
Wuthering Heights is directed by Emerald Fennell director of Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023).
Wuthering Heights film adaptions have always existed, you have the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier, the 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, the 2011 film directed by Andrea Arnold and there is a TV movie plus a mini series. Emerald Fennell’s version is definitely more stylized which leads to both some really interesting elements and some elements that do hold this one back.
Before we get started I do want to say that I have not read the source material, I’m going to judge the film from what was presented. If you are interested in the controversies surrounding the film such as the casting choices I highly recommend looking that up as there are people who talk about this that are far more knowledgeable with the source material than myself. Now with that said, let’s get the ball rolling.
The performances are all quite solid although some are definitely better than others. Margot Robbie does have a few moments where she can feel a bit out of place with the film’s time period, despite that however she is able to land a great performance. I definitely think it’s one of those cases where as the film goes on the better her performance becomes, she adjusts to the film’s atmosphere and is able to make a decently compelling performance. Jacob Elordi is in the same spot as Robbie where I do think it takes him a bit of time to fit in with the atmosphere. But once he does, he is able to land some quite strong moments especially towards the end.
Robbie and Elordi are at their best when they share a screen together, these are by far the film’s better and more investing moments. Their dialogue bounces off of each other decently well and there is some firepower behind certain scenes. The chemistry has some quite strong moments that do bring the viewer into the film’s world, there are definitely some hiccups which mainly comes from how long the film is. But overall I do think the two are able to match the tragic picture that’s being painted.
Hong Chau and Alison Oliver are also pretty solid here, Hong Chau’s more quiet performance compared to the rest of the film being on a more louder scale makes for an interesting contrast. Alison Oliver provides the film’s more bizarre angle, she has this comedic relief aspect that slowly becomes more dark as the film goes on. Oliver captures this quite well and is not afraid to go all out.
The film’s best aspects have to be its cinematography combined with the music. The cinematography from Linus Sandgren is undeniably gorgeous, it matches the atmosphere the film requires and brings this large scale to the story. Even the film’s more simple shots have a whole lot going on in them, there is a striking amount of beauty going on here that does capture the film on this wondrous scale. The music from Charli xcx works incredibly well here, each of the songs are able to stand on their own and they complement their respective scenes. The music definitely does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to bringing the viewer into the experience of it all, a few notable mentions go to “Always Everywhere”, “My Reminder”, “Out Of Myself” and “Funny Mouth”.
Overall I do think Wuthering Heights as it stands is a decent film, it does go on for a bit longer than it should and it does have a very bumpy start. But I do think it gets better as it goes on resulting in a decent enough film.
Wuthering Heights is available on all VOD platforms.
7/10 B








