Another partner of Wuthering Heights 2026 is the British underwear brand Lounge:
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- Evelyn Intimates Set (Green): Jewel-toned green set including bra and briefs, designed with sculpting elements and intricate details evoking quiet obsession on the moors.
- Dahlia Bodysuit: Versatile one-piece bodysuit in navy-inspired hues, blending corsetry-like shaping with delicate embroidery for film-themed allure.
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- Caia Thong (Pink): Minimalist pink thong for pairing with sets, in soft fabric with subtle accents.
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- Modal Pyjama Shirt: Soft modal fabric shirt for comfortable, themed lounging.
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society Wuthering Heights is a story full of passion, violence and sexual tension. So it's no surprise that it shocked Victorian readers when it first came out. How did Emily Brontë, the daughter of a clergyman, create such a provocative world? How did the Brontê sisters write about sex and sexuality in their work? And how accurate is the new film to the original story?! Joining Kate today is Dr Claire O'Callaghan, author and Brontë scholar, to take us back to Victorian England at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, and find out more about this scandalous story. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
A lot more reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026:
Wuthering Heights adaptation is what happens when no one reads. (...) The latest work from English filmmaker Emerald Fennell — who cultivated a sizable following with her tawdry 2023 dark comedy Saltburn — is a loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 Wuthering Heights — loose being a charitable term doing more than its share of heavy lifting — and a reflection of a stark literary crisis plaguing our modern age. ( Harry Khachatrian in Washington Examiner)
Emerald Fennell's adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" ultimately falls flat, trading significant characters and emotional intimacy for awkward erotica. (...) However, even if the film is reviewed as an independent entity, it still relies on montages, shock value and awkward erotica, which do not make up for underdeveloped protagonists and a complete lack of story development. (1 of 5) ( Mia Colangelo in Pipe Dreams)
There’s something undeniably Shakespearean about Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. Like Romeo, Heathcliff is “fortune’s fool,” undone by a love so infinite he’ll destroy everything and everyone just so he won’t be without it. But in some ways, this story is even more gut-wrenching. Romeo and Juliet’s romance was impulsive and short, kept apart by family drama; Catherine and Heathcliff torture themselves slowly through their pride and insistence on possessing one another completely. So yes, the film is provocative. It’s romantic. It’s erotic, and even gross at times. And in that way, it lives up to the hype because it’s so deliciously, unapologetically an Emerald Fennell film. And I loved every second of it. (Liana Minassian in The Everygirl)
Ultimately, Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of prioritizing aesthetic over substance. In its attempt to modernize the moors for a commercial audience, the adaptation loses the very soul of the novel, turning a classic into a cheesy romance. (Madelyn Stewart in The News Record)
To her credit, Fennell understands that it’s more fun to smash a dollhouse than to construct one meticulously. Her sledgehammer approach to party scenes in her previous films is rivaled by Wuthering Heights’s opening sequence of a public hanging. Though we are supposed to be in the late 18th century, the mood is more medieval. After a few moments of the hanged man’s dying gasps, a Charli xcx song floods the soundtrack (the truly terrifying track “House,” which she recorded with John Cale), and the crowd erupts in a carnal frenzy. People roar, some start fucking, a nun closes her eyes, and parents pull away their children. The scene does not exist in Brontë’s novel, but it’s somehow closest to the monstrous vitality of that world, a place where the dead refuse to die. Too bad that Fennell never gives her characters the chance to live. (Genevieve Yue in Film Comment) In lieu of Bronte’s original tale, Fennell offers an odd mix of campy Harlequin-esque romance and weird Gothic horror. Within this concoction, sumptuous sets, flashy costumes and wild weather turn out to be the real stars. (...) It all adds up to an overheated mess. Thus, in the end, this “ Wuthering Heights” might more aptly be titled “Withering Lows.” ( Joseph McAleer in Catholic Review)
Fennell wields overacting from the lead as a strategy for preserving a classical tone. However, the choice to cast modern A-listers in a period piece set to the music of a Gen Z chart-topper already forgoes the chances of being perceived as authentically vintage. Once the story reaches its climactic change of ownership of the Wuthering Heights estate, this ability-to-go-viral tone takes a turn for the better. This pick-up in momentum and quality improves the impact of Robbie’s acting because her whimsical runs across the moors come off more genuine than performative. At this moment, Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” redeems itself as an entertaining spectacle, no matter how far removed from its blueprint. Luckily, it does not always take itself seriously at times, like the ridiculously tall mountain of empty beer bottles that surround Cathy’s father, who turns to alcohol in his isolation. This admission of dramatization welcomes laughs and critiques all the same. Clearly, Fennell was not looking to be conventional. (Georgie Gassaron in The Ithacan)
