A few more reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026:
The Age thinks '
Wuthering Heights is many things, but it’s not the novel Emily Brontë wrote".
If you want a flashy romance with all the stops out, go and see the film. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi certainly make a sizzling pair. But if you want a darker, more complex story that echoes down the generations, read the book. And by the way, it has a happy ending. (Jane Sullivan)
The ending of Wuthering Heights is very sad and I cried a few actual tears, which would have been embarrassing but all of the other ladies in the theater also appeared to be crying. By the time the credits rolled to Charli XCX’s “Always Everywhere,” I needed a few minutes to get myself together before stumbling out into the lobby. True love, sex and death; I had gone through a lot. And you know what? I could probably go again. (Rachel Saslow)
To a book lover, this adaptation may seem superficial as compared to the intricate details of the novel. However, there’s only so much two hours of screen time can include. The film capitalizes on the passion and yearning in Catherine and Heathcliff’s tale and makes full use of its duration in the best way. Through her film, Fennel emphasizes the importance of emotion and message over precise accuracy. She prioritizes making the audience feel something. And it works. By foregrounding longing, chemistry, and passion, she reframes the story less as a bleak tragedy and more as an intense romance. Only a robot could watch this film and remain unaffected. Its romance is undeniable, making it a fitting Valentine’s Day watch—if you don’t mind a touch of tragedy. (Susannah Hughes)
The Daily Iowan considers it 'not only an insult to the source, but to viewers’ intelligence'.
I have seen my fair share of women online exclaiming how much they actually enjoyed the movie, mostly coming down to how the characters “yearn” for each other. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, of course. But please, I am begging you, if you’d like to watch a movie about yearning, spend your money to watch “Dracula” in theaters instead. The crumbs of these terrible people obsessing over each other are not enough to justify giving Fennel and her ego more money. (Madisyn Hunt)
The film is definitely entertaining, and I was never bored during my viewing. But I could not overcome my grievances with Fennell’s narrative and casting choices. Her version tries to turn a gothic horror into a contemporary love story with a Charli xcx soundtrack, which ultimately translates as hollow and devoid of substance on the screen. (P.B. Jernigan)
The costumes were also on point, with standouts being the ones Catherine wore, specifically the red gowns that were beautiful and her bulky jewelry that some would die to wear.
Charli XCX’s ambient music and flowing melodies highlighted the scenes they were set in, and made each interaction feel genuine – something that was hard for the two leading actors. It was a pleasurable surprise to hear when viewing.
Although these standouts are present, it was hard to ignore the overt sexuality throughout. We get it. This is supposed to be “primal,” “sexual,” “cynical,” even. Do we really need to see Elordi’s tongue licking what’s supposed to be a wall of Catherine’s skin?
Robbie was all right, but didn't really have the appeal of Catherine, and Elordi's performance was reminiscent of his Euphoria days playing the toxic teenage boyfriend, Nate Jacobs. All in all, ok, but missing the passionate mark of the book. (Lily Cole)
I walked into the theater this past weekend, cautiously optimistic but left confused and hollow.
The movie’s only highlight was the cinematography. There were gorgeous shots of Catherine Earnshaw's (Margot Robbie) and Edgar Linton's (Shazad Latif) home and the northern England countryside. Emerald Fennell, the film's director, can have her tens for that — and that’s it. (Dayna Wilkerson)
The result is chaotic, confusing, and more absurd than erotic. Each of these scenes are performative, edgy moments that ultimately distract from any real storytelling or sensual tension. It’s all supposedly designed to make you gasp, and yet it’s unbearably boring. There’s greater titillation watching Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth brush hands in Pride and Prejudice. (Kirsten Saylor)
Behind a paywall,
The Canberra Times describes it as 'A sensual, stylised and satiric interpretation of Brontë's classic novel'.
TodoLiteratura (in Spanish) has a lukewarm review.
A contributor to
Mamamia says that, 'As a woman of colour, watching the new
Wuthering Heights movie is a complicated experience'.
GQ thinks that 'Horny Isabella Linton is the Best Part of
Wuthering Heights'.
Screen Rant has the '
Wuthering Heights Family Tree Explained: How All The Characters Are Related'. 'Six Ways Emerald Fennell’s Film Differs From Brontë’s
Wuthering Heights' on
Grazia.
Esquire has an article 'Explaining (and Debating) The Wild, Bloody Ending of “
Wuthering Heights”'.
Secom has an article on the differences between
Wuthering Heights 2026 and the actual novel.
Elle has two editors discuss the changes.
Erica Gonzales, deputy digital editor: What did you think of Wuthering Heights, as someone who hasn’t read the book?
