Wuthering Heights by Emerald Fennell: When fan fiction meets classics

If someone had told me a few years ago that Charli XCX would make the soundtrack for a film adaptation of “Wuthering Heights”, I would have never believed them. Yet, this has come to reality this February with the release of a new version of Emily Brontë’s novel, directed by Emerald Fennell. Including major changes such as omitting the social class issues that Heathcliff’s character brought to the book and an overly sexual approach, this adaptation of the story is undoubtedly the most controversial of all made to date.

The film tells the tragic romance between Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) and Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie). After being raised together, they both grow up and their feelings grow with them, but the social barriers that dominated 18th-century England frustrate everything, making their relationship increasingly toxic and impossible.

I prefer to start with the best aspects of the movie, and that is undoubtedly the soundtrack. Charli XCX does a masterful job delivering a sound that perfectly suits the film’s plot and setting. In fact, the first scene, with “House” playing in the background, gave me chills. Although I would have liked them to include a few more songs like “Altars” or “Dying For You” during the movie, they use this resource well.

This adaptation is neither faithful to the novel nor does it claim to be, as the director says it is kind of a fan fiction based on what she imagined when she read the novel at age 14, which is why she puts quotation marks around the film’s title. I think this is fine because I love it when directors adapt stories in their own way and change things to reflect their vision, as long as the story is improved. However, in this case, I didn’t like the tone Emerald Fennell gave to her adaptation. In the book, the characters are infinitely more deeply developed, and here they seem to be taken from a rom-com. It feels like Heathcliff’s class perspective has been removed so that the film is watchable on Valentine’s Day and all couples go to the cinema, being labeled as “the greatest love story of all time.” To achieve this, the director decides to base much of the characters’ relationship on sex, which is questionable itself, but if I add the fact that the sex scenes are more funny than anything else, what happens is that it seems like this is a parody of the original story and not anything serious.

There are some shots that I found really beautiful, such as Heathcliff on that horse surrounded by a red sky, among others. Even so, both the aesthetics and the costumes in general, especially Cathy’s, feel forced. In a story where everything should be more raw and dirty, seeing such beautiful dresses that look like they came from a Pinterest aesthetic board feels quite out of place. I would also say that the performances by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are not their best. From the second half onwards, I find Margot’s portrayal of Cathy a little more believable, but I’m still not convinced by it.

The disparity of opinions regarding this film is enormous. Many hate it, and for many others, it has changed their lives forever. That’s what happens with films by controversial directors like Emerald Fennell. Without being a big fan of her projects, I think they all have something very interesting that makes you want to return to them. Despite this, her adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” is not at all what I expected. One I would recommend much more than this one is undoubtedly Andrea Arnold’s, released in 2011, which is also recent and more faithful to the book on questionable issues like not whitewashing Heathcliff. But without a doubt, what I recommend most is reading the novel, where the emotional complexity of such a harsh and cruel story reaches a depth that this adaptation can barely touch.

Words: @joaquinxbc