Regardless of being a industrial success, Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights was dubbed controversial and divided audiences.
The movie’s opening shocked viewers. Wuthering Heights started with a person being hanged, and people current are paying extra consideration to an involuntary bodily response. Whereas the picture was disturbing, it was included for a cause, and it wasn’t supposed for use as shock worth. Fennel defined to USA At present:
With the primary moments of a movie, you might want to set the tone and say what it’s. It is a deeply felt romance. However I additionally needed individuals to know that it will be stunning and darkly humorous and maybe stranger than they’d count on. It was essential to acknowledge early on that arousal and hazard are type of the identical factor – that’s what the Gothic is, and it was essential that the very first thing we see is Cathy, this younger lady, seemingly frightened however then really delighted. It tells us a lot about who she is, however a lot about Brontë, too. We now have this concept that the world of interval dramas was aromatic and exquisite and pastel and wonderful. It wasn’t in any respect. It was a harmful place to reside in, so it was essential for me to point out that proper initially.
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi portrayed Cathy and Heathcliff within the new adaptation. Nonetheless, followers of Brontë’s basic Gothic novel weren’t proud of the movie’s casting choices. Additionally they took situation with how the film strayed from the e book. Fennell defended the modifications that have been made and defined why she needed to give attention to the romance on the middle of the story, as an alternative of the themes of familial trauma, grief, and revenge.
All I may do was make a film that made me really feel the way in which the e book made me really feel, and subsequently it simply felt proper to say it’s Wuthering Heights, and it isn’t.
Regardless of the critiques, or possibly due to them, Wuthering Heights has been successful. Its opening weekend dominated the field workplace, and it’s at present tied with the 1939 movie for the best rating (85%) of an adaptation of the novel on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fennell is not any stranger to stunning audiences. The notorious “bathtub scene” from 2023’s Saltburn surprised audiences and critics alike. The titillating second was an omen of issues to return for Wuthering Heights. Saltburn, additionally starring Elordi, tells a narrative of psychosexual obsession, lies, and possession.
Whereas viewers have been inquisitive about Fennell’s adaptation of Brontë’s novel, many have been involved in regards to the inventive license taken after the primary trailer dropped. Together with the opening of the movie being modified, the ending was as properly.
The open ending left many questioning if a sequel was within the works, maybe masking extra of the fabric not noted of the 2026 movie. Wuthering Heights, written in 1847 by Emily Brontë underneath her pen identify, Ellis Bell, covers the struggles of sophistication, race, and intercourse within the moors of 1840’s Yorkshire.
Fennell’s adaptation has leaned into her darkish sensibilities and twisted humorousness, evoking comparability to Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. Each sort out fashionable diversifications of Gothic materials with fashionable twists and disturbing performances.
Wuthering Heights is at present taking part in in theaters worldwide.
- Launch Date
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February 13, 2026
- Runtime
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136 Minutes
- Director
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Emerald Fennell
- Writers
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Emerald Fennell, Emily Brontë
- Producers
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Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara