{"id":400746,"date":"2026-01-31T14:41:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400746\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T14:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:41:27","slug":"emerald-fennells-so-called-wuthering-heights-frock-flicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400746\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerald Fennell\u2019s So-Called Wuthering Heights \u2013 Frock Flicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support Frock Flicks<\/a>\u00a0with a small donation! During Snark Week and beyond, we\u2019re\u00a0grateful for your monthly pledges for exclusive content via\u00a0Patreon<\/a>\u00a0or your one-time contributions via\u00a0Ko-fi<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0PayPal<\/a>\u00a0to offset the costs of running this site. You can even\u00a0buy our T-shirts<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0merch<\/a>. Think of this like supporting public media, but with swearing and no tax deductions!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Longtime readers will know that I\u2019m a big Bront\u00eb fan, having worked on a Masters in English lit focused around the sisters\u2019 writing. Here on the blog, I\u2019ve ranked most every previous filmed version of Wuthering Heights<\/a>, taken a deep-dive into my favorite<\/a>, and finally said, stop, enough, we don\u2019t need to make<\/a> any more screen versions!<\/p>\n

And yet, here we are, with director\/screenwriter Emerald Fennell<\/a> making her version, \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d \u2014 set to premiere on February 13, 2026, for Valentine\u2019s Day, because she sees it as a love story. Fennell told BFI<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSince its publication 200 years ago, critics have challenged Wuthering Heights\u2019s validity as a love story. It is too shocking, too cruel, too narratively strange to slip neatly into the world of romance, but it is a love story nonetheless.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, fine, but this isn\u2019t a 1970s Harlequin Romance novel like the promo posters styles it:<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Fabio called & wants his royalty check.<\/p>\n

Or reaching farther (and more ickily) back to copy:<\/p>\n

\"Gone<\/a><\/p>\n

Back when Pride & Prejudice<\/a> (2005) came out, we had a Snark Week guest post titled Beware the Ampersand<\/a> because that ampersand warned us of \u201ca new, more relevant, more hip and urgent version\u201d that we didn\u2019t need of the classic Austen story. Similarly, Fennell has surrounded her title with quotation marks to warn us that her version is going to be a batshit crazy \u201cupdate\u201d of Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s oft-misunderstood poetry.<\/p>\n

She explained those quotation marks in a Fandango<\/a> interview, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can\u2019t say I\u2019m making Wuthering Heights. It\u2019s not possible. What I can say is, I\u2019m making a version of it. And also a version that \u2014 there\u2019s a version that I remembered reading that isn\u2019t quite real. And there\u2019s a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never happened. And so it is Wuthering Heights, and it isn\u2019t. But really, I\u2019d say that any adaptation of a novel, especially a novel like this, should have quotation marks around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Fennell was trying to say, the BBC<\/a> made more clear in an early interview:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make something that was the book that I experienced when I was 14.\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested that some of her risqu\u00e9 additions are things she thought she had remembered from reading the book as a teenager \u2014 but weren\u2019t actually in there when she returned to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where I filled in the gaps aged 14,\u201d she said with a smile, adding that making the film had allowed her to \u201csee what it would feel like to fulfill my 14-year-old wish, which is both good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yup, we\u2019re getting teenage fanfic on the big screen. And for as much that she\u2019s adding, Fennell isn\u2019t even using the whole book \u2014 she\u2019s stopping halfway through after Cathy\u2019s death, as confirmed by the Guardian<\/a> and other sources. So really, WTFrock is going on in this movie???<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the official teaser and the official trailer and try to find out!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve posted both of these to our Facebook page<\/a> and the comments were golden, including:<\/p>\n

Greatest love story of all time? Did we read the same source material?<\/p>\n

I actually truly dislike Wuthering Heights \u2026 but this travesty of a trailer makes me feel almost solicitous and defensive on WH\u2018s behalf, something I would have thought impossible.<\/p>\n

A Wuthering Heights inspired product.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeathcliff, it\u2019s me I\u2019m Barbie, I\u2019ve come home\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

No heights were wuthered in the making of this film.<\/p>\n

Jacob and Margot are ridiculously pretty people and good actors, but this film makes 90210 look like age-appropriate casting.<\/p>\n

contains 5% real Wuthering Heights.<\/p>\n

Whatever is left of Emily is spinning at 300 rpm in her narrow little coffin.<\/p>\n

Not sure I could top that world-class snark, so I\u2019m just going to lean in hard on the costumes themselves because what we can tell of the supposed story is so ridiculously off the mark that it\u2019s not worth further discussion. And no, I won\u2019t be rushing out to watch it in the theater! I\u2019ll wait till it comes out on streaming so I can be dutifully horrified at home with a big bottle of wine and soft things to throw at the screen, as is right and proper.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

