{"id":425297,"date":"2026-02-14T11:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425297\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:37:12","slug":"how-wuthering-heights-movie-changes-emily-brontes-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425297\/","title":{"rendered":"How ‘Wuthering Heights’ Movie Changes Emily Bronte’s Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Emerald Fennell<\/a>\u2018s \u201cWuthering Heights<\/a>,\u201d in theaters now.<\/p>\n

\n\tEmerald Fennell\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d has just been released in theaters, but there have already been weeks of discourse surrounding her adaptation (or \u201creinterpretation\u201d) of Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s groundbreaking novel.<\/p>\n

\n\tActually, make that years \u2014 social media has been buzzing ever since the film\u2019s stars, Margot Robbie<\/a> and Jacob Elordi<\/a>, were revealed in September 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tFennell \u2014 no stranger to provocation, having directed \u201cSaltburn\u201d and \u201cPromising Young Woman\u201d \u2014 has made it clear from the start that this would not be a by-the-book adaptation of Bront\u00eb\u2019s 1847 original. \u201cEveryone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it, and so you can only kind of ever make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it,\u201d Fennell said at the L.A. premiere of \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s such a gargantuan masterpiece, I couldn\u2019t possibly attempt even to touch its coattails,\u201d she told Variety. \u201cWhat I could do, though, was look at how it made me feel, and hope that that would connect with some people. That\u2019s all you can ever do \u2014 because Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s the best \u2014 so, I hope to make somebody\u2019s favorite movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough the premise of Fennell\u2019s film is the same as the book \u2014 following the tortured romance between Cathy, a childish and impulsive girl who marries into the wealthy Linton family, and Heathcliff, the brooding boy her father took in off the street and she grew up with at Wuthering Heights \u2014 the director takes many liberties throughout, starting with the casting itself and through to the movie\u2019s ending. This has sparked many a debate among literature lovers and scholars alike, including on the topic of Heathcliff\u2019s race (which has been discussed for nearly 200 years to little consensus) and just how horny Fennell\u2019s R-rated adaptation is (the same can\u2019t really be said of the book). The movie has also divided critics, with some miffed by its stark departures from the original text, while others \u2014 like Variety\u2018s Peter Debruge<\/a> \u2014 praise Fennell\u2019s \u201cbold and engaging\u201d take.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo settle the score, we read Bront\u00eb\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d so you don\u2019t have to \u2014 though I really would recommend it \u2014 and came up with five of the biggest differences in Fennell\u2019s screen adaptation. Read on below.<\/p>\n

\t\tCasting contrasts\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe casting of Elordi has been questioned from the start, as a long-debated aspect of the book is Heathcliff\u2019s race. The character of Heathcliff is first described as a \u201cdark-skinned gypsy\u201d with black hair and eyes, but is also referred to at other times as a \u201clascar\u201d (a sailor of Indian or Southeast Asian descent) or perhaps an American or Spanish castaway. Some scholars suspect that his race was deliberately kept vague and note that, at the time, even those from other European countries like Italy or Spain would have been discriminated against by Brits. It should also be noted that the descriptions given in the book are from different characters who may have their own prejudices, leaving the reader without hard facts. Either way, Heathcliff is immediately othered for the way he looks. Therefore, many felt that Elordi \u2014 who is of Australian and Basque descent \u2014 did not fit the bill. Indeed, in Fennell\u2019s movie, Heathcliff\u2019s race is not explicitly stated, and his otherness seems to center more around class, with emphasis placed on the fact that he was found on the streets of Liverpool and isn\u2019t able to read or write.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJacob Elordi as Heathcliff in \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett C<\/p>\n

