Wuthering Heights review: Not unconventional, just uninspired
The first announcement of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights quickly led to hypotheses about her ulterior motive. After all, the English enfant terrible behind the subversive rape revenge tale Promising Young Woman and Saltburn‘s horned-up class commentary would surely have no interest in a straightforward adaptation of Emily Brontë’s landmark Gothic novel. When the title was stylized as “Wuthering Heights,” and Fennell explained that this was because she was simply “making a version” of Wuthering Heights, it all promised some sort of unconventional approach. But this gives Fennell too much credit. Her take on Wuthering Heights, while in no way totally faithful, doesn’t generate any new compelling ideas about the text or the way that it’s endured in popular culture.
Margot Robbie simply plays Cathy, while Jacob Elordi embodies Heathcliff, her lifelong love. Much of the fabric of Brontë’s story is present, though somewhat remixed—certain characters are morphed together, while an overt (if oddly tame) sexual current runs throughout. Truthfully, one of the most jarring deviations from the book lies in the casting of Robbie and Elordi as the central characters. Despite being oft-equated with feminine perfection (i.e. Barbie), 35-year-old Robbie reads as far too mature of a choice for Cathy, who is 18 years old during the bulk of the narrative. Similarly, Heathcliff is originally described as a dark-skinned, ethnically indeterminate foundling (which leads to how he is treated throughout the narrative), so Fennell’s decision to cast the unambiguously white Elordi is puzzling. Had these choices factored into the plot, perhaps viewers could’ve gleaned some insight into how Fennell imagined these literary characters.
But Fennell’s script follows the path of most film adaptations, omitting the last act of the book, which focuses on the next generation of the titular estate’s inhabitants. This allows the focus to rest solely on Cathy and Heathcliff’s love story, which begins in earnest when they are children. Heathcliff (Owen Cooper, Adolescence star and youngest-ever Emmy-winner) is brought to Wuthering Heights by Cathy’s father Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes), an impulsive drunk who resolves to house, clothe, and feed the boy in exchange for manual labor. Cathy (Charlotte Mellington) is delighted, vowing to treat Heathcliff as her “little pet.” They are immediately inseparable, spending their days roaming the nearby moors, frolicking about the grounds, and comforting each other when Mr. Earnshaw gets violently intoxicated.
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