Wuthering Heights is directed by Emerald Fennell and adapted from Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. The film stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. It depicts a passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.
For a story that has been adapted more than a dozen times in film and television, a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights demands an interpretation that’s distinctly different to the rest. In that task, Emerald Fennel’s writing and direction succeeds wonderfully. Her Wuthering Heights is filled with stunningly high-contrast backdrops, and a witty exaggerated writing that satirises the more outlandish elements of Bronte’s novel. Even still, Fennel’s film maintains a certain poise and style.
Fennell also does an excellent job of capturing the passage of time across the story. One particular technique that makes this effective is her consistent use of montage. One key montage that shows Cathy settling into her marriage manages to, without any dialogue, describe the contrast between the lavish lifestyle she’s been given and the empty mundanity she’s experiencing in a loveless relationship.
Margot Robbie’s performance as Cathy manages to perfectly display this emotional arc, telling the entire story through the expressions on her face and no dialogue. Another key montage shows Cathy and Heathcliff’s marital affair escapades, and it is as entertainingly edited as it is sexy and raw. Both montages are set to Charli xcx songs written for the movie, and some great kinetic editing makes them extremely fun to watch.
Still, Fennell’s story manages to close the emotional loop wonderfully, with the final scenes providing a thoroughly cathartic ending that ties back to the opening of the film which establishes the bond between Cathy and Heathcliff as children.
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