\n\tBook purists also shared concern about casting the 35-year-old Robbie as Cathy, since in the book, the character is only 15 when she accepts Edgar Linton\u2019s marriage proposal and 18 when she dies. In the film, Fennell introduces younger versions of Cathy and Heathcliff (played by Charlotte Mellington and Owen Cooper), then ages the characters up. According to Robbie, Cathy is intended to be in her early to mid-20s once she appears on camera, and the plot spans approximately six years from there. Cathy\u2019s relative agedness is hinted at throughout the film, with her maid Nelly (Hong Chau) mentioning at one point that she is \u201cwell past spinsterhood\u201d and should therefore marry Edgar, underscoring the societal pressures of the era. However, Robbie\u2019s performance keeps Cathy\u2019s childish nature intact with many obsessive outbursts.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere were also several changes made to the Linton family. Edgar, Cathy\u2019s betrothed, is described in the book as having \u201clight hair and fair skin,\u201d but in the film he\u2019s played by Shazad Latif, who is of Pakistani, English and Scottish descent. And Isabella Linton \u2014 who in Bront\u00eb\u2019s text is Edgar\u2019s sister \u2014 is instead introduced in the film (played by Alison Oliver) as his \u201cward,\u201d which in the Victorian era denoted an orphaned minor who has been placed under the protection of a guardian.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMargot Robbie as Cathy in \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\tSeveral original characters are missing\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the book, Cathy\u2019s father, Mr. Earnshaw \u2014 who brought Heathcliff into their home and always had a soft spot for him \u2014 dies, leaving Wuthering Heights to be managed by his eldest son, Hindley, who hates Heathcliff. However, in Fennell\u2019s film, Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes) is alive and Hindley is nonexistent, though Mr. Earnshaw takes on some of Hindley\u2019s qualities \u2014 mainly his dislike for Heathcliff and penchant for alcohol. Midway through the film, Mr. Earnshaw dies, which is one of the catalysts for Cathy and Heathcliff\u2019s affair. Cathy\u2019s mother is also dead in the film, whereas in the book she is briefly present; and the same for both of Edgar\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

\n\tFennell\u2019s film also does away with the book\u2019s first narrator, Mr. Lockwood, and though Nelly serves a key role, she does not tell the story of Heathcliff and Cathy as she does in the book. Instead, the film is presented without a primary perspective, though Cathy seems to be at the heart of the plot.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe film focuses on the first half of the book\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFennell\u2019s movie centers solely on the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, meaning that only the first half of the around 300-page book \u2014 through Chapter 16 \u2014 is included. The second part, as readers know, tells of Heathcliff\u2019s behavior after Cathy\u2019s death and how he continues to torture her daughter and his son (whom Isabella Linton births shortly after fleeing Wuthering Heights), who eventually marry. Since Heathcliff seems to lose all redeeming qualities after Cathy\u2019s death, turning into a truly miserable and vengeful man, book devotees likely have a far less romantic vision of him than what is presented in the film.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMargot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett C<\/p>\n

\t\tThe movie is much steamier\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAs with \u201cSaltburn,\u201d Fennell delivers another sexually provocative film with her adaptation of \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d Even in the trailer, scenes of slapping dough, Robbie and Elordi kissing in the rain and Elordi licking a wall were telltale signs that this would be a heightened version of the actual romance depicted in the book. In fact, there is no explicit mention of sex in Bront\u00eb\u2019s novel, which isn\u2019t too surprising, as to write about such things would have been incredibly taboo at the time. The book\u2019s eroticism mostly comes from the words exchanged between Cathy and Heathcliff, many of which do make it into Fennell\u2019s film.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the more charged moments of the book comes when Heathcliff visits Cathy just before her death, and the two share a passionate embrace, though Nelly is in the room the entire time. As Bront\u00eb\u2019s text reads: \u201cShe put up her hand to clasp his neck, and bring her cheek to his as he held her; while he, in return, covering her with frantic caresses, said wildly \u2014 \u2018You teach me now how cruel you\u2019ve been \u2014 cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself \u2026 I have not broken your heart \u2014 you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.\u201d This is about as saucy as the book gets, whereas in Fennell\u2019s film, there are plenty of sex scenes, secret meetings to hook up and feverish kisses in the rain.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe ending\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSince Fennell\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d only takes us halfway through the novel, the ending is entirely different. In the book, Cathy dies shortly after giving birth to her and Edgar\u2019s daughter \u2014 also named Cathy \u2014 though she had been ill for months following her fallout with Heathcliff. The story then continues with Cathy\u2019s daughter at the forefront. In Fennell\u2019s film, Cathy still gets pregnant and dies of her illness, but the baby does not survive. In one of the final shots of the movie, Cathy\u2019s death \u2014 and that of her child \u2014 is apparent when a pool of blood begins to gather below her waist, dripping down onto the floor in a quite disturbing fashion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Emerald Fennell\u2018s \u201cWuthering Heights,\u201d in theaters now. Emerald Fennell\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1823,96,1826,1827,2839,56,54,55,1829],"class_list":{"0":"post-425297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-emerald-fennell","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jacob-elordi","11":"tag-margot-robbie","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-wuthering-heights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425297","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=425297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}