Review: Wuthering Heights – “Jacob and Margot smoulder together on screen”

Director Emerald Fennell sets “Wuthering Heights” in quotes to signify how loose this adaptation of the book is. Set in mid-19th-century Yorkshire, the novel is famous for its contribution to Gothic literature, the tumultuous relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, and their impact on everyone around them. Emerald has crafted a film that resembles the one she imagined when she first read it, capturing the yearning, scenic romance but neglecting so much of the cosmic, gothic elements. It’s a new take on Wuthering Heights where Emerald aims to put the romance in gothic romance.

The film opens with Catherine and Nelly watching a hanging, gawping at the hanged man’s erection; I wondered if this was a comment on the mixing of death with sex, but really, it’s a replacement. The gothic themes are replaced with sex and some bdsm. It’s a striking change that lends itself to the story Emerald wants to tell. Provocative but not tasteless.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi lead the film, spending as much time as possible looking sexy – Jacob is shirtless for as much of the film as possible. There has been some controversy around the casting of Heathcliff, who is described as “dark-skinned”, but I found the casting of Hong Chau as Nelly and Shazad Latif as Edgar to be more infuriating. As their characters appear to be manipulative and feeble, respectively, so there is representation but not positive.

There is, however, no denying that Jacob and Margot smoulder together on screen (shaky accents aside). Capturing the wanting and passion of the two lovers beautifully amongst crashing landscapes and thunderous rain. Emerald follows her previous film, Saltburn, by making a film that looks great but will polarise with its many odd choices. A scene where Catherine’s father is surrounded by a ridiculous number of bottles provoked hysterical laughter in my screening.

This is a saucier adaptation of Wuthering Heights than has been made before. Though I prefer Emily (2022), whether you’ll like this will depend on whether you can look past the changes from the book (of which half is missing) and enjoy the romance despite the chaos they bring to everyone else. One thing is for certain – they won’t be showing this version in schools.

Wuthering Heights hits cinemas on 13th February.