Millennial Fennell may be tapping into a dark romance zeitgeist with “Wuthering Heights”, but she’s also going against the grain when it comes to younger viewers. Despite Gen Z’s pornography habits, headlines proclaim that Zoomers are uninterested in sex or even sex scenes in movies and television. The perception is so pervasive that actress Olivia Wilde is practically begging Gen Z to buy tickets to her new film I Want Your Sex. One of Wilde’s younger costars said she hopes the film inspires risk-averse Zoomers to have sex, adding, “Sex can be lighthearted. It doesn’t have to stare. (Evie Solheim in First Things)
In contrast, Wuthering Heights is a little late to the party. The mix of contemporary culture and period drama on which it relies has become an established trope, from the appearance of a Converse trainer in Sophia Copolla’s Marie Antoinette back in 2006 to orchestras playing Ariana Grande in the more recent Bridgerton (2020–). Perhaps in time, Fennell’s oeuvre will be appreciated for its encapsulation of our present, an era in which the distinction between a film and its promotion has all but evaporated, both transformed into tools for creating a blitz of images designed to dominate social media feeds. But for now, as pleasant as it is to see Margot Robbie in a bodice and a pair of red sunglasses à la late 90s Britney Spears, this is not, on its own, enough to own the moment – or to fill more than two hours of cinema. (Rosanna McLaughlin in ArtReview) Ultimately, this “Wuthering Heights” adaptation succeeds most when it’s viewed not as a translation of the novel but as a reimagined, loose version of it. It’s understandable why some viewers feel protective of the original source material. But treating adaptations as creative conversations rather than sacred reproductions opens the door for something more interesting — and sometimes more memorable. Fennell’s version may not replace the classic in anyone’s mind. But it does prove that even a story told countless times can still feel new when someone is willing to take risks with it. (Kamdyn Sargent in The Suffolk Journal)
They cry and mewl and pout at each other, break for a costume change, and then do it all again, striking postures of indignance and hurt as they growl about their feelings and heave their respective bosoms. They stand stoically by Cathy’s father’s grave, the wind tearing camply at her black veil, then, practically within sight of the funeral party, reunite with animal intensity. Occasionally in fits of love-stricken anger Robbie will beat her girly fists on Elordi’s manly chest. When all other ways of communicating their profound bond have been exhausted, they stick their fingers in each other’s mouths. (John Maier in UnHerd)
“I have not broken your heart,” sighs Heathcliff during one sweaty, tear-streaked moment of truth with Cathy. “You have broken it, and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” That’s a great line, and Fennell is smart enough to retain it and many others; brave, too, considering the inevitable and palpable clash between her dialogue and Brontë’s. The hearts most likely to be broken by Wuthering Heights are those set, however sincerely (or foolishly), on the prospect of a faithful cinematic translation of a classic. For viewers at the skeptical end of the spectrum about Fennell’s filmmaking to date, the dubious choices on display may play less like disappointment than a grueling but finally gratifying kind of validation: It’s “very enjoyable.” (Adam Nayman in The Ringer) Film as a medium requires compression and most subplots do not survive, but Brontë’s novel was never meant to be easily digested. When adaptations oversexualize characters, viewers are offered something more consumable. Was this a missed opportunity for Fennell to make a social commentary on race and class? Do modern adaptations assume viewers cannot comprehend depth? Or, do viewers prefer it that way? “Wuthering Heights,” the movie, is a hit. It is ambitious and emotionally resonant. But it still calls into question our modern appetite for complexity. Do audiences still crave the sharpness of a classic, or is the pretense of sophistication enough to sell? ( Aditi Allam in The Flat Hat)
I was astonished. I was mesmerized. I was in profound thought. The realization of how much human connection can mean hit me deeply during Wuthering Heights. The theme of a forever-relationship taking place in the late 1800s spoke to me, especially in an era in which there were no technological advancements. Instead, only-face-to-face interactions which resulted in immersive moments of love. Fennell brings audiences on a journey that is one-of-a-kind. Not everyone may understand it at first, but the dramatics are a wild adventure that is all about love and how much it can hurt. ( Tarek Fayoumi in Positively Naperville)
A sensual, stylised and satiric interpretation of Brontë's classic novel. (Jane Freebury in The Daily Advertiser)
Do I recommend this movie? Well, not to my mother. But if you’re anything like me and you enjoy stylized period adaptations that lean more into fantasy than accuracy, then go for it. (Steven Leatherwood in Indiana Daily Student)
It's dangerous to see the movie with your mother, as this fellow warns you.
