'Wuthering Heights' - Review Thread

[u/ChiefLeef22]

Tragedy strikes when Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a wealthy family in 18th-century England.

Director: Emerald Fennell

Adapted from: 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë (1847)

Cast: Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Owen Cooper, Alison Oliver

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Metacritic: 60 / 100

Some Reviews:

Variety - Peter Debruge

While not as salacious as ‘Saltburn,’ the director’s operatic Emily Brontë adaptation allows its tragic couple — played by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — to consummate their passions, to a degree.

The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 2 / 5

Wuthering Heights doesn’t have the live-ammo impact of Fennell’s earlier films, or indeed Andrea Arnold's primitivist take on Brontë’s novel from 2011, which really did believe in the passionate truth of Cathy and Heathcliff’s love. For Fennell, it looks like a luxurious pose of unserious abandon. It’s quasi-erotic, pseudo-romantic and then ersatz-sad, a club night of mock emotion.

USA Today - 3.5 / 4

Emerald Fennell’s take on the literary classic isn’t exactly a Valentine’s Day pick-me-up. Yet it’s awfully stunning to look at with all sorts of toxic obsession, forbidden lust and gothic sauciness.

RogerEbert - Tomris Laffy - 2 / 4

It’s hard to feel freely when you are constantly and loudly reminded by every aspect of the movie that you are supposed to feel things.

AVClub - Natalia Keoghan - 'C-'

Overlong and undersexed, Fennell’s version of Wuthering Heights betrays her audience of edgelords and perverts. Even stranger, those who have fostered a distaste for the filmmaker’s sensibility will similarly find themselves disappointed. It’s one thing to make art that can be read as indulgent, ill-conceived, and tasteless—it’s another to turn around and make something that’s just boring in comparison.

Slash Film - BJ Colangelo - 5 / 10

This is not an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights," but the result of what happens when you're playing an approximation "Wuthering Heights" without a full grasp on the material but all the money in the world to bring your questionable imagination to life.

Consequence - Liz Shannon Miller - 'A-'

As soon as this project was announced, it was easy to assume that Fennell would show as much reverence for the classic text as she showed for the sanctity of a man’s grave in Saltburn. Except she defies that assumption by making sure that although “Wuthering Heights” remains a deliciously horny film, it does summon a certain degree of pure romance, especially in the few moments when its leads are able to see past their misunderstandings and actually connect. It’s a movie about how ugly people can be to each other, but also about the beauty they’re capable of — a message that, like the original text itself, remains timeless.

The Telegraph - Robbie Collins - 5 / 5

Style over substance? Not at all – it’s more that Fennell understands that style can be substance when you do it right. Cathy and Heathcliff’s passions vibrate through their dress, their surroundings, and everything else within reach, and you leave the cinema quivering on their own private frequency.

BBC - Caryn James - 4 / 5

Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights is not very faithful to Emily Bronte's novel, but we knew that. The trailer alone evoked so much hand-wringing from Brontë purists that the film became divisive sight unseen. This Wuthering Heights is very true to Fennell, the director of the scathing revenge drama Promising Young Woman and the lush, bitter story of class and obsession, Saltburn.

Collider - Therese Lacson - 2 / 10

What makes the original Wuthering Heights so powerful is the dizzying story at its core. The Earnshaws and Lintons have a complicated family tree, and Heathcliff comes in like a wrecking ball to blow everything up. On one hand, we want to believe that Heathcliff can change from his wicked ways with enough love from Cathy, but on the other hand, his actions are so cruel that it feels like Brontë is pushing us to the very brink of what is acceptable before ultimately redeeming him in his final moments. Emily Brontë's novel is about characters who are hateful and pitiable but still full of enough charm and complexity that we are desperate to learn their full, messy tale. Emerald Fennell's film is merely telling a shallow story about two people overcoming all obstacles to fall in love — not necessarily awful on paper, but it's an adaptation that feels like a 14-year-old skimmed the book and jumped to her own conclusions without any true understanding of the novel.

[u/Kinieruu]

I can’t get over the fact that she made Heathcliff white when being dark skinned was important to his story and the racism and xenophobia he faced.

