In the opening moments of Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights,” an unidentified erotic moan is revealed to be the final gasp of a man on the gallows. The jarring sequence establishes the film’s tone, where sex and death exist in the same breath, with no distinguishable difference between desire and macabre despair.
This may shock fans of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, where nothing explicit materializes, but those familiar with Fennell’s filmography know to expect provocation. As with “Saltburn” and “Promising Young Woman,” the Academy Award-winning director uses grotesque intimacy to explore power and control. In “Wuthering Heights,” released this Friday, sex is omnipresent — with frequent food euphemisms, voyeurism and BDSM. The film adapts the first volume of Brontë’s novel, tracing the budding love between Catherine (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), an orphan brought to her family’s Yorkshire estate.
“Half an hour into our very first meeting, I felt like I would follow her anywhere, and I still feel that way today, even more strongly,” star and co-producer Robbie said of Fennell in a Q&A with WSN. “She approaches everything with such artistic integrity and passion, and that’s all you could really hope for… You’ve got the best source material ever, and then you’ve got Jacob, who’s like the best actor ever. It’s a true joy.”
The film opens as a young Catherine (Charlotte Mellington) and Heathcliff (Owen Cooper) grow up together, with Catherine bossing Heathcliff around like a doll to command. Beset by financial troubles thanks to her father’s gambling addiction, an adult Catherine allows herself to be courted by her opulent neighbor, Edgar (Shazad Latif), leaving Heathcliff in a quiet rage. Elordi carries Heathcliff’s yearning with striking poignancy, proving the actor’s range after projects like “Frankenstein” and “Euphoria.”
“It’s nice to see what that takes to evaluate that character, because that kind of obsession in love exists in all of us,” Elordi told WSN. “We just kind of access it and utilize it in different ways. So for me, in terms of exploration, it was a lot of fun.”
At the core of the film is a push and pull in Catherine’s agency. When she marries the stiff Edgar, she effectively becomes the doll she once eagerly controlled in her youth. From here, “Wuthering Heights” may irritate some novel purists, as Heathcliff and Catherine begin a sexual affair while she’s pregnant with Edgar’s child.
Alterations from the novel aren’t just narrative. The costumes, production and sound design all employ a fascinating mix of historical appreciation and modern verve. Original songs by Charli xcx add a memorable edge to the film, like the audacious opening montage with “House featuring John Cale.” Her contemporary style is coupled perfectly with Alfred Newman’s orchestral score, which sensitively stings in all the right moments.
“Wuthering Heights” soars with gorgeous visuals, captured on VistaVision by cinematographer Linus Sandgren. The careful coloring allows for rich, saturated hues to shine, heightening Catherine and Heathcliff’s desperate connection. From embellished corsets to see-through plastic-looking gowns, the film’s costumes received backlash when released online, but feel more palatable under Sandgren’s camera. The styling recalls Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” whose outfits combine archival and contemporary elements. Maybe they’re a bit more garish here, but the intention still stands.
Fennell’s distinct vision also adds glaring inaccuracies, like Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff, a character distinctly described in the novel as “dark-skinned.” The racialized otherness he experiences in the novel is instrumental to his lust for revenge, but the notion that dehumanization breeds cyclical abuse never comes to fruition in the movie. Fennell defended her decision by calling the film a stylized reimagining, focusing on guilt and degradation over nature and nurture — but in doing so, dilutes many of the themes that made the original story so compelling.
“The way we approach our characters doesn’t need to be beholden to what people have done before us,” Robbie told WSN. “Many actors have played these characters before us, and many actors will hopefully keep playing them. I just focused on honoring the source material, the script and Emerald’s version. The essence that you felt from Cathy in the book is what I felt in her script, and hopefully lovers of the book end up watching the film and agreeing that the spirit of the book is in this film.”
If you’re content with abandoning Brontë’s exact prose for two hours, there’s admittedly a lot of fun to be had with Fennell’s twisted “Wuthering Heights.” Despite narrative inaccuracies, it’s hard to deny the emotional weight of Catherine and Heathcliff’s all-consuming relationship, emphasized by Robbie and Elordi’s piercing chemistry. Shamelessly escaping to a universe where these characters get to indulge in their wildest fantasies feels right, even if just for a moment.
“Wuthering Heights” is now showing in theaters everywhere.
Contact Amelia Knust at [email protected].