'Wuthering Heights' Review: A Fiery, Steamy, Messy Mixed Bag
Writer/Director Emerald Fennell returns with her third feature, this time tackling an adaptation of Emily Bronte’s beloved novel Wuthering Heights. With a fresh, unique approach and two perfectly cast leads, this adaptation hits the bullseye far more than it misses the mark.
Set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, ‘Wuthering Heights’ centers on two lovers named Catherine (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi). Starting as childhood friends, their friendship slowly turns into a passionate romance, but life tears them apart and brings them back together again, resulting in a love affair that is intense, romantic, and extremely tumultuous. There have been numerous adaptations of Emily Bronte’s novel, but writer/director Emerald Fennell has approached the story from a wildly different perspective, utilizing the source material more as inspiration for her vision rather than make a slavishly faithful re-imagining of the revered tale.
Perfect casting is essential for making any romance film work and thankfully Fennell has found two pitch-perfect leads in Elordi and Robbie. Their incredible chemistry is not only palpable throughout, but it’s also magnetic, fiery, and relentlessly tangible. The immensely talented duo are able to make every word, look, and mannerism radiate love, yearning, loss, heartbreak, lust and everything in between. Despite the ugliness and toxicity that their romance oozes, the two are able to make Catherine and Heathcliff a couple still worth becoming emotionally invested in despite the fact there is overwhelming evidence to make the audience believe their love is not only unhealthy, but doomed and not meant to be. Not only is the pair fantastic together, but their respective performances are wonderful, each showcasing the different facets of their characters and their backgrounds with ease and deftness, resulting in compelling and devastating work. It’s also worth noting the phenomenal supporting performance from Alison Oliver as Isabella, the sibling of Edgar, Catherine’s husband played by Shazad Latif. Her performance is unpredictable, surprising and unbelievably committed.
Fennell has not only become more confident and assured in the director’s chair with this new feature, but her precision and thoughtfulness with the camera continues to be a highlight. She never tries to take attention away from the story, performances or characters with overcooked style or visual panache and instead lets Linus Sandgren’s stunning cinematography provide a wholly immersive backdrop for the story. Sandgren’s work here is truly remarkable, making every frame, setting and splash of color pop and vibrate. This is a sumptuous and luscious looking film, aided further by spectacular production design and costumes. Simply put, this is Fennell’s most stunning looking film to date.
Also impressive is Fennell’s handle and balance of tone here. This is a romance film that vacillates between being achingly romantic, steamy, fiery, heartbreaking, and even darkly comedic at times. However, for the most part, Fennell is able to handle the shifts in tone with grace, complimenting the burgeoning and volatile romance between the central pair instead of letting the film get away from her. In another director’s hands, the contrasting tones could’ve resulted in unmitigated disaster, but in Fennell’s capable hands, this sprawling and wildly different iteration of the story feels steady on its feet.
However, this romance film isn’t without its flaws. The last act of the film feels tonally imbalanced and incredibly inconsistent, the wild shifts in tone nearly derailing the film. This last chapter of the film feels as if it’s trying to do too much as it takes the narrative into more uncharted territory, but these risks miss the mark far more than they enhance the story at play. Also not helping matters is the sluggish pacing of the film. Clocking in at nearly two and half hours, the length is felt throughout, some scenes running too long and the story spinning its wheels as it heads toward its powerful, emotionally harrowing finale. With a few trims and bolts tightened in the editing room, this could’ve been a far smoother and better-paced experience.
‘Wuthering Heights’ needed a fresh take and thankfully Fennell’s vision of the story is singular, daring and wonderfully ambitious. Robbie and Elordi’s breathtaking chemistry and heart-wrenching performances are sure to resonate with audiences this Valentine’s Day weekend. Fennell swings for the fences and even though she doesn’t always connect with the ball, it’s difficult to not respect the follow through. This new interpretation of Bronte’s timeless story is sure to be polarizing, but it also has the potential to be an iconic new addition to the romance genre.