But I soon found much to enjoy, not least the sheer confidence of Fennell’s exuberant, uninhibited film-making.It may be Robbie (who Fennell starred with in Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (who was in Saltburn and here plays the glowering Heathcliff) who take centre stage, but do look out for Martin Clunes being rather marvellous as Cathy’s mercurial, hard-drinking father and Shazad Latif, who brings a dignity and indeed libido to the often rather wet role of Edgar, the poor man Cathy marries.Libido? Yes, there is quite a lot of sex in Fennell’s version, as you may possibly have heard, one or two moments of which might actually frighten the horses.But this is a 21st-century woman’s reworking of a 19th-century woman’s novel, and if romping in the heather is not quite your cup of tea, there’s always the costumes and production design to admire, which, from the fateful wedding onwards, are magnificent, albeit in the same over-the-top style as the rest of this fabulously fearless but slightly bonkers production. (Matthew Bond)
Visually, Fennell was equally ambitious. The cinematography features some of the most visually pleasing shots I’ve seen in a while, including sweeping landscapes, perfectly detailed interiors, and stylized compositions that lean into the story’s 'fever-dream' quality, as described by Fennell herself. She embraces color and texture, creating a mystical world for the film that feels almost surreal at times. [...]Ultimately, Robbie and Elordi proved their acting skills once again, even if the movie itself wasn’t for everybody.The new Wuthering Heights may not replace the novel in Brontë fans' heart, but as a bold reimagining, it delivers. (Kathleen O'Boyle)
Luckily for Wuthering Heights, Brontë purists are in the minority. So are Brontë fans, or even folks who know the novel, and this is sad. I hoped that Fennell’s third film would channel the complex power dynamics of Promising Young Woman. Instead, it builds on Saltburn’s absurdity. Wuthering Heights is a sexy Valentine’s weekend movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. As a valentine to its source material, it does not take itself seriously enough. (Melissa Strong)
Obviously, I loved it.Forget about the source material, which, if we're being brutally honest here, wasn't the lightest read of junior year English class. Heavy on the incest, unbridled violence and generational trauma, "Wuthering Heights" was the only novel written by Emily Brontë, who died a year after it was published. The text was inordinately cruel for its time, particularly coming from a female writer. [...]Damned if you do, derided if you don't. The "Wuthering Heights" purists need to unknot their knickerbockers and give writer-director Emerald Fennell a break. She takes her scissors to the storyline and cuts out characters and plot points (and maybe an entire half of the book, who's counting). What could be called an unadaptable novel finally gets a big-screen rendition with balls.Naturally, it took a woman to give it to us this good."Wuthering Heights" is a loosey-goosey reinvention of Brontë's work, simplifying the otherwise complicated relationships and convoluted societal undercurrents to bring modern audiences a taste of the original with a sumptuous, spellbinding twist. [...]Maybe this film was made for us, by one of us. It doesn't need to make perfect sense by every viewer if it makes those of us willing to give it a chance feel something more. (Candice McMillan)
The Brontë bodice-ripper is a feast for the eyes (Shanda Deziel)
A la directora le gusta la provocación, sabe cómo manejar las herramientas para captar a las nuevas generaciones, tiene inventiva visual y un excelente domino de las atmósferas más enrarecidas.Pero, al mismo tiempo, no es una cineasta que pretenda gustar a todo el mundo, sino que arriesga con cada propuesta, que demuestra su capacidad para ir más allá de las convenciones sin miedo a los puritanismos. Bravo por ella. [...]La propuesta de Fennell no se sustenta únicamente en lo visual, sino en el talento de sus intérpretes, que han sido injustamente menospreciados. Margot Robbie, experta en transmitir emociones encontradas en un solo plano, dota a Cathy de una complejidad emocional que contrasta con la intensidad visual de la película. Sin embargo, es Jacob Elordi quien recibe los mayores elogios por su encarnación de un Heathcliff cambiante, capaz de pasar de la melancolía al descaro más absoluto, consolidando su estatus como nuevo referente del género gótico tras su papel en Frankenstein. [...]Hay un código en la película realmente sorprendente en el que se mezclan elementos de la fotonovela, el videoclip, el culebrón, la estética ‘pulp’, junto a unos códigos conceptuales de lo más depurados. Estamos ante una película realmente apabullante y vertiginosa, repleta de ideas y de planos que basculan entre lo austero y lo abigarrado, porque en ella no hay término medio.Hay montajes visuales que pueden gustar más o menos, pero que exploran todos los matices del deseo: el aburrimiento conyugal, los celos, las rutinas domésticas, el éxtasis pasional, la rabia y la frustración. [...]La consecuencia inevitable es un desenlace trágico, acorde con el clima moral de la época victoriana. El particular tratamiento de Fennell, lejos de resultar un simple ejercicio de estilo, desafía la tradición de las adaptaciones de la novela y se lanza sin reservas hacia una visión perversa y liberada de los tópicos del género.Puede que Cumbres borrascosas no sea una cumbre, pero ni mucho menos es un precipicio. En cualquier caso, es una celebración del deseo, una puesta en escena de las relaciones tóxicas como pocas se hubieran atrevido en estos momentos, que además no resulta nada cursi, que es incluso perversa y sádica y que, además, es una interesantísima redefinición contemporánea del melodrama gótico. (Beatriz Martínez) (Translation)
Lukewarm
A gut-punch exploration of love gone feral, it feels oddly relevant at a time when there seems to be no end to the stories involving crimes of passion.Fennell chooses to focus on the erotic undercurrents and psychological torment. (...) This results in a taut runtime that not only feels propulsive but also avoids the drag of some prior versions. However, if you have read the novel more than once, you may balk and bristle at the liberties taken: characters having been combined, timelines shuffled, and key events reimagined for shock value. Fennell takes a subversive detour, declaring her intent to play by her own rules. All this makes the film less an adaptation and more a fever-dream reinterpretation. (Nawaid Anjum)