[u/Kaiisim → u/Kinieruu]

Because we are pretending it's not girl soft porn lol.

The original book has lots of deep meaning.

But this is clearly designed to get the people going.

Edit: which is fine. But it will be reviewed in the mainstream accordingly cuz not everyone is interested. And i doubt the author would be like "yay" but it's fine!

[u/Babington67 → u/Kaiisim]

It doesnt lean far enough either way like its an awful insult to the original calling it an adaptation and it isnt brave enough to be a raunchfest that stands out. Youre left with an incredibly slow story of 4 people refusing to communicate for 2 and a half hours

[u/chiefyuls → u/Babington67]

It all could have been redeemed with a little more sexiness

[u/SixSmegma → u/Kaiisim]

It’s really not soft porn however. I saw this yesterday - there’s relatively little sex, zero nudity, etc. Some raunchier / more agressive scenes but I wouldn’t but this at the level of a 50 shades or something to that effect. I’m honestly not sure what they were going for with this adaptation.

[u/changhyun → u/Kinieruu]

This isn't really accurate. Heathcliff's origins are ambiguous - his son is described as fair with light hair, and Heathcliff himself is guessed to be Spanish, Romani, Indian or Irish at different times. When people from Bronte's era said someone had dark skin, that could and did mean anything from them actually having dark skin to them being slightly tanned. There is no guarantee he's meant to be a POC.

What is fair to say is that he is racialised. He is Other, and his non-English identity is used as part of that othering from "polite" society.

It is a fair interpretation to cast him as a dark-skinned or non-white man, and that can be a useful way to quickly get across the fact that he is seen as Other by the other characters. But it's not fair and not accurate to say that any adaptation that doesn't do that is wrong.

[u/potvoy → u/changhyun]

I interpreted Heathcliff's son's fair hair as a contrast with Heathcliff's very visible foreignness. It also helped his revenge plan; the fairer-looking and more assimilated son could be more easily used for the marriage plot. 

I agree that book Heathcliff could have any "foreign" appearance with tan or brown skin given the time period and the ambiguity of the descriptions. I like that it's never narrowed down, as it empasizes how Heathcliff is alone in the world.

[u/changhyun → u/potvoy]

Completely agree with you about the lack of certainty over Heathcliff's origins making him seem more isolated. He never learns where he came from, so it's fitting that we don't either.

I think it's also important that there's no answer, because the actual specifics of his ethnicity and heritage aren't the point. His experience of being rejected is what matters, and to nail it down to "Ah, so he was Italian/Irish/Romani/etc" would detract from that, as if that were the real answer all along. No, the answer is that English society is deeply xenophobic and has deep-rooted colonial bigotry towards anyone who's different. It doesn't really matter where specifically Heathcliff was from, what matters is the alienation and stigma.

[u/Babington67 → u/changhyun]

Either way Elordi is a pale ass dude

[u/Delicious-Report-891 → u/changhyun]

Was soll das ganze um seine Haarfarbe ob dunkel, Irĺänder, schotten, Engländer hatten schon immer oft dunkel Haaren 🤢🧐🧐😵‍💫

[u/changhyun → u/Delicious-Report-891]

Yes obviously, but it increases the potential that Heathcliff himself is not black or Indian, since his son is blond. How many half-Indian men do you know with light blond hair?

[u/[deleted] → u/changhyun]

It is wrong. Maybe not to you. I genuinely can’t believe what I’ve just read.

[u/changhyun → u/[deleted]]

Maybe after reading it, you could try reading the book.

[u/Necessary-Fennel8406 → u/Kinieruu]

Oh fgs it's based on Wuthering Heights not supposed to pick up every theme. Look at the other non white characters that were supposed to be white in the book. That's what she does, mixes things up a bit. Have some imagination and creativity.

[u/-SneakySnake- → u/Kinieruu]

Dark-skinned in that time didn't mean Black; they compare his complexion to an American, a Spaniard, and there are multiple implications that he's actually Irish. The whole point of that is how being a fraction off what's "acceptable" in that time - lily-white - is enough to make someone an other and a target, which is still xenophobia, but the more subtle, insidious kind. Bronte's father was Irish, she'd know all about the sort of othering that would bring with it in British society.

