Emily Brontë’s classic novel gets a radical makeover in Emerald Fennell’s latest film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, just in time for Valentine’s Day

The Snapshot: Oscar-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell delivers a visually stunning yet emotionally jarring take on the timeless tale of doomed love.

Wuthering Heights

6 out of 10

14A, 2hrs 16mins. Romance Drama.

Written and directed by Emerald Fennell.

Starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver and Martin Clunes.

Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, 5 Drive-In, Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP. 

There’s no way Emily Brontë could have ever imagined her 1847 novel Wuthering Heights would ever inspire a love story quite like the one set to dominate movie theatres for Valentine’s Day this week.

Oscar winning writer Emerald Fennell has adapted (nay, transformed) Brontë’s book into a garish, sleek and edgy interpretation of the classic love story with a strange kind of success. The total product is a compelling film – even if it is indescribably weird.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi co-star as forbidden lovers Catherine and Heathcliff respectively, and their scenes together have a sizzling intensity. That amplifies the story’s romance, but it also amplifies the underlying drama and bleakness.

If you’ve never read the source book, there’s a long list of dramatic liberties taken. The core plot, however, remains in tact: it follows the calamitous love between Catherine and Heathcliff as they are raised side by side at the titular house. As they grow up, their relationships unleash chaos on multiple families in the 19th century Yorkshire moors.

On one hand, the film is filled with spellbinding style. Terrific craftsmanship surrounds the project, including outstanding sets and costumes that are both timeless and modern to create a brutal, passionate look. Add in Linus Sandgren’s cinematography and the cinema is technical art at its finest.

And on the other hand, the tone in Fennell’s Wuthering Heights takes the depravity and wildness of Brontë’s characters to extremes. Most of the love, it feels, take a backseat to the anger and bitterness between key characters.

Focusing on the ruthless and cold choices many of the characters take robs the film of its love, humour and easy connecting points to modern audiences. Placed against the harshness of the English countryside setting, and viewers might have a stark feeling.

That being said – comfort is not a normal feature of Fennell’s filmmaking. As a writer and director, she’s made a career on the roguish and crazed instincts of love. Heck, that darkly comic passion is what put her on the map with 2020’s Promising Young Woman.

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Some moments are shocking, both in their fun but also in their grossness. While it makes the movie an artful and thoughtful affair, it also means it may not be an appropriate choice as an easygoing date night for Valentine’s Day this year, which is clearly what the marketing has been positioning the film as for months.

In all, Wuthering Heights is an effective piece of cinema that’s made with great care and dedication. Whether weirdness is part of your own love story will greatly influence how much enjoyment and entertainment value Fennell’s newest work will bring you.