The Mirror thinks that Emerald Fennell has romanticized Heathcliff too much, and the author has a point: This movie plays with the erotic - but never quite gets it right. The reason for this is Wuthering Heights is not a vehicle for sexual fantasies. Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has all the porno tropes: choking; quickies in the back of a car (or in this case, a carriage); dirty talk. There’s even a peeping tom scene as Cathy ventures into voyeurism as she watches through the floorboards as two servants do the deed. One says to the other: “Have you been a bad girl?” as his amour walks through horse bridles, before it is placed on her head. Yet there is one sexualisation of the text that sits very uncomfortably with me. Heathcliff in the original text murders dogs for the hell of it. He imprisons and rapes Isabella (played by Alison Oliver). He is a character of untold evil, brooding for literally years over his hatred at Cathy’s rejection of him. Yet, his treatment of Isabella is portrayed as a dominant/submissive relationship. He climbs in Isabella’s window and tells her exactly what he will do: he will not love her. He will hurt her. Throughout he asks: “Do you want me to stop?” Isabella nods her consent. This act of consent neuters the evil that Heathcliff is known for. Brontë’s text shows his acts as calculated, deliberate, and completely abhorrent. Yet, in Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”, this evil is boiled down to a kink. Young viewers, who may not have read the text, may understand Heathcliff as Fennell shows him to be: a romantic hero striving at all costs to be with his one true love. When they eventually pick up Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, will they read his sadism as acts of love to be tolerated? Incel culture and misogyny is on the rise. We could do without translating it into something to be doe-eyed about. (Aimée Walsh)
Wuthering Heights is at its heart a story of class and race. Emerald Fennell has got it all wrong. By turning the novel into just a corset-heaving love story, the director has stripped it of what made it so boundary-pushing. (...) It’s difficult, when watching Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”, not to imagine what Emily Brontë would have made of it. Before I get into it, I feel obliged to state that although I love the book I am not a purist. I often relish creative reinterpretations of classics. Admittedly, this one came with a fair few red flags, from the casting of Margot Robbie (simply too old, Cathy is a teenager) and Jacob Elordi (simply too white, Heathcliff, while his origins are uncertain, is described as darker skinned) to the unhinged marketing and crass brand tie-ins. Nevertheless, I was still excited to see it. So why did I leave the cinema not only bored, but feeling a little bit sad? Fennell said she wanted to make the film she imagined at 14, the age at which many of us read the novel in English class. Fennell focuses almost entirely on the “love story” at the expense of almost all of the novel’s other themes. Of course, if you’re a teenager in love, the doomed connection between Cathy and Heathcliff does captivate, although as an abuser who hangs a dog, Heathcliff is not exactly fanciable. I do understand the impulse behind Fennell’s fan-fictiony desire to have them consummate their love, when Brontë, who probably never touched a man her entire life, left all that desire unrealised. Horniness at the expense of all else, however, can feel terribly hollow. (...) Ultimately, the film was an act of cynical co-option by someone who didn’t understand the molten core of this novel and its groundbreaking approach to class, race and gender, or chose not to. And that’s why it made me feel so bored, and sad.
