If you’ve ever taken an English class, you’ve probably heard of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” I can definitively say that you’re better off staying in class than watching Emerald Fennell’s white-washed, perverted and distasteful adaptation.
The movie stars Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. The most notable addition to the star-studded lineup is the score composer: Charli XCX.
My complaints about this movie don’t come from Fennell reconceptualizing a gothic novel. With how unique the costumes were, the artistic sets and the electropop soundtrack, this could have been a great adaptation. That being said, the only similarities this movie bore to the original text were the names of characters and trope of doomed lovers.
Unfortunately, when you juxtapose Charli XCX with a gloomy public execution or graphic animal violence, you get a movie that totally misses the mark.
A major plot point of the original is that Catherine and Heathcliff only share one real kiss. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that Robbie and Elordi definitely had a few intimacy coordinators on set. I was in a constant state of cringe throughout this film, as were my other theater attendees.
Elordi’s Heathcliff was reduced to a handsome sadist. The racial prejudice he experiences in the novel as a dark-skinned man was completely abandoned for the sake of casting a star. In today’s political climate, those changes do matter.
I do believe that Elordi did the best he could with the material. The incredible acting by him and the child-actors Owen Cooper and Charlotte Mellington make me wish these roles had been under different circumstances. However, Robbie’s acting totally fell short for me as a whole.
It felt as if the characters were unnaturally self-aware, nearly breaking the fourth wall at times. Watching Isabella wink at the camera after engaging in depraved acts, for example, was totally awkward.
This film felt like a cheap mimicry of “Saltburn” that prioritized monetary gain over creative integrity. Two of the biggest stars in Hollywood portrayed characters that looked nothing like their literary counterparts, and nearly every scene was sexualized for the sake of appealing to the audience. Even having Charli XCX compose the score felt like a cash grab.
I do have to give some praise to the cinematics. The use of symmetry and angles — especially in Linton’s estate — were very well done. I enjoyed watching the use of colors evolve throughout the plot.
It’s a shame that Fennell titled this movie “Wuthering Heights.” The love story of Catherine and Heathcliff was nothing like the novel, and its stylized aesthetics had the potential to be something innovative and spectacular. I just can’t look past the bastardizing of the original.
I think it’s best that Fennel stays far, far away from literature. You, on the other hand, should indulge in some literature instead of this film.
Wuthering Heights released to theaters on Feb. 13th, 2026. Picture by TV Insider.