The costume designer is Jacqueline Durran<\/a>, who is extremely skilled but not always our favorite around here. She sometimes works with directors fond of stripping down<\/a> historical stories and fashions so they\u2019re more \u201crelatable<\/a>\u201d and modernized \u2014 the 2005 Pride & Prejudice & Pigs<\/a> being a foremost example. But that looks positively period accurate in comparison to this weird wuthering wreck! Durran told Vogue<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur dates are all confused in the sense that we\u2019re not representing a moment in time at all \u2014 we\u2019re just picking images or styles that we like for each character.\u201d<\/p>\n

There ya go. Hot mess central. We\u2019ve said before we could get onboard with a movie messing with historical accuracy if there\u2019s a real vision and purpose<\/a> for it. Not just modernizing or making it \u201csexy\u201d or doing haute couture. And definitely not just picking random shit for everyone! This movie\u2019s costume designer is admitting her work is a hodgepodge, and neither she nor the director seem to have any cohesive design for this film. Just do big, flashy stuff! Whoo-hoo!<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/a><\/p>\n

That same Vogue interview has lots of pix that I\u2019m going to crib from, so enjoy until someone complains and I have to take them down\u2026<\/p>\n

The costume designer says this dirndl costume starts the shitshow:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time we see adult Cathy. As the film opens, we\u2019re trying to lay out our intentions \u2014 this is a stylized version of Wuthering Heights, and it\u2019s difficult to nail this look because it has a nod to the period, a nod to contemporary fashion, and also a nod to Old Hollywood. It has all the themes that we want to bring in visually to the movie, so it was about meshing it all together. It\u2019s a costume and you\u00a0know it\u2019s a costume \u2014 and it\u2019s not necessarily realistic or unrealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Way to lower expectations! Yes, this is a costumey costume.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures.<\/p>\n

Is she more Swiss Miss or St. Pauli Girl? Discuss.<\/p>\n

\"Swiss<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>The skirt looks like a picnic tablecloth & the trim looks like it was designed by a kindergartener.<\/p>\n

Next up, Cathy\u2019s wedding dress, presumably for her wedding to Edgar, if things faintly resemble the book, unless maybe it\u2019s a fever-dream wedding to Heathcliff, IDK MAN. The costume designer told Vogue:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wedding dress was an amalgam of Victorian and 1950s fashion \u2014 from [Franz Xaver] Winterhalter to Charles James.\u201d<\/p>\n

Btw, if you\u2019ve read my previous Bront\u00eb articles (or the actual novel!), you\u2019d know that main action of Wuthering Heights takes place from 1780 to 1784. So nothing to do with painter Winterhalter (1805-1873) or fashion designer Charles James (1906-1978).<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>And really, you\u2019re flattering yourself if you think this is reminiscent of Winterhalter or Charles James. This is just a big white modern ballgown, nothing special.<\/p>\n

\"sad<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s several big white dresses Margot Robbie wears as Cathy, and they all have various levels of WTFrockery. These seem to center around a white waist-cincher with a very pointy center front. She\u2019s wearing it over some kind of fantasy puffy sleeved dress in a few scenes.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>The dress is trimmed with that dorky eyelet lace that you can thread a ribbon through the center of; here, they used a bright red ribbon, because nothing is subtle.<\/p>\n

She wears the same outfit outside with a giant straw hat trimmed with silly gold shooting-star pins (tiny saving grace, the hat\u2019s ribbons are not tied over the hat<\/a>, whew). Nelly has a very nice, period-looking parasol. BUT WHY ARE THEY EATING COMICALLY LARGE STRAWBERRIES??<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures.<\/p>\n

The same dress turns up in another scene, now accessorized with a big ol\u2019 honkin\u2019 jeweled cross (is she religious all of a sudden?) and tiny red sunglasses (is she a vampire?). The smarmy dude in ill-fitting clothes next to her is Edgar, and that looks like a pair of lobsters wearing top hats are sitting in her lap (is it a Friends<\/a> reference, which, omg why?).<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

The pointy waist-cincher shows up again with a different outfit, in the high-shine red-floored room, which must be a real pain in the butt to keep clean. Not surprisingly, the production design in this movies is OTT banana-pants too.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.<\/p>\n

That waist-cincher gets worn yet again for a fairy princess look with a dress made from sparkly cross-hatched tulle.\u00a0Jacqueline Durran said they made 45 to 50 costumes for Cathy, and I wonder how many are this gathered peasant-y style, which is pretty easy to bang out (I\u2019ve been making them for myself since I was an angsty 14 year old; take that, Emerald Fennell!).<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, Cathy ditches that waist-cincher and gets to the wedding night. Oh wait \u2026 the costume designer told Vogue:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne image Emerald showed me was this amazing 1950s picture of a woman wrapped up in cellophane, like a gift with a bow around the middle. That was the starting point for this look, and we thought, how can we recreate this? It\u2019s about Cathy being a gift on her wedding night, making herself a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nooo, not wrapped in plastic!<\/p>\n

\"Twin<\/a>Twin Peaks (1990)<\/p>\n

Or maybe this is your reference of choice? (Also, what was going on in the early \u201990s?)<\/p>\n

\"Fried<\/a>Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)<\/p>\n

Compare to our Cathy\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.<\/p>\n

