NOW IN THEATERS! Writer/director Emerald Fennell has trodden upon sacred ground and left her own imprint in her re-imagining of Wuthering Heights, based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes) is the master of a windswept, rough estate called Wuthering Heights in the Yorkshire moors. Coming home from London, he brings an orphan boy (Owen Cooper) to live with the family. Young Catherine (Charlotte Mellington) names him Heathcliff and says that he will be her companion and her pet. He seems sanguine with this good fortune and dedicates himself to Catherine.
Catherine and Heathcliff grow up together and form an inseparable bond, or so he thinks. Adult Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) is a strapping young man who works as a farm hand on the estate. Adult Catherine (Margot Robbie) has lost none of her insolent, bratty charm, forever tormenting Heathcliff. The Earnshaw family is in financial trouble due to Earnshaw’s gambling addiction. Catherine has her heart set on being a lady of means, and the only way she can achieve this is to marry up. When Edgar Linton from the neighboring estate (Thrushcross Grange) proposes, she accepts.
“Heathcliff buys Wuthering Heights and moves back in, meaning to show Cathy what she’s missing…”
Heathcliff overhears her telling her servant, Nelly (Hong Chau), that it would degrade her to marry him, and he runs away. He leaves before she’s finished, when she says she’s torn about the decision because she loves him. When he returns years later, having made his fortune and become a gentleman, he seeks revenge on her. Catherine has settled into a life of pampered luxury at Thrushcross. Heathcliff buys Wuthering Heights and moves back in, meaning to show Cathy what she’s missing, but his plans go pear-shaped when he finds he still can’t resist her.
Fennell previously directed Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, both of which challenge the audience with transgressive takes on how to comport oneself in polite society. Wuthering Heights seems purpose-made along those lines, as Heathcliff turns out to be a raging psychopath, where Catherine is so driven by her emotions, and so torn at having to choose between the extremes of love and wealth as to be dangerously unstable. Fennell focuses on the epicurean in her production design. The viewer is immersed in an indulgent feast for all the senses, from the soaring cliffs surrounding the estate to tables laden with food to elaborate dresses made of rich fabrics. Heathcliff thunders on horseback across the foggy moor. Dark rooms are filled with shadows playing in the firelight.
"…needs to be seen on a big screen..."
