Valentine’s Day was full of love, heartbreak, and emotional abuse thanks to the release of this steamy adaptation.
By: Amanda Musto
As a preface to this review, it is to be known that these thoughts are on the movie as its own piece and with no comparison to Brontë’s novel.
Ever since I left the theater after “Wuthering Heights,” I have been in a constant state of yearning to experience it again for the first time. Emerald Fennell has placed me and thousands of others in a trance, hung up on the chemistry between Cathy and Heathcliff, having caused one to forget the toxicity in their relationship.
The biggest question is, “Is everyone obsessed with Cathy and Heathcliff or Margot and Jacob?” I’d have to say most likely the latter.
Both Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi did phenomenal in their roles and as their emotions constantly shifted, they were able to take the audience on that roller coaster with them. It’s a big enough feat to make the watcher feel heartbreak, yearning, loss, anger, and horniness when they watched the film, but an even bigger feat to make the watcher enjoy feeling those emotions. The main emotion that held strong for me the whole time was the jealousy of Margot for being able to kiss Jacob and vice versa, but who could blame me.
The film being filmed on location, especially on the moors, really added to the feelings of emptiness and dreariness felt within the characters because of the vast emptiness of the moors. The same way Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship had a slightly hauntingly beautiful aspect to it, so did the moors, really mirroring each other. Other set aspects pulled together pieces of the film to show bigger things; the grand fashion, house, and moments of Cathy in her life with Edgar which mirrored the shallow love she felt for him, Cathy’s room made in walls that look like her skin which mirrored Edgar’s love for her looks, and the beautiful, large doll house that Isabella sets up which mirrored her youthfulness and desire to paint life the way she wishes it to be (bloody Cathy for example).
Cathy’s outfits were a favorite of mine, constantly bringing me back to Margot in “Barbie,” almost a sort of 19th century Barbie. The addition of Heathcliff’s gold tooth and gold earring not only added to his attractiveness but showed off the bat how successful he has made himself. The shift in the clothes both Cathy and Heathcliff wore from growing up to later in life also showed how much their lives had shifted from lower class to upper.
While I did think the romance and all the sexual and sensualness of the film was nothing less than perfect, it did lead to a glossing over of how both Heathcliff and Cathy are terrible people who manipulate and mentally abuse basically all the people in their lives. It’s hard to remember their toxic traits when you see Heathcliff on all fours crawling in yearning and him constantly having his fingers in Cathy’s mouth or hers in his. And in those moments, you start to see it more as the actor than the character, which I believe is because of how attractive they both are. Must be something in that Aussie water.
The main grievance I have with this film is that it was being constantly promoted as the greatest love story. While yes love was felt, there is so much emotional abuse, mental abuse, total manipulation of innocent bystanders (Justice for Isabella and Edgar), and lust overtaking logic. This may be some version of a love story, but it is far from the greatest and shouldn’t be promoted as one.
I appreciated the quotes that director Emerald Fennell chose to put around the title to highlight the looseness of the name. She created more of a reimaging of the novel into film and tried to give it a somewhat modern and more grandeur vibe than other adaptations.
All in all I do consider this an amazing film and already know one watch won’t be enough.
