“Wuthering Heights” Review: The Passion and Pain of Love and Lust

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights opens with a public hanging, and rather than shock or disgust, onlookers are more infatuated with the soon-to-be dead man’s erection that has risen to the occasion. Sex and death become synonymous and where there is passion there is also pain. Nothing makes that clearer than the toxic relationship between Margot Robbie’s Catherine and Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff. Wuthering Heights captures their tumultuous love affair with indulgent cinematography but like a lustful one-night stand, it’s all a surface level romance as it struggles to adequately reflect many of the deeper themes of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 novel.

Young Catherine Earnshaw lives at the Wuthering Heights estate on the Yorkshire Moors with her alcoholic father and live-in servant Nelly. One day Mr. Earnshaw brings home a young boy he rescued off the streets to be Catherine’s “pet” who she names Heathcliff after her deceased brother. The two grow close and Heathcliff is protective of Catherine, and while their young love is initially romantic it soon becomes an obstacle when money gets involved. Heathcliff is well below the standards placed by society, and Catherine looks to the wealthy Edgar Linton as a suitable husband for someone of her stature, despite her true feelings towards the boy she grew up alongside. A distraught Heathcliff runs away, only to return years later to a married and pregnant Catherine as a man with a newfound wealth. The two rekindle the romance they once have, but the pain and anger they’ve caused each other continues to fester deep within their hearts.

It’s easy to get caught up in the romance of Wuthering Heights. Both Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are good looking people and they have some steamy onscreen chemistry together. As kids, their love for one another is more innocent and genuine. Heathcliff wants to protect Catherine from her abusive father, going so far as to take the blame for any mistakes she makes and the beatings that accompany it. But as adults, that love is replaced by a lust for wealth. Catherine is not a good person. She cares more about being wealthy and having all the fancy dresses and luxurious foods than the company she keeps. It’s why she rushes to marry Edgar so quickly. It’s not about who he is as a person, but what he can monetarily provide her with. Heathcliff is no saint, either. After being rejected, he becomes obsessed with Catherine. He might have loved her when they were kids, but he now clings to that same idea of her as adults. He wants that same attention from her and if he doesn’t get it he uses her love for him to torment her.

The film presents their so-called love in a much more lustful fashion. Everything is about sex and the physical nature of it, with even food provocatively shown and an abundance of innuendos. Emerald Fennell wants Wuthering Heights to be the 50 Shades of the 18th century. It’s titillating to watch initially but the eroticism quickly wears off, and the film doesn’t know what to do without it. The back half struggles to keep up the intensity with a montage of empty make out scenes that become repetitive after a while. It becomes clear that they’re bad for one another despite their torrid love affair, but the film cannot move past that in any meaningful way. There is so much to be said about how wealth, status, ethnicity, etc. all can play a role in relationships and like most adaptations, the novel does a far better job at exploring these nuances. Here, audiences are just given more kissing in the rain.

Wuthering Heights is like a box of chocolate; it’s decadent and tastes delicious for a time, but you’re eventually going to want something with more sustenance. Emerald Fennell has a keen eye for flair. Edgar’s mansion oozes character with its colorful rooms decorated lavishly from floor to ceiling. It’s grandiose and mesmerizing. The same can be said about the costumes and set design. Look at any image or watch any trailer, and it’s easy to get sucked into its otherworldly pull. Unfortunately the film cannot sustain that pull for too long, and like any doomed relationship, the cracks eventually become more and more apparent.