“Wuthering Heights” Movie Review

“Wuthering Heights” is a movie adapted from the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. That means it is very loosely adapted, in that this movie takes the bare bones from the novel and amps up the feverish intensity. It seems to be created in the seductively amorous mind of a young college co-ed who is madly in love with her Drama instructor.

It is in the English countryside, near the ocean, where the rocky crags in the hills hold a small homestead. The owner is a amiable town drunk named Mr. Earnshaw (played by Martin Clunes).

He runs his family business with a few servants and a young daughter. The younger Catherine – called Cathy (played by Charlotte Mellington) is girl set on finding true love in the world. Or at least, some true wealth.

Mr. Earnshaw is in town and comes back one day with a street urchin. He is a homeless orphan, and nobody else will take him in. Mr. Earnshaw takes him in and younger Heathcliff (played by Owen Cooper) is accepted as part of the family. Or at least, a new cheap servant.

In this homestead, called “Wuthering Heights”, has another servant, the young Nelly Dean (played by Vy Nguyen). She is there to act as tutor to Cathy Earnshaw – and now she will also instruct young Heathcliff. She is a well-read lady with a lot of refined manners. Mr. Earnshaw hopes that Cathy will learn some of those, also. But that has not happened yet.

Cathy and Heathcliff are well-matched, in terms of temperament and future goals. But theirs is a love/hate relationship. They are being raised almost as brother and sister, but there are a lot of romantic feelings between these two.

After years pass, the older Catherine (played by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (played by Jacob Elordi) have shared an unspoken attraction and passion for each other. But being raised almost as siblings, they know they cannot allow the passionate juices to flow freely. Even the more mature Nelly (played by Hong Chau) acts as Cathy’s sounding-board and moral compass.

The closest neighbor is a new family who has come from a lot of wealth. This estate, called Thrushcross Grange, is not the home of the wildly rich Edgar Linton (played by Shazad Latif). This successful member of the gentry has moved in. He brings along his younger sister – Isabella Linton (played by Alison Oliver).

Catherine has a chance to visit with the Lintons, and she is astonished at the luxury. She feels deeply for her best friend, Heathcliff. But getting to marry Edgar would free her from the dreary life of “Wuthering Heights”. Cathy sets her sights on the love-poor man, and soon enough, they are hitched.

But Heathcliff overhears part of a conversion between Cathy and Nelly. He hears that Cathy would reject him as suitor, and does not hear the next part. He storms out and leaves for many years. He missed part where Cathy swore that nobody else could ever have her heart.

The mysterious Heathcliff returns years later. He is now well-read, well-mannered, and very rich. He is hiding the rage and anger he still bears against Catherine. She is married for years now, but her marriage was the convenient option. There is no passion that Cathy holds for her husband, Edgar. It is her clinging to the high society and luxury she so desires.

Heathcliff decides to focus on Isabella Linton, to persue her and marry her. It is not for his love for Edgar’s younger sister. It is for revenge — against Catherine and all the people who had looked down upon him in the past. Cathy, with her heart broken, tells Nelly that her soul has been crushed.

The passion that flows between Catherine and her adopted brother Heathcliff is unbounded. This love does not include any Linton at all, not Edger nor Isabella. Theirs is not a ‘Love Triange’. It is more of a ‘Love Oroborus’, that is – a venomous snake slowly eating itself out of spite and hatred.

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“Wuthering Heights” is a study in how to take a classic story and classic characters — then basically take everything in a different direction. Director & Writer (Emerald Fennell) takes liberties with the very basics of the story to make a much more unfocused movie. She stamps this movie with her brand and her visions, and cares not if anyone objects.

Seeing the title is in quotation marks shows that Fennell wants people to know this movie should not be taken as a literal interpretation of the original novel. When she uses a cast that is not really in line with the novel characters, Fennell is saying — ‘This is mine, it’s the way I want it’. When she is using songs from Charli XCX in the soundtrack, Fennell is saying — ‘This is how I want it’.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi (Catherin and Heathcliff) do not fit the classic idea of what the characters are supposed to be. But they do a decent job with each role. The writing is stilted at time, and that works against the actors. The story was changed so drastically, many plot points are so different; it makes it harder to make the story easy to follow.

There is a huge amount of fantastic cinematography and beautiful landscapes in the English country side. That is major plus for this movie. The production values are very stunning. The stark difference between the rough, old homestead of “Wuthering Heights” as compared to the lush surrondings of Thrushcross Grange is extreme.

“Wuthering Heights” is bit of a twist of the original novel; rejecting prior standards in terms of casting and staying true to the story. This movie tries to lift the results higher, but it never reaches those kinds of “Heights”.