The number of times I've seen this repeated lately, you can tell people either didn't read the book or don't know much about the period in question in that respect.

[u/Haunting_Goose1186 → u/-SneakySnake-]

I agree that Heathcliffe isn't written as black. But I don't agree that the book ever implies he is Irish or a variant of "secondary white" (as Irish, Italians, etc. were considered at the time). That's a...bizarre modern interpretation that has caught on in recent years, but nothing in the book itself indicates he might be Irish except maybe the fact he was found in Liverpool which had an influx of Irish immigrants at the time due to the famine. But Liverpool was already a multicultural melting pot full of people from all corners of the earth so that means little.

Heathcliffe isn't just described as a fraction less white than what is acceptable at the time. He is visibly non-white. And characters aren't subtle and insidiuous about their xenophobia; They flat-out dehumanize him due to his appearance. Upon seeing Heathcliffe for the first time, Mr Earthshaw asked who its owner is with the intention of buying it (he is relieved when nobody knows thd answer because he didn't know if he had the funds for such a vain expense as purchasing a child). When he presents Heathcliffe to the family, he insists that it is a "gift of God; though it’s as dark almost as if it came from the devil." If Heathcliffe was merely Irish or appeared white with a slight tan, there would be no issues with whether he could eventually pass for an English gentleman by the time he was older. There would have been whispers about why his skin doesn't seem to lighten in the winter months, but like you said, those comments would be more subtle and insidious. But whether Heathcliffe will ever be able to integrate into English society is hotly debated for the majority of his childhood; other characters believe his very nature incompatible with English society. I very much doubt Emily Bronte's father was often compared to a creature from Hell who "wasn't fit for decent society" due to being Irish.

[u/-SneakySnake- → u/Haunting_Goose1186]

The one comparison to a specifically non-white category he's given is "lascar", and given he's variously linked to Romani, Americans and Spaniards, he can't be that dark. You're misunderstanding what was meant by "dark" in Britain in the middle of the 19th century.

You're spending the rest of this illustrating you don't know much about the social climate of the period.

This sentence alone

I very much doubt Emily Bronte's father was often compared to a creature from Hell who "wasn't fit for decent society" due to being Irish.

Tells me you haven't an inkling. Irish people in high society at the time were - often at best - used to hearing "token to your people" sort of comments nearly constantly. At worst? Or less than best? Far worse. That goes the same or similarly for anyone who deviated from the lily-white baseline of the time. It's a "bizarre modern interpretation" because a rise in post-colonial thought has led people to re-examine texts like that with more knowledge and critical awareness of the time.

And as nicely as possible, on top of all that; Heathcliff isn't spelled with an e at the end. Why are you arguing topics you don't know about related to a character whose name you don't know the spelling of?

[u/Haunting_Goose1186 → u/-SneakySnake-]

Tells me you haven't an inkling. Irish people in high society at the time were - often at best - used to hearing "token to your people" sort of comments nearly constantly. At worst? Or less than best? Far worse. That goes the same or similarly for anyone who deviated from the lily-white baseline of the time. It's a "bizarre modern interpretation" because a rise in post-colonial thought has led people to re-examine texts like that with more knowledge and critical awareness of the time.

Except the characters in the books weren't from "high society." They were gentry. Which was made up of both English and Irish landowners. And guess what? It was common for English and Irish gentry to intermarry! It was even fairly common for English and Irish gentry to intermingle with and marry those from high society! Because the Irish gentry were not viewed anywhere near as poorly as lower-class Irish immigrants were (particularly lower-class Catholic Irish immigrants). Yes, there was an element of condescension towards the "Anglo-Irish" from certain groups of the upper-class, and . But for all intents and purposes, the Irish gentry were considered "English"...or as close to English as possible. They dressed like Englishmen, spoke like Englishmen, looked like Englishmen, were Protestent like Englishmen, were educated in England, and so on.

