Verdict: 4/5
Emerald Fennell’s recent adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ is, in many ways, a fantastic film, provided you’re willing to let go of a few things.
First, you must forgive its questionable relationship with the source material’s thematic depth and its multi-faceted characters. Secondly, you must forgive the blatant lack of historical accuracy. From the clothing materials to the sets, the movie feels guided more by aesthetic than by realism.
But if you release yourself from loyalty to the source material what remains is a bold, moving, sensual, and often heartbreaking cinematic experience.
Published in 1847, Emily Brontë’s novel chronicles a decades-long, torturous love affair between Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) as they navigate marriage, wealth, love and hate. Fennell narrows the movie’s focus almost entirely onto Cathy and Heathcliff, pushing many of the novel’s secondary characters to the side, some even left out entirely. The decision has drawn criticism online, but to me it’s an understandable compromise. Brontë’s original novel is so expansive that attempting to capture every layer in a single film would have made the story too busy.
In the movie we follow Cathy and Heathcliff from childhood into adulthood, their bond drifting, at times uncomfortably, between a sibling-like friendship to an ever-present sexual tension. Fennell highlights the story’s sensuality and savagery, yet, given that it seems to be Fennell’s intention, to reimagine this story through a more erotic lens, there are moments where the film feels as though it could have pushed even further.
As Heathcliff, Elordi is perfectly enticing while also being outwardly savage. From his physical presence to his deep voice, audiences can see why Cathy is so torn. In the final act of the movie, I felt deeply disturbed by the savagery of Heathcliff, kudos to Elordi for his performance there.
Robbie, however, delivers the movie’s star performance. She layers Cathy with deliberate cruelty, allowing her to be deeply unlikeable when the story needs it, but in the next moment Robbie softens Cathy into a childlike vulnerability. It’s a performance that captures the instability at the heart of Cathy, making even her most destructive decisions feel believable.
This ‘Wuthering Heights’ is designed as spectacle. It invites division rather than agreeance, daring audiences to either surrender to its vision or reject it. Either way, it leaves people wanting to discuss it. While this adaptation may not honour every word of Brontë’s novel, it commits wholeheartedly to its own interpretation.
For Brontë purists, that may be unforgivable but for those willing to embrace spectacle over loyalty, it’s a haunting, divisive, and undeniably captivating reimagining.
See this movie at Hoyts Penrith.