Which, of course, is true. The novel is all about that. But not only that. There are many Wuthering Heights in Wuthering Heights and what happens is that yours is not Emerald Fennell's. Angelika May wonders in The Guardian why film directors are afraid of casting Yorkshire actors as Cathy Earnshaw. She stops short of calling it cultural appropriation. Amber Barry, a PhD researcher in Victorian literature at King’s College London, says: “The Yorkshire moors illuminate Cathy and Heathcliff’s story particularly within the context of working-class demonstrations at the time. Can we call this Wuthering Heights if such a crucial setting is reduced to a flat, vaguely gothic backdrop?” As a Bradford-born actor, I have experienced barriers in the arts first-hand, and I believe casting choices such as Fennell’s preserve a system that undervalues northern women. Of course, acting is a transformational craft – performers are expected to inhabit lives far removed from their own, myself included. But the issue is not that actors shouldn’t extend beyond their lived experience. The question is far broader: when a major production depicts a didactic novel steeped in landscape, dialect and cultural identity, why should those from that region be denied such life-changing opportunities? It’s not about choosing between A-listers and regionally authentic actors, it’s about asking why so few actors from Bradford have ever reached the visibility necessary to be considered at all.
Motion Pictures interviews Suzie Davis, production designer for Wuthering Heights 2026: With this hyper-stylized and hyper-sexualized interpretation of the literary classic, Fennell has said that she “wanted to make something that was the book that I experienced when I was 14.” Davies was intrigued as soon as she read the script. “When I read her stage directions, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe she wants to do this! How am I going to do it?’” Davies’ second project with Fennell, after Saltburn, has been “one of the most exciting experiences as a production designer. There were so many unusual yet wondrous ideas on every page, from the dollhouse to the skin room [Catherine’s bedroom]. I felt immensely privileged that we were going to try to create that subconscious vision that everyone has when they read a book or listen to a story. Everyone has their own visuals in their mind, but very rarely do you get the opportunity to bring that to life.” (...) That top shot when Heathcliff goes to see Catherine after she dies is beautifully shot, as he lumbers up that rectangular staircase to her bedroom. What does that symbolize? We nearly didn’t do those stairs. I could’ve gone with a Regency or Georgian-shaped staircase; a spiral might’ve been the obvious choice. But in this case, necessity being the mother of invention, I had one space where I could build that staircase, and I wanted to fill it as much as possible. The rectangular staircase is really unusual and makes you feel uneasy. It’s a white marble staircase with red fur hanging from the bottom to give it different textures. He slowly goes up those stairs to find Cathy dead — the power of that scene. As [Cinematographer] Linus [Sandgren] and Emerald held that shot, you hold your breath until you can’t hold it anymore. As he walks into the light at the end of the bedroom, up those stairs, that’s such a powerful moment. (Su Fang Tham)
Glamour thinks that period dramas don't need period costumes – and “Wuthering Heights” is the proof. Them explores the queerness in Nelly's character: Nelly is not a canonically queer character, and though she used queer content for shock value in Saltburn, Fennell shies away from most queer subtext in Wuthering Heights, with exceptions like a sapphic crush disappointingly framed as a jokey signifier of mental instability. But while not explicitly queer, Nelly is in a marginalized position as a servant and an unmarried woman. (In the novel, she’s sometimes called “Mrs. Dean,” but this appears to be simply an honorific; no husband is ever seen.) Though she’s surrounded by people desperately trying to negotiate marriages like business transactions, Nelly doesn't have the option to marry up, and her class status informs her view of the people and dynamics around her. (Megan Burbank) Infobae (Argentina) thinks that the film is an (intolerable) fiftyshadesofgreyfication of Wuthering Heights. Also on Infobae, Wuthering Heights (the novel) is among Amazon Mexico's best-sellers. Den of Geek asks a fair question: "Why does book fidelity seem to matter only when applied to Emerald Fennell?" Now, some Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights reviews: The soundtrack is an exercise in experimentation for the artist, to which she is lyrically attached above all. For long-time fans of the British artist, Wuthering Heights is a great body of work that sees her return to her earliest sound but incorporating everything she’s learned over the years and her expansive, ever-changing career. Charli reminds us again that she’s an incredible lyricist and producer, that she knows what she wants to sound and look like, and the worlds she’d like to inhabit and explore through music and art. (Toni Casal in Metal)
Overall, “Wuthering Heights” is a bold and compelling addition to xcx’s discography, highlighting her growth as an artist. From haunting lyrics to high-energy instrumentals, xcx demonstrates her versatility, blending her signature pop sound with a darker, more cinematic edge. The album makes the perfect soundtrack for the film, immersing listeners in the passion, obsession and heartbreak of the story. (Lexi Bunting in Indiana Daily Student)
