Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” released this week to mixed reviews. The film, described by The Recent York Times as a “florid, overstuffed version” of the classic novel, arrives nearly two centuries after the book’s original publication in 1847.
Brontë’s sole novel initially met with a divided critical reception, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, but ultimately secured its place as a cornerstone of English literature. The story centers on the intense and destructive relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. A.O. Scott, writing in The New York Times, notes the pair are “not the people you meet on vacation,” embodying a dark and obsessive strain of literary romance.
Heathcliff is characterized as a “tormented soul” and a “problematic boyfriend,” described as “mad, awful and dangerous to know.” However, Scott suggests his actions are somewhat redeemed by Catherine’s reciprocal love. Their connection, formed during a shared and “highly dysfunctional household,” transcends conventional bonds of siblinghood and desire. The narrative follows their separate marriages and continued, fraught proximity, punctuated by tragedy and passionate outbursts.
The film adaptation, as noted by the Financial Times, is presented with quotation marks – “Wuthering Heights” – to emphasize Fennell’s distinct interpretation of Brontë’s work. This signals a deliberate departure from a straightforward adaptation, positioning the film as a personal reimagining of the source material.
A key passage from the novel, as quoted by Scott, reveals Catherine’s profound sense of self and her inextricable link to Heathcliff: “express it; but surely you and every body have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the apply of my creation if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself…” This soliloquy, delivered to the observant maidservant Nelly Dean, encapsulates the all-consuming nature of their connection.
Warner Bros. Distributed the film, which features Robbie and Elordi in the lead roles. The adaptation has prompted renewed discussion of the novel’s enduring themes of love, class, and revenge.
