Directed By Emerald Fennell

Starring – Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau

The Plot – A passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff (Elordi) and Catherine Earnshaw (Robbie).

Rated R for sexual content, some violent content and adult language.

“Wuthering Heights” | Official Teaser

POSITIVES

The two loosest words in cinematic terminology are “Based upon”, and this ages old framing, combined with the movie’s title containing quotations, should allude to the audience that this version of “Wuthering Heights” is anything but a typical by-the-numbers adaptation of literary accuracy, especially with such an artistically expressive visionary like Emerald Fennell at the movie’s forefront. While the general outline to the Emily Bronte novel of the same name is most certainly there in scattered pieces, Fennell’s deviations stem from the characters of Catherine and Heathcliff being bonded by their respective traumas, particularly the abuse that both faced as children with Catherine’s belligerently confrontational father, leading to each of them being the fully-fledged manifestations of their environment, which for better or worse, surmises two characters who are anything but empathetic, in the ways they continuously inflict their trauma on supporting characters. This would normally have an effect on the blossoming love at the movie’s creative forefront, but it actually contrasts tradition by isolating the two characters so passionately and poetically from the outside world surrounding them, evoking not only an internalized agony from the characters that dramatically motivates their anything but ordinary relationship, but also a lusciously lavish and scintillating intoxicating atmosphere for the senses that provocatively brings the world within these pages to life with a complete lack of subtlety and surprising amount of humor that refuses to tremble tenderly in its sexualized subject matter. In her first three films, Fennell has already firmly established herself as quite possibly the horniest director working in cinema today, with the sultry sensuality that she allows to hang continuously over these characters permeating instinctual yearning, and though that doesn’t exactly require indulging nudity or sex sequences brandishing vulgarity, it does allow her to paint the passionate prominence of Catherine and Heathcliff’s desirable embrace accordingly with surveilling cinematography from longtime collaborator, Linus Sandgren, whose use of the lens zeroes in on body responses and texture so vividly enacted that they feel three-dimensional to the audience’s immerse interpretation. Sandgren feels so tangible with the leads, both in the claustrophobic captivity with how he documents these interactions, valuing character vulnerabilities as much as their therapeutic releases, but also the vibrancy that he orchestrates within the gothic grandeur of this period piece, alongside everything from the elaborateness of wardrobe designs, to the dimensionality of set decoration, to even the intricacy of lighting, fueling a luminating aura to the overall presentation in ways that makes it seemingly impossible to look away from, with every single frame of this movie attaining artistic flourishes that could easily be hung in any museum celebrating artistic embellishing. The views themselves definitely enact an alluring transfixion to the occasion that makes this feel so uniquely experimental to other literary adaptations, appraising this fantastically imaginative distinction to Fennell’s direction that legitimately does make this feel like the psychological interpretation of a reader pulling their wants and needs from the book, and while it certainly bares more than a striking influence over the faithful attention of the audience, its occasionally surreal coloring of distanced backdrops out a window, or posh elegance in the contrast of wealthy and poor worlds, surprisingly coincide terrifically with the acting and interactions of this highly gifted ensemble, allowing plenty of stage for everyone to shine, even if this is so obviously Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s movie for the taking. Singularly, the work that each of these leads do adds a lot of conflicting psychology and emotional dexterity to the designs of these characters, with Robbie unloading a sophisticatedly radiant and emotional recklessness to Catherine that serves as a result of her figurative shackling of societal pressures to seek riches, and Elordi matching her with a passionate portrayal that revels in the literal and figurative scars of the character’s past, with elements of simmering rage and uncontrollable obsession that often serve as the proverbial elephant in the room to an otherwise peaceful existence. However, it’s when these two are together that their performances truly become spellbinding, with every glance, touch, or interaction defined by the anguishing torment of what could’ve been, enriching a naturalized form of chemistry that feels lived-in with every square inch of their adolescent and adult experiences around each other, and though it certainly helps that physically these two emanate an obvious sexiness that fuels the fires of audience interpretation, it’s really the honesty and selfishness of these characters when they’re unrestrained from outsider influence that garners portrayals that feel every bit as unapologetically honest as they do irresponsibly destructive, eliciting two characters reveling in the toxicity of a relationship who belong together, even though we understand that nothing good can come of it. I also want to shed some spotlight to Anthony Willis’ beautifully poignant music score, as well as the original tracks from Charli XCX, that intensify so much of the emotional captivity of these characters into operatic levels of haunting emptiness that further immerse us in their inescapable imprisonment. Much of Willis’ work can certainly be described as intentionally overwrought to match the film’s heightened emotional intensity of these tenderly tantalizing sequences, combining demonstrative string instruments with synthesizers to enact something ethereal and bleak towards capturing the moodiness of the Yorkshire atmosphere, but even for a movie that rides the highs and lows of love’s everlasting feeling, Willis reflects these matters with tones and compositions that refuse to revel in repetition, helping to keep this movie’s atmosphere free from ever feeling stalled in its sentiments, all the while blending so evocatively with the pageantry of the movie’s aforementioned imagery.