But at least since Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, the prospect of musically reimagining the story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff – if you want to reduce it to that – must have been all too daunting. Not for Charli XCX, who, after reading Emerald Fennell’s screenplay and being asked to contribute an original song for her inevitably steamy adaptation, decided to do a full album – not a soundtrack, certainly not a score dotted with a couple of pop songs, but a conceptual record attempting to match the infernal yearning Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi arguably bring to the screen. It does – makes it more convincing, even – but the album is so front-loaded it eventually stops sounding like a passion project, which is worse than having it tumble into madness. (Konstantinos Pappis in Our Culture)
Wuthering Heights was directly inspired by the film of the same name, and I applaud Charli XCX for taking a leap of faith here by stretching her creative muscles into uncharted waters for her. I really enjoyed the majority of this album, but the last few songs were a bit too “samey” to fully realize her vision for this record. The best news from this record is that Charli XCX has rekindled her creativity and seems poised for another big breakout when she drops her next LP. (Adam Grundy in Chrous.fm)
The album that could’ve been is spelled out there: one that, like the most feverish and unrelenting of love, tortures and tears you open in delight, challenges you and takes you out of yourself, leaving you open, lacerated, raw, and dripping like a wound. Yet so many of Wuthering Heights’s songs feel too easy, especially for Charli XCX of all people. Love is a dangerous game, after all, but here you can’t help feeling Charli is playing it safe. (Lydia Wei in Paste) Infobae recommends The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
A few more reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026:
The Age thinks ' Wuthering Heights is many things, but it’s not the novel Emily Brontë wrote". If you want a flashy romance with all the stops out, go and see the film. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi certainly make a sizzling pair. But if you want a darker, more complex story that echoes down the generations, read the book. And by the way, it has a happy ending. (Jane Sullivan) The ending of Wuthering Heights is very sad and I cried a few actual tears, which would have been embarrassing but all of the other ladies in the theater also appeared to be crying. By the time the credits rolled to Charli XCX’s “Always Everywhere,” I needed a few minutes to get myself together before stumbling out into the lobby. True love, sex and death; I had gone through a lot. And you know what? I could probably go again. (Rachel Saslow)
To a book lover, this adaptation may seem superficial as compared to the intricate details of the novel. However, there’s only so much two hours of screen time can include. The film capitalizes on the passion and yearning in Catherine and Heathcliff’s tale and makes full use of its duration in the best way. Through her film, Fennel emphasizes the importance of emotion and message over precise accuracy. She prioritizes making the audience feel something. And it works. By foregrounding longing, chemistry, and passion, she reframes the story less as a bleak tragedy and more as an intense romance. Only a robot could watch this film and remain unaffected. Its romance is undeniable, making it a fitting Valentine’s Day watch—if you don’t mind a touch of tragedy. (Susannah Hughes) The Daily Iowan considers it 'not only an insult to the source, but to viewers’ intelligence'. I have seen my fair share of women online exclaiming how much they actually enjoyed the movie, mostly coming down to how the characters “yearn” for each other. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, of course. But please, I am begging you, if you’d like to watch a movie about yearning, spend your money to watch “Dracula” in theaters instead. The crumbs of these terrible people obsessing over each other are not enough to justify giving Fennel and her ego more money. (Madisyn Hunt)
The film is definitely entertaining, and I was never bored during my viewing. But I could not overcome my grievances with Fennell’s narrative and casting choices. Her version tries to turn a gothic horror into a contemporary love story with a Charli xcx soundtrack, which ultimately translates as hollow and devoid of substance on the screen. (P.B. Jernigan) The costumes were also on point, with standouts being the ones Catherine wore, specifically the red gowns that were beautiful and her bulky jewelry that some would die to wear. Charli XCX’s ambient music and flowing melodies highlighted the scenes they were set in, and made each interaction feel genuine – something that was hard for the two leading actors. It was a pleasurable surprise to hear when viewing. Although these standouts are present, it was hard to ignore the overt sexuality throughout. We get it. This is supposed to be “primal,” “sexual,” “cynical,” even. Do we really need to see Elordi’s tongue licking what’s supposed to be a wall of Catherine’s skin? Robbie was all right, but didn't really have the appeal of Catherine, and Elordi's performance was reminiscent of his Euphoria days playing the toxic teenage boyfriend, Nate Jacobs. All in all, ok, but missing the passionate mark of the book. (Lily Cole)
I walked into the theater this past weekend, cautiously optimistic but left confused and hollow. The movie’s only highlight was the cinematography. There were gorgeous shots of Catherine Earnshaw's (Margot Robbie) and Edgar Linton's (Shazad Latif) home and the northern England countryside. Emerald Fennell, the film's director, can have her tens for that — and that’s it. (Dayna Wilkerson)
The result is chaotic, confusing, and more absurd than erotic. Each of these scenes are performative, edgy moments that ultimately distract from any real storytelling or sensual tension. It’s all supposedly designed to make you gasp, and yet it’s unbearably boring. There’s greater titillation watching Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth brush hands in Pride and Prejudice. (Kirsten Saylor) Behind a paywall, The Canberra Times describes it as 'A sensual, stylised and satiric interpretation of Brontë's classic novel'. TodoLiteratura (in Spanish) has a lukewarm review.
