Emerald Fennel’s film adaptation of the 1848 novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë has left viewers both bewildered and impassioned as they leave the theaters. The film, which is also called “Wuthering Heights” has been deemed as being a cheap adaptation that is blatantly unfaithful to the source material.“Wuthering Heights,” follows the story of Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of a wealthy man but not a member of the British aristocracy, and Heathcliff, a boy her father brings to their home, Wuthering Heights, as his ward. As Cathy and Heathcliff grow closer together, Nellie, a servant in the Earnshaw household who was tasked with taking care of Cathy becomes more ostracized. As Cathy and Heathcliff age, their friendship grows beyond its platonic nature. 

As an adult, Cathy accepts a proposal from the wealthy Edgar Linton and immediately regrets her decision. Nellie tricks her into admitting she could never marry Heathcliff due to their class differences — in the novel, his race comes into play as well — while he is in earshot. After hearing this, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and spends a few years building his fortune while Cathy gets married and leads a miserable yet lavish life with Edgar and his sister Isabella Linton. When Heathcliff returns, he and Cathy, who is expecting her first child with Edgar, begin an affair. Cathy eventually ends the affair and Heathcliff marries Isabella as revenge on Catherine. Although Heathcliff writes to Catherine after his marriage, Nellie destroys his letters. The film ends with Catherine’s death after miscarrying her child.

The following reviews of the film were written first by Ellie Harris, who has not read the novel, and second by Allison Kettle, who has.

                                       Ellie’s Review: 

Initially: when I first saw “Wuthering Heights,” my thoughts began and ended with confusion and disgust. The opening scene shows a young Cathy watching a man die at the end of a noose. When he finally stops breathing, Cathy, who initially looked concerned, breaks out into celebration along with the rest of the crowd. A background character yells about “Hanging Day” to the crowd, which allows the audience to assume that this man was the first of many public executions that day, and the crowd’s evident joy sets the tone of the film. Violence in “Wuthering Heights”- the film itself and the house Cathy grew up in- is embraced and celebrated. The film itself is stunning, and the sets and costumes are absolutely beautiful. Margot Robbie as Cathy looks exquisite, especially in the second half of the film when she has married the wealthy Mr. Linton. 

I enjoyed this film but was also repulsed by it. Fennel attempts to portray Cathy and Heathcliff as tragic figures being punished by their circumstances. Their happily-ever-after is denied to them over and over again by the antagonists thwarting their every move. The love story of Cathy and Heathcliff may be a tragedy, but the film tries to push a narrative of Edgar Linton’s wickedness, which simply is not true. His crimes throughout the film are asking Catherine not to see Heathcliff, as she is having an affair with him. Nellie, who is another an antagonist in the film, is also misunderstood and far more tragic than Cathy or Heathcliff. Throughout the film, Cathy abuses. Although she tricked Cathy into admitting that she saw Heathcliff as inadequate, she is not responsible for Heathcliff’s rash decision to run away from Wuthering Heights or Cathy’s decision to marry Edgar. 

The film relies heavily on shock value, vehement intimacy and dramatic scenery to convey a tragic fairytale aesthetic. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi were soaking wet in the rain practically every other scene. While I enjoyed seeing this film, I could not help noticing that the beautiful characters, scenery and clothing served as a distraction from the absolute terribleness of the characters portrayed as heroes and the gruesomeness they embraced and enjoyed throughout the film, while expecting graciousness and honor from the people unfortunate enough to be caught up in their “love story.” I had fun seeing this with my friends. I would recommend it, especially if you want to find something to complain about. 

      Allison’s Review:

I agree that Fennell’s priorities seem misplaced with her adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.” While the film is visually stunning and exciting, the elements of Brontë’s classic novel that make it a masterpiece were absent. Heathcliff’s ambiguous racial origins aren't just a detail; they are the catalyst for his alienation and his bitter rivalry with the handsome and “civilized” Edgar Linton. I thought Jacob Elordi did a fine job playing Heathcliff, but casting a white lead erases the Byronic character’s essential state of otherness. By ignoring this plot point, Fennell settles for a standard tortured romance rather than a more profound story about social displacement. Similarly, the casting of Margot Robbie shifted the dynamic of Catherine’s character. While Catherine is written as a bratty, impulsive teenager, Robbie’s maturity made those same traits feel abrasive rather than youthful. Without the context of Victorian adolescence to excuse these traits, this portrayal rendered Catherine highly unlikable.

The movie also took great liberties with the original plot, having left out the entire second half of the novel after Catherine’s death. In the movie, Catherine dies following a miscarriage. In the novel, Catherine dies during childbirth, but her daughter, also named Catherine, survives. The younger Catherine goes on to become a pawn in Heathcliff’s plot for revenge, which further reflects Heathcliff’s madness and brutality. While the movie ends with Catherine’s death, the novel has a somewhat more uplifting end: The younger generations of Wuthering Heights — Catherine and Hareton, an uneducated servant abused by Heathcliff — form a caring bond and eventually marry, contrasting with Catherine and Heathcliff’s destructive romance. I was disappointed to see these characters abandoned in the film along with many others including Catherine and Heathcliff’s older brother Hindley Earnshaw, who served as the abusive antagonist of Heathcliff, and Mr. Lockwood, who narrated the plot as he was informed by Nellie Dean. 

The commendation that every critic seems to agree upon is the film’s beautiful visual composition. While I agree that Fennell has an excellent eye for creativity and production, I thought that Robbie’s flashy, brightly-colored gowns detracted from the novel’s eerie, gothic mood. Elements of the novel were even supernatural, such as Catherine’s ghost haunting Wuthering Heights, yet this characteristic, unique compared to other Victorian-era novels, was lost in the film. While I enjoyed Charli XCX’s contribution to the soundtrack, her electro-pop sound also distracted from other elements of the plot.

Overall, I tried to give the movie the benefit of the doubt since “Wuthering Heights” was one of my favorite novels assigned in high school. Yet, Fennell’s adaptation eliminated so many aspects of the plot to create a typical tragic romance that it was almost unrecognizable. The quotation marks present around the title of the movie on its poster suggest an ironic adaptation that maybe should not be taken as faithful. Still, fans of the novel are likely to be disappointed with the direction taken by Fennell.