NEGATIVES

While plenty of creative changes have been unloaded at this newly expressive version of “Wuthering Heights”, the dryness of the literature’s consistency still unfortunately carries over to this cinematic rendering, particularly in the movie’s inability to ever find its feet towards a comfortable consistency with the pacing, which makes this feel every inch of its overly indulgent 131-minute runtime. After a solid opening act that transitions wonderfully between Catherine and Heathcliff as children to adults, the rest of the film is overwhelmed by abrupt time passages and music montages that don’t allow the audience to live in the moment of these periodic conflicts, making the material feel like it’s casually going through the motions of repetition and intrusion instead of answering legitimate questions about a character’s newfound wealth (How was Heathcliff able to purchase a manor?), leading to a bigger disconnect, particularly throughout the movie’s high stakes third act, than I ever could’ve expected in a love story that I was legitimately endeared towards. Part of the problem definitely feels like this movie could use another exchange inside of the editing room, in order to flesh out a more cohesive clarity with these characters under a two hour runtime, but even then there comes a point when the script is continuously hurling developments of exposition that tell us far more than they ever show is in the reality of execution, and it leaves the meaningful momentum towards the movie’s climax feeling a bit dull and stilted during a time when audiences should be on the edge of their seats, leaving this feeling a bit overlong for a director who has no problems persisting towards a two hour runtime with her distinct form of storytelling. What could use less time is certainly some of the repeated story beats and periodic conflicts that linger a bit longer than necessary, but what it could use more of is a thoroughness for fleshing out of the definition within these relationships, particularly anything other than Cathy and Heathcliff, which Fennell doesn’t seem even remotely interested in exploring. When you summarize everything that we come to learn about Cathy’s wealthy suitor, Edgar (Shazad Latif), the only things that I can say (Other than he’s rich) is that he’s a nice guy who seems to want the best for Cathy, and when you correspond this with a toxic love story between Cathy and Heathcliff, it might leave some logic thinking audiences feeling lukewarm about what they want out of this movie, even if that always was the point of the novel. For my money, I could’ve used more time within this relationship, as well as one between Heathcliff and Edgar’s sister, Isabella (Alison Oliver), especially since the latter leads to some fascinating components pertaining to dominance, one of the movie’s many thematic impulses, but instead we’re left periodic glimpses into shock, in order for the movie to live up to some preconceived expectation of what was promised from the marketing, and it rarely comes across as genuine or authentic for these characters or the designated period that it’s established in.

OVERALL
“Wuthering Heights” reshapes Emily Bronte’s novel of sprawling tragedy into a visually scrumptious but substantially standard shift beneath the sheets of these toxic characters, omitting much of the socioeconomics, classism, and racism of the book, in favor of shockingly sexy imagery for contemporary audiences. Despite its glaring execution flaws, the film is brought to life with achingly affectionate chemistry between Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, as well as a lusciously lavish canvas that enamors even when it fails to entertain, solidifying a very imaginatively distinct and personal capture for Emerald Fennell that continues her success as the horniest director working today.

My Grade: 7.4 or B-