If you’ve ever read or watched Twilight, you’ll know that Bella Swan frequently rereads her copy of Wuthering Heights, clinging to the story like it was a love letter written for her. Her obsession with the novel isn’t casual, and watching the newest Wuthering Heights movie, directed by Emerald Fennell, it’s hard not to think of Bella.
Hollywood is just as obsessed with Wuthering Heights, and it’s clear that fascination is just as timeless as hers. Wuthering Heights has been adapted into countless movies, shows, operas, and ballet performances. Even Twilight is vaguely based on the book. So, how does Fenell’s take on Emily Brontë’s timeless classic compare?
Initial trailer reactions
Wuthering Heights is often marketed as a love story, especially with its release being the day before Valentine’s Day, but it’s more than that. In the words of Bella Swan, it’s considered a love story because love is the only “redeeming quality” about protagonists Catherine and Heathcliff.
Besides that, their relationship is possessive, haunting the rest of the characters in the novel. Catherine is selfish, Heathcliff has an evil temper, and their relationship is destructive for them and the people around them.
Most movie adaptations of Wuthering Heights only adapt the first half of the book, because the second half strays from the main storyline of Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship, and the newest film isn’t any different.
When the first full trailer of the new Wuthering Heights was released, fans online weren’t impressed. Criticism of the trailer was mainly about the film’s marketing and casting, creating discussion online about the film’s accuracy to the book.
First, the film was marketed as a love story: a trailer for the movie even referred to it as “the greatest love story of all time,” and this didn’t go over well with audiences online.
Wuthering Heights is also a story about domestic abuse, inter-generational trauma, the Victorian class system, and the sexual taboos of the time it was released. Boiling down Wuthering Heights as just a love story does a disservice to its complex themes.
Second, its casting was extremely controversial because Heathcliff is heavily implied to be non-white, whereas Jacob Elordi, who plays Heathcliff in the newest film, is. While Brontë never confirms Heathcliff’s race, he’s described as a “dark-skinned gypsy in aspect” and a “dirty, ragged, black-haired child.”
A white actor playing Heathcliff isn’t new, though. The first adaptation to cast a black actor as Heathcliff was Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, released in 2011.
Some fans theorized that Elordi was cast because Wuthering Heights would be a new take on the novel rather than a true adaptation. When it was first announced, audiences theorized that the movie was about a woman imagining herself in the book, rather than a true page-to-screen adaptation, because the film’s title has quotation marks around it: “Wuthering Heights.”
Fennell debunked this theory in an interview, though, stating, “The thing for me is that you can’t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can’t say I’m making Wuthering Heights. It’s not possible. What I can say is I’m making a version of it.”
After seeing the film, Fennell’s take is definitely unique, to say the least. It’s “a” version, though not a very good one.
The review
Wuthering Heights begins with Charli xcx’s song, “House.” This song has been trending online with the audio, “I think I’m gonna die in this house,” and I think it’s particularly fitting for this movie. This isn’t a Wuthering Heights even Bella Swan would enjoy. The Twilight series is a better take on the gothic classic, and it’s not an adaptation of Brontë’s novel.
From the beginning, it’s clear that Fennell isn’t adapting Wuthering Heights. The movie opens on a completely different scene from the book, completely disorienting the viewer and setting the tone for the movie: extremely sexual.
Fennell completely amps up the intimacy from the book, and her risk-taking doesn’t pay off. The overtly sexual themes throughout the film take you out of the beautiful landscape and scenery that the story is set against.
Elordi and Robbie’s chemistry did a great job of captivating the audience, but the overwhelming emphasis on sexual themes made the story feel lackluster. Their chemistry fell apart when the film started amping up the sex scenes. It felt empty, not romantic, because the film overloads the audience with too much sexual content.
The costuming also throws the audience for a loop. Some of the costumes are extremely beautiful, whereas others are tacky and look too modern for the Victorian landscape. For example, there’s a scene where Robbie wears a gown with a huge, pink bow made entirely out of a plasticky-looking tulle material. Another instance is the scene when Robbie wears a dress with a huge, bright red vinyl skirt.
These looks, and the bright setting of Thrushcross Garage, look completely out of place when set against the gloomy background of the moors.
The story is also lackluster. While not all adaptations have to be a one-to-one from the page to the screen, Fennell disregards important themes and leaves out important characters. Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s biological son, is completely missing from the film.
In the book, it’s Hindley who becomes an alcoholic and a gambler. Mr. Earnshaw dies peacefully in his home, surrounded by his servants, with his daughter, Catherine, by his side. With Hindley inheriting Wuthering Heights, he’s the one who treats Heathcliff so poorly.
Fennell also completely changes Nelly Dean and Isabella’s characters. Rather than being the main narrator, Nelly Dean is driven to the side of the story, though she still plays a major role. Isabella’s agency is also stripped away from her character. In the book, Isabella escapes Heathcliff on her own to raise her son. In the movie, she contributes to her own degradation, becoming willingly submissive.
The only enjoyable aspects of the movie are the setting and soundtrack. The landscape takes the viewer right into the scenery of the book, recreating the gothic atmosphere of the moors. I was also pleasantly surprised by the brooding soundtrack, which fits the setting well.
Unfortunately, the setting and soundtrack aren’t supported by the lackluster story. Fennell successfully created her own version of Wuthering Heights, but she loses her hold on the story as the film progresses, and it falls apart.
Like Bella Swan, I’m a huge fan of Wuthering Heights, but this adaptation didn’t hit home. Instead of being transported into the romantic, gothic atmosphere of the novel, the lackluster story and over-sexual themes prevented me from being immersed in the film. If I hadn’t read the novel, I might’ve enjoyed this more, but Fennell’s adaptation is a tacky, modern take on a timeless classic.
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