Emerald Fennell’s Fresh Take on the “Greatest Love Story Ever Told”
Going into my screening of Wuthering Heights, my knowledge of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel was sparse to say the least. Like most, I was vaguely familiar with its timeless premise: a poor boy who mysteriously becomes rich to win back his love. But outside of strolling past posters of older cinematic adaptations on IMDb, I walked into the new 2026 reimagining completely blind. Blessed without the baggage of pre-set expectations, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights plays like an old-school romance blockbuster ala Titanic, Pride and Prejudice, or The Notebook. The film is an explosive, emotional epic that is filled with heart, comedy, and tragedy.
From writer/director Emerald Fennell, 2026’s Wuthering Heights stars Academy Award nominees Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. As a child, young Heathcliff is adopted by Cathy’s father, Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes), and raised alongside Cathy in a quirky kissing-cousins kinship. Cut to adulthood, and the couple’s longing for each other festers to a boiling point when a new, wealthy neighbor, Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), and his sister Isabella (Alison Oliver) enter the picture. The film also stars Oscar nominee Hong Chau, Ewan Mitchell, Charlotte Mellington as young Cathy, and Emmy winner Owen Cooper as young Heathcliff.
Before diving into the film, let’s talk about Emerald Fennell. As some First Cut readers know, I personally was not a fan of Promising Young Woman. I thought Fennell’s Oscar-winning debut was beautifully shot and chock full of potential, but failed to live up to its intriguing premise. Then we get to Saltburn, a movie I enjoyed as much as any cis heterosexual male can reasonably enjoy. But what Saltburn showed me is Fennell’s affection for freakiness. Need I say more than “bathtub”? She’s not afraid to push the sensual envelope, but does so without displaying a gratuitous amount of nudity. Evident in both Saltburn and Wuthering Heights, Fennell photographs sexuality through intimate close-ups of hands, lips, eyes, and back muscles. And I mean LOTS of back muscles. Oh, and a little ropeplay too.
In 2020, P-Valley creator Katori Hall spoke on how difficult it was to find male TV directors who truly understood the “female gaze.” Because the male gaze can be defined in one word: objectification. You know, the Megan Fox thirst traps in Transformers; the booty short flag bearers in Fast & Furious; the examples are endless. So, as an aspiring director myself, I am always curious about how emerging women directors approach “gaze” in their films. Is it a sexual exploration or an emotional connection? Are sweaty back muscle shots, subservience, and class elevation the secrets of the “female gaze”? Maybe. Or it could be *Fennell Gaze,* i.e. Emerald Fennell’s specific blend of exuberant aesthetics and playfully eroticism.
Wuthering Heights’ audaciously gorgeous visual design is the film’s biggest highlight. The detailed, rich sets by Oscar-nominated production designer Suzie Davies tell their own story that’s sometimes bigger than the film itself. In this movie, it’s not enough to show a character’s crippling alcoholism through a couple of wine glasses here or there. Nah, we have to see literal mountains of glass liquor bottles stacked all the way to the ceiling. Oh, we need to understand that a character feels trapped in her own skin? Let’s upholster her literal skin tone on every surface of her bedroom.
With superb cinematography from Oscar-winning DP Linus Sandgren and fabulous costume work by Oscar-winning Jacqueline Durran, Wuthering Heights is so maximalist and artistically forward that it borders on gaudy at times. But honestly, I’m not mad at it. In telling the “greatest love story ever,” why not go big and splashy? There’s nothing wrong with flavor, especially for mopes like me who don’t watch costume dramas regularly.
And if we’re doing a little extra with the visuals, why not go a little bigger with the performances? Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s rousing chemistry hoist the movie to new… heights. Robbie and Elordi feel like they’ve known each other for eternity, truly selling the idea that they’re lifelong lovers. And just like in Frankenstein, Elordi relishes his transformation from sexed-up simpleton to smooth player.
Robbie, on the other hand, carries much of the emotional weight as we watch the tolls of a fraught romance through her eyes. The duo does an excellent job drawing you into characters who aren’t particularly likable. Cathy is a spoiled, emotionally unstable rich kid who uses the people around her, while Heathcliff is somewhat of a bitter manipulator. They are both dynamic, interesting characters whose complexities make their mutual affection harder to realize.
Storywise, I did expect a little more subversion. Knowing how unafraid she is to agitate her audiences, one would assume that Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation would be a little more challenging. Instead, we get a relatively straightforward romance movie that wholeheartedly embraces the classic genre tropes. Granted, we haven’t seen a big-budget, straightforward romance movie in a long time, so, in a nostalgic way, the film does feel like a breath of fresh air. However, after a stunning opening sequence that provides a perverted perspective of a medieval hanging ceremony, I was ready for a risky Wuthering Heights.
Perhaps the subversion comes in the film’s fearless irreverence of the source material. I didn’t read Wuthering Heights beforehand, but after my screening, I watched a couple of surface-level YouTube summaries of Emily Brontë’s original novel… and WOW. There’s like 10-15% of the original novel represented in this adaptation. Which, honestly, is pretty nice, given how gloomy and depressing the plot of the 19th-century literary classic sounds on paper. Tack on a more contemporary-leaning soundtrack from Charlie XCX, and you have a stunning period film with a shiny, modern gleam.
Overall, Fennell’s eye for visual spectacle elevates Wuthering Heights from a conventional romance drama to a lavish, operatic, larger-than-life extravaganza. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s rousing chemistry perfectly complements the film’s delightful blend of heart and humor. It’s a relatively simple story told with dazzling visuals, excellent performance, a standout musical score, and an emotional conclusion. A quintessential Valentine’s Day movie.
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