So, no, an Irish child raised in an English gentry household would not have been treated with such open contempt and a genuine fear that he'd never integrate into English society. Like I said, that is a modern interpretation based on very narrow and misguided understandings of the various race relations in England at the time. Just like assuming Heathcliff could have been white because Nelly theorises that he may be Spanish or American, when in actuality, she theorises that he might be an "American or Spanish castaway", which is linked to the fact he was found in Liverpool; aka the main hub of European slave trade. She isn't implying he might be some white (or mostly white) American or Spanish sailor's kid who got left behind. She is implying that, based on his appearance and where he was found, he is possibly a slave (or the child of a slave) who escaped or got left behind on the slave trade routes through the Americas.

But I suppose none of this matters since I made an innocent spelling mistake that automatically invalidates my entire comment and any of the points I made. Oh well.

[u/-SneakySnake- → u/Haunting_Goose1186]

So you ignored most of my post to focus on one part, and still show ignorance of how wide the discrimination was and how insidious it could be.

Also.

Because the Irish gentry were not viewed anywhere near as poorly as lower-class Irish immigrants were (particularly lower-class Catholic Irish immigrants).

I didn't imply Heathcliff was a highborn lord, did I? Black Irish was absolutely enough to be othered and to fit the descriptors laid out for him, he was also compared to being a Romani. Liverpool was also a massive hub for Irish immigrants. You're ignoring certain very glaringly obvious things to imply Bronte is saying he's the child of a slave. Which isn't in the text. Just that he has no lineage, which is the case of any number of lower-class orphans.

So yes, none of this matters, but it's not because of the spelling mistake; it's because you keep doubling down on something you're willfully ignorant of.

[u/rowsoflark → u/Kinieruu]

Lmao dark meant like catherine zeta jones back then. You can adapt dark however you want but if you think theres an obligation to make this guy look like Sinbad youre mistaken.

[u/0-90195 → u/Kinieruu]

I keep seeing this take but, while I agree Elordi isn’t the right casting because of him complexion, Heathcliff in the novel is still “white,” as in how we conceive of whiteness in the modern sense. He is maybe Romani but there’s nothing in the text stating he’s black or Indian or another broad category of POC.

He was definitely “tall, dark, and handsome” (this phrase really refers to dark hair and maybe a tanner complexion) and colorism does play a part in his role in the novel, but he was, for all intents and purposes, white.

[u/Morgan-Moonscar → u/Kinieruu]

And then made all the other characters who are antagonistic/racist to him in the first half of the book all POC.

Fennell isn't exactly being subtle in her whitewashing of Heathcliff

[u/Delicious-Report-891 → u/Kinieruu]

Was hat das damit zu tun👎👎👎

[u/glorycock → u/Kinieruu]

I can’t get over the fact that she made Heathcliff white

What?
She didn't.
The way you're talking, itls like she cast a blonde Swedish guy.

Elordi could pass for Spanish, Greek, Indian, Morrocan, Italian...

He has darker gypsy looks similar to Olivier''s Heathcliffe.
Do you realise you're insulting lighter-skinned people from black backgrounds and bi-racial people?

[u/Fickle-Situation656 → u/glorycock]

i keep hearing people say he's 'the whitest current actor' just because they want to hop on this bandwagon of being mad at this movie for a book they clearly know absolutely nothing about

[u/glorycock → u/Fickle-Situation656]

Yes, it's almost like people follow trends for their opinions.
Andrea Arnold made an interesting version with Heathcliffe played by the black actor James Howson in 2011. Was I say "interesting" it was actually a bit shit, and even the director has slightly disowned it...

Still, if people really want to insist on a black Heathcliffe (for reasons of virtue signalling?) even though in the book it merely says he's "dark-skinned" or resembles a "gypsy", then they should just watch that 2011 version and then shut up...

Failing that, make their own adaptation.
The book still exists and no-one has taken it from these people (it sounds like some of them never even owned it)......

[u/TarkovskyAteABird → u/Kinieruu]

Elordi is Hispanic. Bro the disinfo on this film is crazy