I struggled to write a film review of “Wuthering Heights” because, to be honest, there’s not that much to say about the film itself. We were told ahead of time in no uncertain terms that the film would be an unfaithful adaptation of the beloved novel by Emily Brontë, and it was. We were promised a jaw-dropping collection of costumes and sets, and we got it. We were given a glimpse of Charlie XCX’s pretty-good soundtrack, and the extended music in the film was exactly what it sounded like in the promotional materials. We could see in advance trailers that this was going to be a highly sexualized and romanticized retelling of the novel, and boy was it ever. They told us exactly what kind of film they were making, and then they released exactly that film. (...)Anyone who has darkened the door of a major bookstore in the last 15 years knows that “romantasy” novels have exploded in popularity. In the theater, watching “Wuthering Heights” (2026), Watching it, I half expected a ticker to crawl across the screen reading: THIS ONE’S FOR THE BOOKTOK GIRLIES. “Wuthering Heights” (2026) is not a retelling of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It’s an adaptation of the original source material into a mass-market romantasy smut fable that would do numbers at airport bookstalls. (Margaret Handel)
We are in a strange, hybrid place, where the tropes of Victorian England and the Bronte oeuvre – sweeping dark moorlands, tight corseted dresses, the ubiquity of death, the class system and fancy manor houses – are chopped up, set to electronic music, soaked in sickly colours and Tiktok-ified so that while you can’t look away, you wish you could.I winced in the hanging scene – how could you not? But mostly I winced at the non-subtlety of the thematic set-up. We get it, we get it! Sex and death are fatefully intertwined!Cathy and Heathcliff, with their mutual obsession, will drive themselves to oblivion.But just in case we don’t get it, we are subjected to the post-hanging scene, where the filthy (literally) peasant villagers who have been watching the execution proceed to get all horny with each other.Even a spectating nun is left heavy-breathing, awakened by erotic forces she doesn’t understand. (...)In that way, Wuthering Heights is the perfect movie for the moment – flashy and attention-grabbing, fast-paced, celebrity-driven and fun.As for its confused sexual politics, well, that only makes it more relevant.We live in the age of heterofatalism, where men and women are famously estranged.And Heathcliff and Cathy hate each other as much as they love each other.We live in the age of TLDR – and Wuthering Heights is the filmic embodiment of that acronym.Ultimately, though, who cares?The box office numbers say it all, and that such an acclaimed director would take on this classic tells us everything about its enduring relevance. (Jacqueline Maley)
So, should we be hating it?That depends on what we expect from “Wuthering Heights”. If one views the novel purely as a gothic tragedy grounded in social critique, this adaptation may feel too romanticised. But if one sees Brontë’s work as an exploration of obsessive love as destiny — destructive, consuming, inevitable — then this film arguably captures that spirit in its own way.Perhaps the discomfort surrounding the 2026 version says more about us than it does about the film. We are uneasy with stories that refuse moral clarity. We are suspicious of adaptations that reinterpret rather than replicate. But “Wuthering Heights” has never been comforting. It unsettles, it provokes, and it resists easy categorisation.And maybe that is exactly what this version understands. (Naveen Islam Toree)
The new Wuthering Heights film by Emerald Fennell is putting its windswept moorland setting firmly in the spotlight.From the famous Brontë village of Haworth to the stone-built hills and villages of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, estate agency Charnock Bates says it has seen an uptick in the number of house-hunters enquiring about homes in the area.Charnock Bates has rounded up eight standout homes on the market, from character cottages and period townhouses, to sizeable family houses and showstopping barn conversions, all with that unmistakable Brontë-country backdrop. (Abigail Kellett)
The screen-to-station effect is also being seen following the recent cinematic release of Wuthering Heights, as audiences drawn to its dramatic landscapes look to experience Yorkshire’s moorland scenery first-hand. Bookings to Settle, the gateway to the Yorkshire moors, rose 52% around release weekend compared to the previous month, as audiences seek out the landscapes associated with Emily Brontë’s classic.Sajjad Motamed, UK country manager at Trainline, said: “Viewers aren’t satisfied just by watching these stories unfold - they’re heading out to experience the settings for themselves. Our data reflects an increasing desire/need to experience locations first-hand.“The figures reflect a wider revival in period and gothic storytelling, with these dramas creating a powerful connection to place. When audiences fall in love with a location on screen, they increasingly want to explore it in real life.“From Bath’s Georgian streets to the Yorkshire moors, many of these destinations are well connected by rail and often just a short walk from the station, making it easier than ever to turn that inspiration into a day trip or weekend escape.” (Grace Piercy)
Miriam Lafuente: ¿Hay mucho de Emily Brontë en las emociones y el paisaje de Cumbres Borrascosas?Patricia García Medina: La Emily seria, antisocial, algo mandona, que no conoce los juegos de cartas que se juegan en las fiestas y que corre en los páramos ingleses donde creció con sus hermanos, crea un mundo que se mimetiza en perfecto equilibrio con estos personajes tan complejos y oscuros, uno de los elementos más atractivos de la novela.Catherine, por ejemplo, nunca consigue deshacerse de su naturaleza pasional, elementalmente idéntica a la de Heathcliff, y tras aceptar su matrimonio con Linton y mudarse a la casa “civilizada”, le es físicamente imposible habitarla y está (sin hacer spoilers) literalmente atada a cumbres borrascosas. (Translation)
El Diario (Spain) rediscovers Haworth as the real place that inspired the novel. El Día (Argentina) returns to the original novel. The Huffington Post remarks that The Professor and Agnes Grey are the only novels by the Brontës without an audiovisual adaptation. Although they could also mention that the only adaptations of Shirley (1922 silent film) and Villette (1970 BBC series) are lost.
‘Cumbres Borrascosas’ de Emerald Fennell no es perfecta, pero es valiente, visualmente deslumbrante y emocionalmente honesta. Es el tipo de adaptación que no busca complacer a todos, sino crear su propia identidad cinematográfica. Y en eso, como en casi todo lo que toca, Fennell vuelve a acertar. (Calopez) (Translation)
See, as adaptations go, this is quite — what is that word — artistic? expressive? inspired? sexually depraved? Perhaps they all fit, and then some. One can see it working as a carnally driven, hard-romance Valentine’s Day release, though only for adults. A Ramazan release doesn’t work at all, even for those who might want to see it. (...)While I am not a fan of deviances from original works, the kind of trimmings and excesses Fennell weaves into this version’s DNA, makes for a beguiling, edgy, restive update. (Mohammad Kamran Jawaid)
0 comments:
Post a Comment