A contributor to Mamamia says that, 'As a woman of colour, watching the new Wuthering Heights movie is a complicated experience'. GQ thinks that 'Horny Isabella Linton is the Best Part of Wuthering Heights'.
Screen Rant has the ' Wuthering Heights Family Tree Explained: How All The Characters Are Related'. 'Six Ways Emerald Fennell’s Film Differs From Brontë’s Wuthering Heights' on Grazia. Esquire has an article 'Explaining (and Debating) The Wild, Bloody Ending of “ Wuthering Heights”'. Secom has an article on the differences between Wuthering Heights 2026 and the actual novel. Elle has two editors discuss the changes.
Erica Gonzales, deputy digital editor: What did you think of Wuthering Heights, as someone who hasn’t read the book? Lauren Puckett-Pope, senior culture editor: I found it an easy, pleasurable viewing experience—no pun intended—but I did not find it a particularly enriching one. And I think that’s fascinating, given that Wuthering Heights, the novel, is the subject of such intense and lasting study. There’s a reason the book has the reputation it does both in and outside literary circles. So, even as someone who hasn’t read the whole thing—I’ve started Wuthering Heights many times, and I’ve just never made the commitment all the way to the end, forgive me—I came away from this adaptation thinking, There’s no way this is even close to what the book was going for. But Emerald Fennell, to her credit, has made it clear she’s not trying to directly translate the book to the screen. What did you think? You’ve read the book and love it. EG: This is one book I love and have reread many times. I tried going into the film not being too attached and being open-minded. I have nothing against anachronistic visuals or fashion; I loved Marie Antoinette, and I also saw parallels here to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. And even though I appreciated those anachronisms in this film, I was kind of waiting to be grabbed by them.
The Guardian recommends the first ever episode of Dominic Sandbrook's new podcast, The Book Club: The Book Club The latest release from Goalhanger hears historian Dominic Sandbrook in English teacher mode, as he dissects classic novels with producer Tabitha Syrett. Luckily, it doesn’t feel like homework: their first episode, on Wuthering Heights, revels in Emily Brontë’s dark themes, confusingly-named protagonists, and the author herself – from her tragically tiny coffin to the graveyard water that may have led to her premature death. (Hannah J Davies)
ArtReview discusses ' Wuthering Heights and the Aesthetics of Surface'. LBB has an article on 'New Romantics: The ‘ Wuthering Heights’ Effect'. The Oxford Student discusses 'where consumerism overpowers Yorkshire winds'.
