Wuthering Heights 2026
Emerald Fennel
⭐⭐⭐½
Since the film’s debut this V-day, it has sparked a minefield of bashing.
Emerald Fennel, Promising Young Woman (2020), Saltburn (2023) showcases 18th century North England as a nightmarish, poignant fever dream that sends you home with a sunken heart.
From the beginning, both Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s suitability for the role had been questioned, as Cathy’s age and Heathcliff’s race had been disregarded. Fennel has also been bashed for putting two fingers up to historical fashion accuracy.
So, let’s make a few things clear. I personally, don’t care if Robbie is too old for the role. I don’t care that Emerald Fennel has diverted from Bronte’s original vision. I do not care if the costumes do not reflect those of its time. What can I say, I have a forgiving disposition. What I do care about is if its good. If it evokes emotion, if I care about the characters. I want the director to use varied ways of illustrating a character’s mental state, thoughts and dreams. I want something that challenges my moral compass, that leaves me elevated or distraught or both. This film will exhaust your mind in the best way.
We see a beautiful chemistry between Robbie (Cathy) and Elordi (Heathcliff), one that makes us understand their deep-rooted connection and submerge into their world of passion and dangerous obsession.
Fennel takes typical 18th century fashion into another plane. It is fantastically flamboyant in its re-imagined Georgian gowns and skirts. With bright colours and bold imagery, not only the dialogue and actions bring us into Cathy and Heathcliff’s world in this “Wuthering Heights” adaptation. Fennels effective use of foreshadowing allows the audience to delve into characters psyche and even their future.
As Cathy’s proposal from Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) drives Heathcliff away, she is flung into a world of finery, now free from her abusive alcoholic father (Martin Clunes). As she still longs for Heathcliff to return, her husband Edgar, showers Cathy in adoration. One way he shows this is having her bedroom walls decorated to look like her skin – veins and all (weird?). Cathy finds a soft souled and unusual friend, Edgar’s Ward, Isabella (Alison Oliver) who is obsessed with dolls and ribbons. Her childlike innocence is later stomped out by Heathcliff, who later takes advantage of her to torment Cathy when she chooses a life with Edgar over following her heart. The decisions made by both Cathy and Heathcliff throughout the film ultimately lead them to their demise. It’s frustrating to see this re-imagined classic not have a more simple, gratifying ending. But then it wouldn’t be a Fennel film, would it?
Cathy’s use of blood red in her clothes help signify her hidden promiscuity. While also representing a burning, boiling love that belongs to one man. Something that shapes her both body and mind. But will eventually be her undoing. The tale of Cathy and Heathcliff is one that evokes many emotions. Its hopelessness however does not lie in its costume design or writing, no. It lies in the tale of the lovers themselves and who they drag down with them in their malicious games and torment.
The film let’s us down through missing out interesting and relevant aspects of the book. Heathcliff was described as being from foreign descent, which subjected him to racial isolation. Casting Elordi meant that vital themes and discussions, such as racial segregation, are erased from film.
Ultimately, Fennel has shown again that her rebellious nature in her storytelling can spark extensive conversation. Wuthering Heights is a must watch, if not for its prose, then certainly for is stylistic shots and statement storytelling.
