For the worshipper of classics, there is a strong likelihood that this modern interpretation of Wuthering Heights will not leave you satisfied with a need for tradition. But for those who are open to incredible set design, detailed costumes and insane on-screen chemistry, this forbidden love story blends gothic and sultriness themes together in a way that’ll leave you wishing for a second instalment. Sophie Ritchie shares her thoughts on Emerald Fennel’s fever dream brought to blockbuster life:
Way back in the (Millennial) day, a fresher-faced version of myself studied English Literature at Exeter University. This, of course, entailed a lot of heavy books, discussion and reading over the course of three years. Well, the hindmost years did – the first was admittedly a blur of drinking games and sticky floored nights out.
I’ll be honest – at first I was never that enthralled with my course, assignments or glorified field of a city (nor the parties, for that matter). Until I took two specific modules of choice – Romantic Fiction and the Gothic – which led to me falling rather madly in love with the latter and basing my entire dissertation upon Edgar Allen Poe. Understanding the grotesque each week, through the likes of Angela Carter’s feminist fairy tales and the beasts of Bram Stoker’s Dracula gripped my attention as firmly as the monsters themselves. I actually began to enjoy turning up to seminars and sharing my passionate opinions.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights did not, of course, naturally fall under this category, although it is as much a Victorian horror story as any. But it did appear for the first time within my Romantic Fiction module, when Cathy and Heathcliffe’s troubling obsession crossed my path for the span of a few weeks.
My (somewhat rambling) point is that when I arrived in 2026 at my local Everyman Cinema with the expectations of what to encounter from the latest Wuthering Heights film, it’s that I never anticipated director Emerald Fennel to appeal as much to the Gothic lover in me as much as that naive romance fiction fan. But her modern interpretation is exactly that – a self-described ‘fever dream’ of savage obsession that strays from the book’s natural timeline, character appearances and deeper, more troubling themes in order to showcase a fated love story that the horrified audience secretly roots for. This is quite unlike the book – where, if understood properly, we reach for the nearest therapist.
Fennel still takes her audience on a twisted journey from the offset. There is no Lockwood, no Hareton and Cathy 2, no hauntings and no fast-forward flashes to life post-demise. We begin at the very beginning instead, a world of grubby childhood trauma and survival-led desperation. Even the first scene is chaotic and confusing, deliberately conjured to make the viewer feel uneasy through what we assume is – in the words of Bridgerton – someone’s ‘pinnacle’ – only for it to be revealed we are listening to a man’s last gasps for air during a savage and merciless public hanging.
Perhaps both the lack of dignity and life is a metaphor for the toxicity of Heathcliffe’s and Cathy’s relentless obsession, which suffocates all those who surround them and drains them of both. Perhaps it’s a likeness to the notion of love being oxygen – a subtle nod to Heathcliffe’s eternally famous ‘I cannot live without my soul.’ declaration. If so, this theme reappears several times throughout the film. We see it again when Cathy prepares for her loveless wedding to unaware Edgar and demands for her corset to be pulled tighter and tighter again, disregarding Nellie’s insistence for the negative effect it will have on her breathing as the skin begins to break and bleed.
Thoughts, Themes & Interpretations
1 The Egg Pranks
On one hand, one can view the jesting, messy eggs that Cathy and Heathcliffe leave within each other’s beds as a mere inside joke which references their childlike playfulness for each other. On the other, the eggs can also be seen as a deeper, fragile symbol of fertility as the film progresses. Cathy literally sitting on the eggs whilst pregnant with Edgar’s child represents a crushing of the future, a return to the gungey, sticky mess from her past. We know how her story ends within this screenplay – the forced separation from Heathcliffe causes not only her demise, but the death of the unborn baby alongside. The splattering of yolks merely foretells this poisoning awfulness between two toxic characters.
2 *That* Barn Scene
See no evil, speak no evil. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. There’s the absolute irony of Heathcliffe trying to protect Cathy’s innocence from what’s happening underneath her by turning up (shirtless) just in time to shield her during the obscenity, only in turn, to decidedly remove every last trace of it by covering her eyes and mouth. Jacob Elordi’s fantastic ability to humanise a seemingly consciousless character comes to life here, as it does again in another scene when he violently smashes a chair simply to make her a fire. Cathy trying to replicate the whole hands thing later on in bed with an entirely unwitting Edgar is just the icing on the skewed cake.
3 The objectification of Cathy
I firmly believe that one of the reasons we root as an audience for this particular portrayal of Heathcliffe and Cathy is because of her blurred relationship with aforementioned husband Edgar. From their orchestrated meeting to her marriage itself, it’s seen as almost entirely motivated by pure desperation to leave a life of poverty behind – as opposed to magpie-like greed that the book leans in more towards.
Within Emerald’s version, Edgar treats her life as that of a doll. Her purpose exists for him to dress up and play with – a beautiful pet which can be shut away at any point in her own skin-hued bedroom. Yes, separate rooms within a higher class marriage were common for the time period – but it’s the deeper cynicism here. The porcelain skin of a doll is mirrored within the pink hued walls themselves – perfect, pretty, lifeless.
Another example of this objectification is her shiny plastic-like dress on their wedding night. Even the bow embodies a literal present for Edgar to unwrap. He has, quite literally, bought his wife and her love. And whilst he does clearly love and worship the idea of her, treating her with kindness and generosity, this film’s surface level version of Edgar goes no deeper than that. She’s a plaything to him, a trophy to be tidied away come nightfall. The costumes of this film are so incredibly powerful – they tell a story as much as the lines do.
4 The grotesque
Emerald Fennel herself has stated she’s a “psychotic details demon” with a love for things to turn almost gross. The intricate costumes, outstanding scenery and Charli XCX’s incredible soundtrack all work beautifully together to evoke the grotesque, to capture that heinous sense of fright and gore that draws the audience closer with every scene. From the artistic portrayal of leeches surrounding Cathy’s deathbed to the bloody red river that sets the scene during the opening credits, the level of gothic detail that goes into this film both captivates and horrifies.
The Wordrobe Verdict
This is an off-key, A-minor horror wrapped up as a mere miscommunication between two trauma-bonded lovers which, subsequently, implodes the lives of almost all that surround them. And whilst gory and gross at times, Emerald never truly plunges into the true darkness of the book’s characters, who act far more out of possession and obsession as opposed to ‘true love’. They are in turn more likeable, more human than we’re used to.
For the worshipper of classics, there is a strong likelihood that this modern interpretation of Wuthering Heights will not leave you satisfied with a need for tradition. But for those who are open to incredible set design, detailed costumes and insane on-screen chemistry, this forbidden love story blends gothic and sultriness themes together in a way that’ll leave you craving a second instalment.
Words by Sophie Ritchie
Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
