Wuthering Heights Isn’t Faithful To The Book – & Maybe That’s Okay?

When it was revealed that Emerald Fennell was set to adapt Emily Brontë classic Wuthering Heights, people had some thoughts. 

Could she do the novel justice? What would a Wuthering Heights of 2026 look like? Why had she cast Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi?

Emerald has a certain aesthetic. Her films are vibrant, they’re excessive, they’re over the top – a vibe that plenty of people like, and plenty of other people absolutely loathe.

Just think of Saltburn, a film all about wealth and excess and mad things happening that result in Barry Keoghan dancing around a mansion with his willy out.

So when it was announced that Emerald was to take on Brontë’s story, fans of the classic were concerned. The quiet compulsion of the novel surely wouldn’t blend with Fennell’s need for abundance. The casting was odd. The costumes didn’t really match up with the aesthetic of the book.

 

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The first trailer and poster for the film (set to be released on Valentine’s Day 2026, nonetheless), dropped this week… and naturally, people’s fears were confirmed.

Because Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is hyper erotic, indulgent, and soundtracked by Charli xcx. And honestly, it was never going to be anything else.

Wuthering Heights is a dramatic story. Like, very dramatic. Set on the ruthless Moors of Yorkshire, Catherine and Heathcliff navigate the restraints of their obsessive love for one another, while the landscape rages all around.

Catherine marries another man and Heathcliff leaves the moors enraged, only to eventually return a wealthy man set on revenge.

He takes his pain out on Cathy’s family, leaving everybody miserable – and while there isn’t a whole lot of this depicted in the trailer so far, that doesn’t mean those things won’t happen.

They’ll just be happening while Margot Robbie yearns for Jacob Elordi and someone sticks their fingers in a fish.

As someone who has never read Wuthering Heights and therefore has so expectations for this new film, I think it looks good! Sorry!

It’s over the top, it’s beautifully shot, it’s got hot people in it doing wild things. It’s exactly what one would expect from an Emerald Fennell movie, and honestly, I will be sat once it lands in theatres.

The film’s poster details the title “Wuthering Heights” in quotation marks, suggesting that the movie is going to be a loose version of the book and not at all true to its contents. And while, yes, that may have Brontë rolling in her grave, it sure is going to be quite a spectacle.