“Wuthering Heights” was released in theaters after a long and anticipated wait by fans. The movie was directed and produced by Emerald Fennell and produced by Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara.
The movie is an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Emily Brontë and released in 1847. “Wuthering Heights” has been adapted seven other times, first made in 1939, followed by other productions in 1970, 1978, 1992, 1998, 2011 and 2009.
The novel is a famous piece of classic English literature known for its passionate and dark love story between Catherine “Cathy” Earnshaw and Heathcliff, taking place in the bleak Yorkshire moors.
Leading up to the release of the movie, fans started an online trend where people would go up to the hung movie poster and try and bending backwards, mimicking Robbie’s pose in the poster, pretending as if they were about to kiss Jacob Elordi.
The movie takes place in the 18th century in the English moors and starts off with Cathy as a child. One day, Cathy’s father brings home a boy, who Cathy takes in and names Heathcliff, after her deceased brother. They live with Nelly Dean, who is their caretaker and housekeeper. They all suffer extreme abuse from Mr. Earnshaw, their father, and the estate owner of Wuthering Heights.
Cathy and Heathcliff were inseparable, but as they grow older, sexual tensions arise. Years later, her father has become more indulged in his habits of gambling and alcoholism. When new, wealthy neighbors arrive, Cathy goes to introduce herself as an excuse to leave her home for a while. When spying on the neighbors, she injures herself, and the neighbors, Edgar and Isabella Linton, his ward, take her in to heal.
While staying at the Linton estate, Edgar grows closer to Cathy. When she returns home dressed in fancy clothes, Heathcliff is not pleased because of her long absence. Edgar travels to her home and sees the vile conditions she lives in with her abusive father. He proposes to Cathy, who is now a young adult, and she accepts.
Cathy later expresses to Nelly how she feels guilty marrying Edgar to have a better lifestyle. She explains how marrying Heathcliff would “degrade her.” Listening through the door, Heathcliff hears this and flees home, heartbroken, just before Cathy was planning to confess that she loves him.
Nelly sees Heathcliff listening through the window but refuses to tell Cathy, so Nelly can move to the Linton Estate and escape Mr. Earnshaw with her.
With Heathcliff not returning home, Cathy finds herself with no other option than to marry Edgar after delaying the wedding by a year. Years go by as she lives with Edgar and longs for Heathcliff’s return every day.
When Heathcliff returns after five years, Cathy has become pregnant. Heathcliff has transformed himself into a wealthy and well-groomed man fitting of Cathy’s beauty. While Cathy is happy to see his return, Heathcliff is angry because of what she said and threatens to marry Isabella to make Cathy jealous.
Heathcliff purchases Wuthering Heights from their father who is drinking himself to death; the estate is now in shambles. Neighbors once again, Cathy and Heathcliff see one another frequently, fighting each time they speak, Cathy confessing that she has always loved him.
They start an affair behind Edgar’s back, which Nelly discovers and reports to Edgar. Edgar forbids Cathy from seeing Heathcliff ever again.
This doesn’t stop the passion that they always wanted, and Heathcliff soon finds out she is pregnant. He tries to be understanding at first, but after getting into a fight once again, he storms out of the manor.
Heathcliff goes on to marry Isabella and lives at Wuthering Heights, but he mistreats her. Cathy becomes depressed and locks herself in her room at the Linton Estate. Heathcliff has Isabella write Cathy letters, which includes details of his mistreatment towards Isabella, but Nelly burns every single one before Cathy can read them. During this time, Cathy’s health declines from self-starvation and her pregnancy.
Nelly realizes the impact of her cruelness towards Cathy, and wants to rescue Isabella, devising a plan to have Heathcliff see Cathy. When Nelly visits the dilapidated manor, Isabella is chained up and barks at Nelly as she enters, like a dog. Heathcliff says Isabella is happy as she eats cake out of his hands, but upon learning about Cathy, he saddles his horse and rides to save his deepest desire. But he may not arrive in time. They are not in love, and seem incapable of feeling so because of their past, but are driven by an unhealthy obsession for each other’s bodies.
The movie was a financial success, produced with a budget of $80 million, and netting $92 million since its release. Many fans of the novel were surprised and upset that the second half of the book, which includes the main characters’ children, was erased. This part dealt with generational trauma and moving beyond it, a major theme in the narrative which the movie made no attempt to explore.
Isabella was reduced to sex slave in the movie, instead of being a strong mother character who broke the cycle of abuse. Although many other adaptations have done this, a major change was the casting of a white actor for Heathcliff, who is described as dark-skinned gypsy which adds to the abuse from Mr. Earnshaw.
As a movie rather than an adaptation, the movie was entertaining though it exaggerated the dark romance elements to an uncomfortable degree, using lust as a selling point rather than a narrative to tell a deeper story. The cinematics were beautiful, showcasing the green misty moors and elaborate gothic manors, whose gloom adds to the narratives depressing tone. At the same time, this overshadowed the plot to the extent that the only take was that the directors preferred vibes to substance.
The costume design was strikingly beautiful but unfitting for the 19th century
setting. Elordi alone wore clothes fitting of the setting compared to Robbie whose elaborate outfit looked like it belongs at the MET Gala. The worst offender of Robbie’s outfits was a dress that looked like colorful plastic wrap.
For such a bad plot, the actors were able to spin so much tension into every moment they appeared on-screen together. This movie wants to be the next dark romance obsession of the young women, and may be for some, but like “Saltburn,” another story about unhealthy obsession gone wrong from the same director, this movie will fade from cultural memory in a couple of years.
Andrea Roberts and Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].