's cinematic reinterpretation of 'Wuthering Heights,' and many achieve such withering heights of disdain that a filmmaker might only endure them with a fortifying glass of sherry and slice of seedcake in a quiet parsonage. One reviewer branded it 'garish and silly,' while The Independent declared it 'astonishingly bad... a limp Mills & Boon.' Another dismissed it as 'a bastardisation of Brontë,' criticising Fennell's take on Emily Brontë's beloved 1847 gothic novel.
A Valentine's Release Starring Elordi and Robbie
Arriving in cinemas for Valentine's Day, the film features Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the iconic roles of Heathcliff and Cathy. Despite the polarised professional opinions, the 350-strong audience at a recent West End screening largely adored it—and, to this writer's own astonishment, so did I. It would be gratifying to join the intellectually superior anti-Wutherers, grumbling about Fennell's perceived disrespect for the original text and her glutinously sexed-up scenes, but I simply cannot.
Love it or hate it, the 40-year-old writer and director of 2023's Saltburn has delivered a bold, imaginative reinvention for a new generation, executed with gusto and distinctive style. This 137-minute film, though slightly overlong, manages to capture something elusive, marvellous, and potent about the messy madness of thwarted passion and doomed love.
Stylistic Flair and Contentious Casting
Fennell describes her film as a 'fever dream' reflecting her teenage experience of reading the book, and she succeeds in boiling the story down to its romantic core. You cannot tear your eyes away from the pulsating, pop video vision, the colour-drenched sets, or the clammy perversion of Cathy's Thrushcross Grange bedroom, with pink walls upholstered in padded latex mimicking skin, complete with pale blue veins and moles.
For her core audience of young women seeking thrills and bedazzlement, Fennell demonstrates a talent for capturing the female gaze. The film delivers rain-drenched kisses, artful droplets of sweat, heaving bosoms, fiery sunsets, galloping horses, and broken hearts. It is silly—even childish and ridiculous in parts—but also features fabulous cinematography and bonkingly funny moments, positioning Fennell as a Jilly Cooper for the Zoomer generation.
Performance Debates and Narrative Choices
Performance choices have sparked debate. To some, Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff seems about as rugged as a cashmere shrug, while Margot Robbie, radiant at 35, appears too primped and plucked to play the teenage ingénue of popular imagination. The film also courts controversy with sweaty, Saltburn-adjacent scenes involving body fluids, lascivious kitchen maids, and Cathy's erotic finger interaction with a jellied trout.
Yet, the film's heart remains true to Brontë's central theme. 'I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine,' Heathcliff's poignant line from the novel endures, a sentiment even Elordi's accessorised portrayal—with gold tooth and earring signifying newfound wealth—cannot ruin.
Addressing Criticism and Woke Controversies
This fidelity explains why some criticisms miss the mark. American commentator Brett Cooper appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored to label the film 'weird and sexual,' a 'crime against British literature,' dismissing it as Fennell's personal fantasy and deriding it as 'soft porn.' However, any exact reconstruction of the sprawling, unfilmable novel would be unwatchable, with its unreliable narrators and less-cared-for second part.
The relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is all readers truly care about, and Fennell focuses squarely on that. The film has also ignited woke controversy over Heathcliff's casting. In the novel, his racial identity is sometimes alluded to as non-white, yet Fennell faces criticism for casting Elordi—a non-issue in previous adaptations starring Laurence Olivier or Ralph Fiennes.
A Triumph of Romantic Melodrama
Fennell made her intentions clear from the start, placing the film title in inverted commas and framing it as her reimagination. There are no graphic sex scenes, nudity, or glimpses of nipple or buttock. While there are longueurs—such as Elordi brooding in a hayloft like a sulky Jesus or Robbie swishing in blood-drenched skirts like Halloween Barbie—the overall experience hits the heights.
Opening this Valentine's weekend, the film is poised to be a huge hit with fans. You might love it, hate it, or worry Fennell is regressively putting the modern sisterhood back into corsets. At the screening, corseted women sobbed into free 'Wuthering Heights'-branded tissues with 'Come Undone' stickers. As Cathy says to Heathcliff: 'Oh, stop it, I love it.' Over and over again.
