In the six years since her directorial debut, Emerald Fennell has undergone quite the rollercoaster ride of public reception.Promising Young Woman received critical acclaim and earned Fennell an Oscar nomination, although it’s faced scrutiny in the years since its release for being cynical and “lip-gloss misanthropy.” Saltburn faced similarly tumultuous reappraisal, with initially glowing reviews eventually evolving into critiques of the film’s predictability and over-reliance on shock value. Even before its public release, Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights has sparked controversy as admirers of Emily Brontë’s beloved novel have found issue with the casting of white man for the role of Heathcliff and the film’s apparent hyper-sexuality. But while “Wuthering Heights” is certainly flawed, even for those without particular reverence for the source material like ourselves, the film makes for a sweeping, beautiful, and comedically melodramatic romantic epic entirely deprived of subtlety.
Loosely based on Brontë’s novel (hence the quotation marks around the title), “Wuthering Heights” follows the passionate decades-long love story between Cathy Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi). Initially meeting as children and growing up in close proximity to one another, Cathy and Heathcliff keep their feelings for one another at bay for years until the introduction of the aristocrat Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) and the manipulations of Cathy’s companion Nelly (Hong Chau) forces them apart and disrupts their romantic destiny.
As many expected based on the racy and pop-tinged promotional material, “Wuthering Heights” lacks the scale or sophistication of the countless previous adaptations of Brontë’s novel. Those who yearn for a faithful adaptation that retains the novel’s complex depictions of abuse, religion, class, and romance will likely come away woefully disappointed by the extent to which Fennell takes creative liberties with the timeless tale of Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Those without such a yearning, however, will find that a visual spectacle rich in exaggeration and poor in subtlety awaits.
Consistent with Fennell’s previous efforts as a director, “Wuthering Heights” is a technical marvel. Say what you will about the filmmaker’s capacity as a writer, but her keen eye for shot composition and camera movement is rivaled by a select few of her contemporaries. Legendary cinematographer Linus Sandgren shoots the film stunningly, imbuing the film with a fairy tale-like quality and countless frames worthy of a painting to hang on your wall. The original score by Anthony Willis perfectly accompanies Fennell’s directing style in establishing her film as a quintessential romantic epic – one with a story of forbidden love unfolding over the course of years. The production and costume designs, meanwhile, create a lavish, even garish aesthetic that contribute immensely to the film’s desire to be more smutty than sophisticated.
And it’s with this desire that “Wuthering Heights” will prove most divisive for audiences. Although not nearly as risque or carnal as the trailers would suggest, Fennell’s film has an undoubted vulgar, sales bin romance novel quality to it. Gone are the nuances of adhering to societal expectations and in is a film deprived of even a semblance of subtlety. Characters mope in heavy rain as they are consumed by sadness. Rooms are excessively colored green to overtly convey a character’s envy to the audience. Blinding red lighting portrays the inner rage of our players. These are just some of the more glaring examples of Fennell’s deliberate choice to make her film as on-the-nose and fever dream-esque as possible.
The lack of subtlety, coupled with a penchant for heightened melodrama, makes “Wuthering Heights” a rather hilarious watch. The opening scene, for instance, presents on-screen credits as the audience is treated to the sounds of a person orgasming. At least that’s what we’re meant to think. When a frame finally appears, it reveals that the sounds are from a man, not orgasming, but hanging and suffocating to his death. This brief introductory moment sets the tone for the film that follows. Characters act dramatically and absurdly throughout. Even when swept up in the emotion of a particular scene, there’s always something to chuckle at, whether it be an over-exaggerated facial expression or a line delivery that seems like it’s taken straight out of a soap opera.
It’s through its heightened sense of humor and melodrama that“Wuthering Heights” becomes as crowd-pleasing as it is. Not because of its sexual material. Again, the promotional materials did one hell of a job selling a film far more sexually explicit and daring as Fennell’s final product. Shockingly, the film is rather tame in its approach to on-screen sexual content, although a sense of deep yearning and passion reverberates strongly throughout. Viewers seeking thrills akin to Magic Mike or Fifty Shades of Grey will likely be surprised at how restrained“Wuthering Heights” is with its sexuality, but admirers of more cerebral intimacy will come away satisfied with the unabashed craving and infatuation Fennell seeps her film in.
Fennell’s few attempts to add more of an erotic flair to the mix go horribly awry. A third act that, if consistent with its source material and other adaptations would deftly toy with ideas of mental and physical cruelty, could be rather powerful and thought-provoking is reduced to low-brow carnal comedy. Fennell opts to make a joke out of some of Brontë’s more serious subject matter and, in turn, provides her critiques even more evidence that her work prioritizes shock value over substance.
That being said, it is difficult to not be engrossed by the romance at the heart of the film. Margot Robbie’s casting as Catherine Earnshaw may be questionable, but her chemistry with Jacob Elordi is undeniably magnetic. The two excellently stir the heartstrings to foster remarkable investment in their romance. Every bump in the road of their relationship is devastating. Every moment they bask in their shared adoration is exhilarating. Elordi brings a more subdued, meditative quality to Heathcliff, while Robbie crafts Earnshaw into the embodiment of longing. Neither are particularly likable during certain parts of the story, but, for as excessive as the film is in regards to its tone and melodrama, Fennell ensures that the raw strength of Cathy and Heathcliff’s forbidden romance never wavers.
Backed by a strong performance from Owen Cooper as young Heathcliff, the doomed romance converges on a conclusion as gut-wrenching as it is beautiful. Again, even though Fennell goes grand in her approach to the novel, she ultimately doesn’t lose sight of the emotions Brontë’s timeless tale evokes.
VERDICT: 7/10
Emerald Fennell reimagines Emily Brontë’s seminal romance novel in sweeping, epic, beautiful, and comically melodramatic fashion. Sporting an incredible original score and stunning cinematography, production design, and costume design, “Wuthering Heights” is a technical marvel and will give audiences a visual and auditory feast to bask in. The film’s vulgar, sales bin romance novel quality may deprive it of thematic richness and displease fervent admirers of the source material, but its glaring lack of subtlety makes for hilariously on-the-nose viewing. Through this humor, Fennell’s movie becomes a crowd-pleasing romp, not through its various sexual exploits, which are, especially based on the rather risque promotional material, surprisingly tame. For as heightened and humorous as it is, however, the film retains an engrossing romance at its heart and converges on a conclusion as gut-wrenching as it is beautiful. While Margot Robbie may be somewhat miscast as Catherine Earnshaw, her chemistry with co-star Jacob Elordi is undeniably magnetic and earns remarkable audience investment, with every bump on the road proving devastating and every display of adoration proving exhilarating. Fennell may not dispel claims of prioritizing style over substance with her latest filmmaking endeavor, although her (quite loose) adaptation of Wuthering Heights excels in the absence of sophistication as she crafts a passionate, approachable, and visually stunning romantic epic.
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