Wuthering Heights Review: A Fashionable Farce on the Yorkshire Moor
Emerald Fennell's latest adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel Wuthering Heights is a bewildering exercise in style over substance. The film's 20-page fashion shoot approach to the timeless tale has left critics scratching their heads, wondering if the director has lost sight of the story's dramatic core.
Fennell's interpretation sees Margot Robbie's Cathy as a primped and prim belle, oscillating between coy flirtations with wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (played by Shazad Latif) and passionate trysts with brooding outsider Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi). However, the film's attempts to inject a sense of playfulness and humor into the narrative fall flat, rendering some scenes feel like cringe-worthy, campy parody rather than genuine drama.
The most egregious omission is the character of Hindley Earnshaw, Cathy's elder brother, whose downfall at the hands of his father is conveniently glossed over. The film also erases Heathcliff's dark skin, a deliberate choice that smacks of postmodern irony rather than a genuine attempt to address issues of representation.
One cannot help but feel that Fennell has confused style with substance, prioritizing lavish production values and self-indulgent set pieces over the novel's rich emotional complexity. The film's all-knowing housekeeper Nelly Dean (Hong Chau) is reduced to a mere prop, serving as a mouthpiece for the director's whims rather than a nuanced character in her own right.
Wuthering Heights ultimately feels like a shallow imitation of its literary forebears, relying on surface-level drama and pseudo-romantic sentimentality to carry the narrative. When compared to more faithful adaptations like Andrea Arnold's 2011 take or Fennell's earlier films Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, this latest effort falls woefully short. As a result, Wuthering Heights is left as a disappointing misfire, a fashionable farce that fails to deliver on its promise of timeless drama.
Emerald Fennell's latest adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel Wuthering Heights is a bewildering exercise in style over substance. The film's 20-page fashion shoot approach to the timeless tale has left critics scratching their heads, wondering if the director has lost sight of the story's dramatic core.
Fennell's interpretation sees Margot Robbie's Cathy as a primped and prim belle, oscillating between coy flirtations with wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (played by Shazad Latif) and passionate trysts with brooding outsider Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi). However, the film's attempts to inject a sense of playfulness and humor into the narrative fall flat, rendering some scenes feel like cringe-worthy, campy parody rather than genuine drama.
The most egregious omission is the character of Hindley Earnshaw, Cathy's elder brother, whose downfall at the hands of his father is conveniently glossed over. The film also erases Heathcliff's dark skin, a deliberate choice that smacks of postmodern irony rather than a genuine attempt to address issues of representation.
One cannot help but feel that Fennell has confused style with substance, prioritizing lavish production values and self-indulgent set pieces over the novel's rich emotional complexity. The film's all-knowing housekeeper Nelly Dean (Hong Chau) is reduced to a mere prop, serving as a mouthpiece for the director's whims rather than a nuanced character in her own right.
Wuthering Heights ultimately feels like a shallow imitation of its literary forebears, relying on surface-level drama and pseudo-romantic sentimentality to carry the narrative. When compared to more faithful adaptations like Andrea Arnold's 2011 take or Fennell's earlier films Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, this latest effort falls woefully short. As a result, Wuthering Heights is left as a disappointing misfire, a fashionable farce that fails to deliver on its promise of timeless drama.
, it's like Emerald Fennell is trying to shake off the traditional, old-school Wuthering Heights vibes and give us something fresh and modern... but at the same time, I think she completely lost sight of what makes the story truly great 
. The fashion shoot scenes are giving me LIFE 
, but on the other hand, I'm really disappointed that they barely even included Hindley Earnshaw's character 
. And Heathcliff's skin tone... umm... is it a statement about representation or just a weird artistic choice? 
Anyway, to be real, I think Fennell's vision might've been too ambitious and it resulted in a disjointed mess that doesn't quite work for me 
, she's giving me some major sass 
!
what happened to the story 
? emerald fennell went all out on fashion over feel 
instead of giving us real emotions 
. cathy's character is so whiny 
and edgar's just a rich dude 
his skin tone got erased lol 
. nelly dean is literally just a prop 
. i need substance over style 
. I get it, Emerald Fennell wants to make a statement with all the fancy costumes and production design, but can't she just focus on telling a decent story for once? Margot Robbie's Cathy comes across as so... perfect and polished, you know? Where's the depth? The passion? It feels like she's just going through the motions 
.
I'm so underwhelmed by Emerald Fennell's take on Wuthering Heights 
The film just felt like a fancy dress party on the Yorkshire moor 
but where was the substance? Margot Robbie's Cathy just seemed like a different actress playing a different role each time she appeared on screen 
and I'm still trying to pick my jaw up from the floor. Like what even was this film? It's like she took every single good thing about the book and threw it out the window in favor of a 20-page fashion shoot 
. Margot Robbie's Cathy is literally just a pretty face with no depth whatsoever, and Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff is just...meh. And don't even get me started on how they glossed over Hindley's character 
. It's like Fennell had an entire script written out that said "OMG look at this outfit! 
. And let's not forget, who gets left out of this "fashionable farce" again? The people who need representation most 
... I mean, what happened to the classic tale? It's like they took all the grit and intensity of the original novel and replaced it with a bunch of fancy fashion shoots 
, but wuthering heights just feels like a messy, overhyped fashion show to me 
, i mean who needs cathy's outfit changes every 5 minutes anyway? 
. I mean, I love Emily Brontë's classic novel and all, but Emerald Fennell just went for style over substance, you know? Like, the fashion scenes are super pretty, but it feels like they're more focused on making a Instagram-worthy film than actually telling a good story 
.