Maybe Jacqueline Durran still had her success with Barbie (2024) on her mind:<\/p>\n

\"Crystal<\/a><\/p>\n

Because none of that is even vaguely related to Emily Bront\u00eb. We\u2019ve very much lost the plot.<\/p>\n

\"Marie<\/a><\/p>\n

Wait, we still haven\u2019t gotten to the red latex dress! Which Jacqueline Durran thought it was important to point out: \u201cIt\u2019s actually not latex \u2014 it\u2019s just an ultra shiny, synthetic, plasticized contemporary fabric.\u201d BECAUSE THAT\u2019S SO VERY DIFFERENT. eyeroll \u201cLatex\u201d is technically a rubberized fabric that\u2019s often stretchy and may have either a shiny or dull surface. The term is often used interchangeably with \u201cPVC\u201d and \u201cvinyl\u201d for shiny plasticized fabrics, so c\u2019mon, lady, give me a break. We\u2019re all talking about the same thing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Anyway, the costume designer continued in her description of this stupid costume:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used this look in this scene because it was about combining the dress and the set in a really artificial and highly stylized way, because it has this rubberized, high-shine red floor. They seem to blend into each other, and then the walls of the library are white like her blouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess she\u2019s saying the carpet matches the drapes, got it.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Cathy also gets a shiny (but not latex!) black dress, which Durran says is:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that takes you out of the period, but it was exciting to mix the shape of a Victorian dress with a fabric that was completely modern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.<\/p>\n

Yup, takes me out of period alright. Completely modern. Would be cool on the red carpet or at the Met Gala, sure. Doesn\u2019t make any sense in Wuthering Heights. Also, Edgar still looks like he\u2019s wearing clothes too big for him or that just don\u2019t fit. Yet the costume designer insisted that for him:<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was really incorrect for the period \u2014 shiny, sparkly, overdone \u2014 but the actual shapes and silhouettes of [Edgar\u2019s] clothes are quite accurate. We just chose fabrics that would never normally be used for a Victorian gentleman\u2019s clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Definitely shiny. Kind of greasy too.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re looking at the Lintons, how about\u00a0Isabella? In Vogue<\/a>, the costume designer makes some bold claims:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur references for her were much more based in the historical period than Margot\u2019s \u2014 specifically the 1860s. I particularly love the skirt shape from the 1860s, and we looked in fashion manuals of the period for all the ways in which people would trim things and add bows and lace, and how complicated their dresses would be and how fussy. Isabella, as a character, is someone who\u2019d spend all day making ribbons and bows and trimmings, so we just really went to town with that idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you ready? Here\u2019s Cathy, on the left, and Isabella, on the right:<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a>Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.<\/p>\n

1860s! HAHAHHAHA! This is to 1860s as Durran\u2019s costumes for Anna Karenina<\/a> (2012) are to 1870s. A wink and a nod, sure, but hardly based in the historical period. (And again, let me remind folks that 1860s has zero to do with Wuthering Heights; Emily Bront\u00eb died in 1848, after all.) Maybe she\u2019s just confused which Margot Robbie flick she\u2019s working on again\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/a>Happy Birthday Barbie<\/p>\n

The last few costumes worth discussing from the trailer and articles floating around on the internet are this black dress, which looks like a copy of Cathy\u2019s wedding dress, but in sparkly black material and worn with another big honkin\u2019 gold cross (it\u2019s all appropriate for a funeral, right?):<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

And this red and white floral outfit:<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

The rest of those whackadoodle costumes make this last one look tame in comparison. The bodice has a slightly 18th-century shape and her hair is up in a not-goofy fashion.<\/p>\n

\"Project<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of hair \u2026 usually, when Margot Robbie has her hair up in this movie, it looks like she has 1940s victory rolls.<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Cute, but, oh yeah, \u2018our dates are all confused.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"1945<\/a>1945 \u2013 Rita Hayworth<\/p>\n

Not much better when sparkles are added (to the hair or cheeks).<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the fishtail braid, all the better to angst in (wait, is that a padded wall?).<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Fandango interview\u00a0Margot Robbie asked Emerald Fennell: \u201c\u2018What\u2019s your dream for the project?\u2019 She said, \u2018I want people to cry so hard they vomit.’\u201d Anyone feeling a little queasy just looking at these costumes?<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

Let me leave you with one more image from the trailer \u2014 you know they had to go there, yes, obligatory corset chafing<\/a>! Somehow Fennell thinks it\u2019s sexy, but then, maybe she really is a masochist?<\/p>\n

\"Wuthering<\/a><\/p>\n

Fennell told the Guardian<\/a>, \u201cI can\u2019t make something for everyone,\u201d and hoo-boy, she was right.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will you watch this \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Come<\/a><\/p>\n

Like this:<\/p>\n

Like Loading…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\tMore Frock Flicks\n<\/p>\n

\t\tPost navigation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support Frock Flicks\u00a0with a small donation! During Snark Week and beyond, we\u2019re\u00a0grateful for your monthly pledges for exclusive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-400746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}