'It’s electric. And it’s also like nails on a chalkboard'

The Australian features Jacob Elordi.

Next comes the storm of Wuthering Heights. Asked to elaborate on his character’s gold tooth and muttonchops that made some fans in the test audience apoplectic – No, they cried, Heathcliff must be hotter! – his patience seems tested. “I mean, he has them,” he says.

Yes, but is this an extra-weird Heathcliff in Fennell’s version? “I think what she’s done is really perfect and super beautiful,” Elordi says. “It’s electric. And it’s also like nails on a chalkboard. It does ­something. It moves you in some kind of way, good or bad, but it will move you.”

Elordi’s “combination of beauty and something combustible” made him perfect for Heathcliff, says Fennell, adding that in the role he all but turns malevolence into a virtue. And if anyone objects to his look, she asks them to remember Elordi’s brow ring from their ­previous film: “I would ask the question, Did anyone feel that the eyebrow piercing in ­Saltburn marred his beauty?” she says. “My ­argument was always that it intensified it.” (Ellen Gamerman)

About Wuthering Heights 2026, Redbrick says 'Not Another One!'

Unfortunately, we cannot know for certain until Valentine’s Day next year. What we can guarantee, based on Fennell’s previous work, is stunning, stylised visuals and provocative material. What cannot be doubted is Fennell’s capacity to shock people with what can be done to a grave, just as Brontë had done before her in Wuthering Heights. (Elizabeth Gough)

A contributor to The Bowdoin Orient discusses 'The difficult task of adaptation'.

Yet, such eccentricity is perhaps somehow even more controversial, because unlike Fennell’s past two films, this film is based on a very well-known and fairly beloved novel (a novel I happen to personally love very much). I worry that the entire viewing experience of her adaptation will essentially be a constant comparison of what parts of the novel were changed, and, as the source material is so revered, such changes are destined to come under fire.

This tendency to critique adaptations is not unique to Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights.” As someone who used to very boldly wear a shirt that read, “The book was better,” I know that I and many others find it extremely difficult to separate films from their source material. But, the question has to be asked: Can the movie actually ever be better than the book? And though I am apt to almost always say no, it is undeniable that there are certain adaptations that do outshine the source material. So here are a few of my favorites (based on books I also read), and why I think they were able to be successful. [...]

Finally, I personally quite love the 1939 version of “Wuthering Heights” starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. A beautifully acted romance set in the English moors (but really filmed in the California mountains), it’s a tale of love ordained by fate. It is clear that William Wyler, the director, understood just how revered the novel was and made sure to respect and pay significant attention to it. As a result, the film is just a really good adaptation, bringing to life Emily Brontë’s words by keeping much of the original plot (though ignoring the final third of the novel). This strategy of adaptation is quite successful, as popular films such as the 2005 version of “Pride and Prejudice” and the 1995 “Sense and Sensibility” both demonstrate.

Trust me, as someone who has read many, many books on which films were based, and though this list could go on and on (others include Elia Kazan’s “East of Eden” and “Brokeback Mountain”), I worry that the 2026 “Wuthering Heights” will not quite make the cut. But, there’s no denying that on February 13, chances are you can find me at the closest movie theater watching “Wuthering Heights.” And, whether or not it’s a good movie, isn’t the mere fact that I’m paying money to go and see this movie the whole point of film these days? (Dinah Yorkin)

PureWow claims that 'Dark Romance Is Taking Over Pop Culture—and Our Closets'.

With buzzy new adaptations of gothic classics like Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights keeping the themes alive this winter, the cultural conversation—and the clothing that trickles down from it—doesn’t seem to be straying from the drama anytime soon. And with the longest nights ahead of us yet, there’s never been a better time to embrace the dark side. (Stephanie Maida)

Express includes Jane Eyre 2006 on a list of the '7 best BBC miniseries of all time'.