I am a diehard fan of the book, but disagree wildly with those whose feathers are ruffled by the film. There are over 20 adaptations of the story; each has changed something in the journey from page to screen, but Fennell is the first to really lean into the twisted love Cathy and Heathcliff shared.The screen sizzles every time Robbie and Elordi stand within a foot of each other. Their love, their anger, is alive in their every move.The film is pulsating, slightly savage, wildly sexy, and full of torment - the torment that Brontë so perfectly wrote about. Fennell is the first to truly capture this. Some will complain. I say all hail this bold and delicious adaptation. (Cara O'Doherty)
Dark, Gorgeous, and Deeply Unwholesome (And I Loved It) (...)The craft across the board is exceptional. Linus Sandgren shot this on 35mm, and it shows. Suzie Davies’s production design and Jacqueline Durran’s costumes are doing heavy lifting in every frame. BAFTA-nominated editor Victoria Boydell keeps the pacing tight even when the movie lingers, and the combination of Anthony Willis’s score with original songs by Charli XCX gives the whole thing a pulse that most period films just don’t have.The characters are not meant to be likable, but the film itself is irresistibly watchable. It’s a dark, gorgeous, deeply unwholesome watch, and on the strength of that, Emerald Fennell still can’t do wrong in my book. (Emma Loggins)
Everything Is Romantic in ‘Wuthering Heights,’ Even the Grotesque, Animalistic. (...)“Wuthering Heights,” quotation marks emphasized, will not please everyone. The Brontë purists, the casual watchers looking for an Austenian lightness and the easily disturbed will find this lewd movie off-putting. But for those of us who are ravenous, wildly bored with the mundane and thoroughly incensed by aesthetic grandeur, a transcendent world of pleasure, horror and tragedy awaits. (Ruth Abramovitz)
Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi Shine In A Visually Bold But Loosely Faithful Adaptation. (...)Emerald Fennell’s version of Wuthering Heights is shallow but fun, it is a visually striking film that really manages to impress in that front, and will please all the Twilight crowd, who has been missing something like this for the big screen in quite a while, and I’m sure Fennell could make an entire career out of doing films like that as there is certainly an audience for cotton candy out there. This version definitely lacks the nuance and depth that make the story a classic, but you can still have fun watching it. (Nelson Acosta)
Love, Sex, and Death: "Wuthering Heights" Is an Exultation of Cinema’s Singular Language.Emerald Fennell’s fast and loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s one novel is a masterful demonstration of film’s transformative nature. (...)Perhaps love is a truly wretched endeavor if our most iconic stories just have lovers vacillating between cruelty and affection. “Wuthering Heights” will impact viewers in a similar way, as its departure from source material and focus on certain themes at the expense of others is certain to upset some. But the same divergence from the book, which includes Fennell’s masterful depiction of various manner of sensual things, will delight just as many. Love it or hate it, apropos for a story that amalgamates both love and hate into one grotesque, yet irresistible whole, “Wuthering Heights” stands as a triumph of cinematic storytelling. (Zach Yonzon)
"Wuthering Heights" occasionally feels like a music video thanks to the anachronistic pop songs of charli xcx, the pastrylike costumes by Jacqueline Durran and the fanciful visual touches (like a fireplace made of dozens of porcelain hands). It all adds to the heightened effect, but it’s the two lovers’ raw emotions that stay with us. "Whatever our souls are made of," Cathy says in one of Brontë’s most famous lines, "his and mine are the same." (Rafer Guzmán)
Ultimately, “Wuthering Heights” plays like a lush, sometimes very sexy showcase of Cathy and Heathcliff circling each other, then finally giving in. When they do, they seem to consummate their passion everywhere: in the grass, in the bedroom, in a carriage, against a garden wall. The montage goes on. And on. Robbie and Elordi have real chemistry, assisted by gauzy light, artificial sweat, and Charli XCX’s amazingly sultry, vaporous soundtrack. Yet no amount of face-licking, finger-sucking, or barn humping can quite summon the wild, punitive grandeur of Brontë’s imagination. In the novel, Cathy and Heathcliff’s bond feels metaphysical, destructive, almost demonic. Here, it is passionate, photogenic, and curiously safe. The movie insists on its own intensity. Brontë never had to. (Constance Ayrton)
Lukewarm
‘Wuthering Heights’ is a bold, filthy fantasy — but these moors need more erotic heat. (...)Though “Wuthering Heights” is a phony tease, I’m grateful that Fennell wants to titillate audiences. If they show up, they’ll help her convince the industry to move past chasing superheroes in codpieces and make more movies about messy, marvelous human sweat. The box office isn’t my personal kink; movie reviews are where you and I meet to talk about what gets us hot and bothered. But I hope Fennell, and other hedonistic filmmakers like her, get to keep whipping blockbusters out of their doldrums. (Amy Nicholson)
Emerald Fennell’s weakest film yet isn’t as steamy as you think it will be — if it was a spice, it would be flour. (...)As I said in the headline, if this film was a spice, it would be flour. You can't market something solely on the promise of hedonistic lusting and then deliver something you'd actually feel comfortable watching with your parents. I doubt it would even have made ripples 20 or 30 years ago. But sure, Elordi will get some cheers when he takes his top off.Will I be watching "Wuthering Heights" again? No. Do I remain a Saltburn truther? Yes. Will Fennell's latest make a shed-ton of money at the box office despite being widely panned? Absolutely. I've got a sneaking suspicion that Fennell kicks into full gear with original stories, so don't count me out of her work completely. (Jasmine Valentine)
A Wuthering Heights that repels as much as it entrances. (...)There is more depth in the photography than in Robbie’s and Elordi’s much-hyped chemistry, which never quite sparks into life despite both delivering fine performances.Fennell’s is the cinema of excess and sensation. In her rush to overwhelm, much of the nuance is lost, or to put it another way, she cuts out the boring bits. This is not a desecration by any measure, but the filmmaker’s determination to evoke a response might leave you wondering what all the noise is about. (John Maguire)
Brontë’s genius lies in complicating hate and love, in passing burdens across generations. Heathcliff curses Catherine and yet desires that, even in death, they remain together. The relentless weight of longing is largely absent from Fennell’s vision. It is less poetic, less devastating and ultimately less necessary than the book.But it is also bold, sensuous and strange — a "Wuthering Heights" that belongs to no fixed moment, buoyed by Charli XCX’s pulse and Fennell’s glossy perversity. It may not haunt you. But it lingers as a kind of restless urge that suggests some stories, no matter how often retold, refuse containment. (Ana Gutierrez)
Whether this literal interpretation is meant as dark humour or simply more literary incompetence is unclear, but if you have not seen it yet, it’s a horror best avoided.Overall, this Valentine’s Day, spare yourself the likely disappointment and the nightmare-inducing BDSM fantasies of Fennell’s Australian-infused reimagining and do something far less of a mood killer. The film has already been met with low ratings from critics, fulfilling the predictions of many classic purists, and perhaps the only saving grace is the vocals of Charli XCX who has created a new album to feature on the soundtrack.If you cherish the original novel, it may be wiser to avert your eyes from cinemas altogether and instead settle in for Scotland vs. England at the Six Nations. (Angelina Nayar)
On the whole, despite the technical finesse and strong performances, Wuthering Heights disappoints, thanks to bizarre developments and uneven writing. It’s expected to open strongly in its home market, but in India, the buzz is limited. Moreover, with tough competition from Hindi releases, it’ll have an uphill task at the box office.
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