It does deliver when it comes to the erotic scenes, and the sexual chemistry between Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is palpable. Both actors are extremely good-looking and a treat to watch on screen. In fact, almost all of its important characters deliver engaging performances. The actors handle the script they are given with commitment.Wuthering Heights does have a unique aesthetic though, using colour effectively to symbolise emotions, making for an enjoyable watch overall. The cinematography is scenic, with beautiful, isolated, stormy Yorkshire landscapes. Some scenes do appear to be digitally engineered, especially the night-time scenery, but that does not take away from the overall visual experience.However, this is not a tale of enduring love but a tragedy narrating its failure. Viewed independently from the source material, Wuthering Heights presents a visually compelling and emotionally charged tragedy between two star-crossed lovers, undone by societal hierarchy and personal pride. However, it’s hard not to come away feeling a bit disappointed as this could have been so much better. (Val M)
This version of Heathcliff may make the film a more pleasurable and accessible watch. But Wuthering Heights is not heralded as one of the greatest works of British literature because it was palatable or easy. The very opposite is true.Emily Brontë tells a complex story about how alienation, discrimination and dehumanization damage us. Though Wuthering Heights is not a book with a clear or commanding moral imperative, the rippling effects of cruelty in the story demonstrate that humans are emotionally and spiritually shaped by how we are treated. The book forces us to grapple with the dark things that characters we might sympathize with become capable of when their spirits are broken. Brontë certainly offers her readers no relief.Despite the viscerality and sensuality of the new “Wuthering Heights,” the film hovers, as Woolf put it, in the realm of the “love of men and women.” It does not succeed at, nor even really attempt, any reckoning with a “world cleft into gigantic disorder.”Emerald Fennell’s project is beautiful, it’s evocative, it’s romantic. It may be a good Valentine’s Day watch. But it does not force us to face that which is most dangerous and frightening about being a person in relationship with other people, as we all are. It’s just another love story. (Brigid McCabe)
That said, no one, including Fennell, has ever managed to fully capture the brutality, intensity, and elusiveness that have made this book such a literary earworm. The tormented love between Cathy and Heathcliff, a love that crosses from childhood to death and beyond, defies a faithful retelling, especially for those wanting to turn the villainy and selfishness of the central characters into something purely romantic. Fennell’s film is a sugar rush and a tearjerker. It’s stuffed to the gills with meticulous design, and it even, in some instances, draws directly on the text of the novel for dialogue. Ultimately, however, it fails to recreate that sense of timelessness and untameable passion that Brontë did. Fortunately, the book is still in print. (Lily Hardman)
“Wuthering Heights” is such a sumptuous piece of cinematic craftsmanship and design that part of me is tempted to pay to see it in IMAX, and I can’t completely dismiss it as being without merit. I can’t pretend that it’s not a thin, soulless and inane piece of fluff, either, and it’s hard not to be a bit of a purist when a great work is treated so poorly. (Patrick Gibbs)
KGET:
The simple act of stating that the new film “Wuthering Heights” is “based” on the classic Emily Brontë novel gives those involved immunity from the criminal way the story has been adapted. Gone is all the textured structure of love and revenge that Brontë beautifully crafted. What’s left in its place is a barbaric and sadistic tale of lust and sex that replaces the original romance. (...)Fennell makes a last-minute effort to pull the film back to being a romance with the last moments between Cathy and Heathcliff. Instead of that being a heart-touching moment there is nothing but a joy the film has mercifully ended.It is painful when someone writes an original script and it becomes a horrible movie. That’s bad but it is a superficial kind of pain because the production will be quickly forgotten. There is some leeway because there was an effort to be original.The crime is taking a masterpiece of literature – while hiding behind the plausible deniability the movie is only based on the original – and making a product that goes beyond bad to insulting. Fennell’s version of “Wuthering Heights” is criminally insulting. (Rick Bentley)
In the end, “Wuthering Heights” falls short as both an adaptation of a classic and as a compelling romantic drama. There is a hypothetical version of this adaption that succeeds as a beautiful period piece, boasting excellent set design and costuming, star power in Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, and a foundation of one of literature’s more unique explorations of romance and passion. But in a continuation of one of Hollywood’s most vexing and arrogant trends, the classic tale is suffocated under the weight of modern sensibilities. Thus, whether you had read the source material or not, the film offers little more for audiences than an opportunity to degrade themselves, like the story’s doomed lovers, in an indulgence of carnal sexuality. It may be a pretty looking film, but neither the characters nor the film itself seems to realize that true beauty is more than skin deep. (Daniel Blackaby)
The dialogue of the film is simplistic. Whilst obviously, people speak the way they do in classic literature novels (formal, lots of big words to mean a few short ones), it’s as if the writers looked for excuses to say undertones out loud, to literally connect the dots for us. It came across as patronising and dryly humorous, though I still can’t tell if this was the intention.It’s a fashion movie that tries so hard to be revolutionary, sexually taboo, and arousing. But it never hits the spot. It brings a whole new meaning to the word anti-climax. It’s made for Pinterest, in the idea that someone who pays for Letterboxd is going to make a poster of it that makes it look so much cooler than it actually is. It’s visually stunning and (aims for) sexy, but that’s all it is. (Jess Urquhart)
Well, as they say, the third time’s the charm. Maybe now people will finally see Fennell as she truly is: not a whip-smart auteur, but a professional ragebaiter. (Serena Smith)
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