“Wuthering Heights” came out on February 13th, 2026, and received lots of controversy. What’s interesting is that Brontë’s original novel was received much the same and was criticized for being too dark, the entire cast being terribly unlikeable and her critique of social convention. These choices, at least for me, are a big part of what drew me to the book; sadly, a lot of them were absent from Fennel’s adaptation. Instead, the film seems more focused on the tragic and obsessive love that the main characters share.
I think it is important to start with the things that the film does well. Fennel is really good at creating a beautiful picture. Almost every scene can be paused and taken in like its own piece of artwork; even the more disturbing scenes are interesting and intriguing to look at. I think that this is best explored through the depiction of the moors; they feel almost alive and are consistent with how Brontë wrote them. The score backing these visuals is also really compelling. Using Charli XCX and pop music to back a period piece is a really interesting and brave creative choice, and for the most part, it works.
Another thing that really stuck was the acting performances. Hong Chau, the actress who plays Nelly, gives an amazing all-around performance and is probably able to play a character who was the most well-rounded and complex of the entire cast. The actors who play the Lintons, Alison Oliver, who plays Isabelle and Shazad Latif, who plays Edgar, are great as well. While their characters are dramatically different from their book counterparts, it still works. Shazid does an amazing job at bringing to life Edgar’s gentleness and stuffiness while Alison portrays a totally different version of Isabella who’s a bit weird and at times even unsettling but still, she is sort of endearing and (at least in the first half of the film) she was one of my favorite characters.
Wuthering Heights, the novel, explores the abuse, hatred and othering that marginalized people faced and continue to face. Heathcliff is abused by his adopted family and by others within the community because he is seen as a racial/ethnic other. He is repeatedly called slurs and treated as a servant because he is an other. He cannot marry the love of his life, Catherine, because he is a person of color and because they have different social standings. Emily Brontë was aware of racism and xenophobia; she was a daughter of an Irish immigrant, she was educated and engaged politically, and she knew how radical it was to make the central love interest a person of color. Before watching this film, I was already upset by this decision, but after watching it, I am both upset and confused. Fennel sucks out all of the racial subtext of Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship by casting Elordy, but she also goes on to cast 2 non-white actors while still ignoring any potential conversation on race.
For some reason, the film is also hesitant to make Catherine and Heathcliff unlikable. In the original text, she is selfish, mean and wild. You are not meant to like her because she is horrible to those closest to her, especially Nelly, Heathcliff and Edgar. Here he tantrums and outbursts are reduced to small spats, usually only directed at Heathcliff and as a result of her suppressed love for him. While Heathcliff, who is primarily driven by an innate hatred and a thirst for revenge against the Lintons, speaks more about wanting revenge rather than actually following through with it. Additionally, one of his arguably worst actions, his abuse of his wife, Isabella Linton, is depicted as something she is an active and willing participant in. And all of the inexcusable actions he carries out in the second act are erased because the second half is entirely erased.
At the end of the day, it feels like a Wuthering Heights adaptation more interested in telling a star-crossed lover Romeo and Juliet-Esque story than pulling from the original source material. While I don’t think that the movie is terrible, gutting it of all of its social commentary and complexity leaves it toothless and transforms it into something entirely different.