Lauren Puckett-Pope, senior culture editor: I found it an easy, pleasurable viewing experience—no pun intended—but I did not find it a particularly enriching one. And I think that’s fascinating, given that Wuthering Heights, the novel, is the subject of such intense and lasting study. There’s a reason the book has the reputation it does both in and outside literary circles. So, even as someone who hasn’t read the whole thing—I’ve started Wuthering Heights many times, and I’ve just never made the commitment all the way to the end, forgive me—I came away from this adaptation thinking, There’s no way this is even close to what the book was going for.
But Emerald Fennell, to her credit, has made it clear she’s not trying to directly translate the book to the screen. What did you think? You’ve read the book and love it.
EG: This is one book I love and have reread many times. I tried going into the film not being too attached and being open-minded. I have nothing against anachronistic visuals or fashion; I loved Marie Antoinette, and I also saw parallels here to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. And even though I appreciated those anachronisms in this film, I was kind of waiting to be grabbed by them.
The Guardian recommends the first ever episode of Dominic Sandbrook's new podcast, The Book Club:
The Book Club
The latest release from Goalhanger hears historian Dominic Sandbrook in English teacher mode, as he dissects classic novels with producer Tabitha Syrett. Luckily, it doesn’t feel like homework: their first episode, on Wuthering Heights, revels in Emily Brontë’s dark themes, confusingly-named protagonists, and the author herself – from her tragically tiny coffin to the graveyard water that may have led to her premature death. (Hannah J Davies)
ArtReview discusses '
Wuthering Heights and the Aesthetics of Surface'.
LBB has an article on 'New Romantics: The ‘
Wuthering Heights’ Effect'.
The Oxford Student discusses 'where consumerism overpowers Yorkshire winds'.
Treble reviews Charli XCX's
Wuthering Heights album.
Does it achieve the same heights (ha!) as its predecessor? Not quite; it is too intimate, perhaps, lacking in the anthemic heft that made “brat summer” inevitable. Is it a shockingly potent vision of what her artistic growth might yet be? Absolutely. (Langdon Hickman)
“Wuthering Heights” may not always dazzle lyrically, but, as a mood piece connecting her old sound to something more haunted, it’s a striking triumph. More than a follow-up to “BRAT,” the album signifies a repositioning. It offers evidence that Charli xcx can weaponize both vulnerability and bravado and that sometimes the scariest place is not underground but the very house once believed to be escaped. (Presley Liu)
The Times features West Riddlesden Hall, which is still on the market.
A 17th-century manor in Yorkshire that boasts links to the Brontë sisters has been put up for sale.
Hidden behind a 3m-tall stone wall, the grade I listed West Riddlesden Hall near Keighley is on the market for £1.15 million.
The manor was home to a family who employed Charlotte Brontë as governess to their children in 1839, although she spent more time at another property they owned a few miles away.
John Pennington, who has owned the house since 2001, said he was looking to downsize from the six-bedroom, 2.3-acre property. His timing could be fortuitous, considering the resurgence of interest in the Brontë sisters following the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
West Riddlesden Hall was completed in 1687 for Thomas Leach, a local businessman, although some sections are believed to date to the early 15th century.
John Sidgwick, who later owned the home and employed Brontë, is widely believed to have been her inspiration for the Byronic hero of Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester. [...]
Jane Eyre was published in 1847 and was Brontë’s first major literary success after several ventures into poetry. During her short employment with the Sidgwicks, Brontë found she disliked childminding, often lamenting the behaviour of the “riotous, perverse, unmanageable cubs”.
The author’s strained relationship with John Sidgwick’s wife Sarah can perhaps also be detected in the novel. In a letter written while she was still the family’s governess, Brontë described Sarah as devoid of “every fine feeling of every gentle and delicate sentiment”. In Jane Eyre, Rochester’s wife, Bertha Mason, dies by suicide after committing arson.
West Riddlesden Hall’s sister property, East Riddlesden Hall, which was donated to the National Trust in 1934, also boasts a Brontë connection. Its dark stone walls and rose windows made up one of the primary sets for the television series of Wuthering Heights (2009), starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff and Charlotte Riley as Catherine Earnshaw, as well as a range of other screen adaptations of the Emily Brontë book.
The National Trust is currently hosting an exhibition, Lights, Camera, Brontë, about the manor’s prominence in film and television interpretations of the novel since the 1920s. (Fintan Hogan)
The Indian Express has an account of a recent trip to the moors by an Oxford scholar.
El País (Spain) recommends a trip to Yorkshire.
Infobae (in Spanish) features Anne Brontë.
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