Treble reviews Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights album. Does it achieve the same heights (ha!) as its predecessor? Not quite; it is too intimate, perhaps, lacking in the anthemic heft that made “brat summer” inevitable. Is it a shockingly potent vision of what her artistic growth might yet be? Absolutely. (Langdon Hickman) “Wuthering Heights” may not always dazzle lyrically, but, as a mood piece connecting her old sound to something more haunted, it’s a striking triumph. More than a follow-up to “BRAT,” the album signifies a repositioning. It offers evidence that Charli xcx can weaponize both vulnerability and bravado and that sometimes the scariest place is not underground but the very house once believed to be escaped. (Presley Liu) A 17th-century manor in Yorkshire that boasts links to the Brontë sisters has been put up for sale. Hidden behind a 3m-tall stone wall, the grade I listed West Riddlesden Hall near Keighley is on the market for £1.15 million. The manor was home to a family who employed Charlotte Brontë as governess to their children in 1839, although she spent more time at another property they owned a few miles away. John Pennington, who has owned the house since 2001, said he was looking to downsize from the six-bedroom, 2.3-acre property. His timing could be fortuitous, considering the resurgence of interest in the Brontë sisters following the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. West Riddlesden Hall was completed in 1687 for Thomas Leach, a local businessman, although some sections are believed to date to the early 15th century. John Sidgwick, who later owned the home and employed Brontë, is widely believed to have been her inspiration for the Byronic hero of Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester. [...] Jane Eyre was published in 1847 and was Brontë’s first major literary success after several ventures into poetry. During her short employment with the Sidgwicks, Brontë found she disliked childminding, often lamenting the behaviour of the “riotous, perverse, unmanageable cubs”. The author’s strained relationship with John Sidgwick’s wife Sarah can perhaps also be detected in the novel. In a letter written while she was still the family’s governess, Brontë described Sarah as devoid of “every fine feeling of every gentle and delicate sentiment”. In Jane Eyre, Rochester’s wife, Bertha Mason, dies by suicide after committing arson. West Riddlesden Hall’s sister property, East Riddlesden Hall, which was donated to the National Trust in 1934, also boasts a Brontë connection. Its dark stone walls and rose windows made up one of the primary sets for the television series of Wuthering Heights (2009), starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff and Charlotte Riley as Catherine Earnshaw, as well as a range of other screen adaptations of the Emily Brontë book. The National Trust is currently hosting an exhibition, Lights, Camera, Brontë, about the manor’s prominence in film and television interpretations of the novel since the 1920s. (Fintan Hogan)
The Indian Express has an account of a recent trip to the moors by an Oxford scholar. El País (Spain) recommends a trip to Yorkshire. Infobae (in Spanish) features Anne Brontë.
A couple of Brontë Parsonage alerts for today and tomorrow, February 17 and 18:
Tues 17 Feb, 10am - 4pm Servant's Room, Brontë Parsonage Museum
Join storyteller Sophia Hatfield for entertaining stories and songs inspired by the ordinary folk who lived, worked and walked amidst the Brontë landscape. Featuring famous Yorkshire folk tales inspired by the servants who lived and worked at the Brontë Parsonage, choose an object to uncover a short story, featuring original live music, a curious collection of Victorian props and a whole host of charming characters. Whatever your age, expect to be transported to a world of fairies, boggarts, magic and mayhem!
Wild Wednesday: Haunt me! craft workshop
Wed 18 Feb, 10am - 3pm Brontë Event Space in the Old School Room
To mark the release of the new cinema adaptation of Wuthering Heights, join artist Julia Ogden in creating some mini film posters in celebration. Be as wild as you like! Everyone welcome. Suitable for ages 7+, with some simpler activities for younger children.
More reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026
The feeling that lingers long after is one of near hypnotism. The slow burn of Wuthering Heights not only reflects the pace of life of 18th-century England more realistically, but it also allows the pain and emotional weight of Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship to fester and build over time.So despite ongoing debates about whether Fennell dilutes or distorts Brontë’s legacy, the film feels less like a rework, and more like excavation of the discomforting elements that underscore one of society’s most beloved romances. Strip away the spectacle, the couture, the discourse, and what remains is clear: a love story not of destiny, but of pure destruction. Whatever our souls are made of, Fennell demands it be known. (Danisha Liang in Vogue Singapur) The maximalist adaptation of the gothic romance shows great interest in production design but very little in character. For all its aesthetic excess – and though I may not agree with Fennell’s vision, I will defend its intemperance – there’s a strange small-mindedness to this adaptation, a failure of romantic imagination. I am as susceptible as anyone to overwhelming loudness, for being so smacked in the face with sublime audiovisual stimulation that it turns my brain off. (Coincidentally, the best music by Charli xcx, who composed the film’s soaring, synth-y soundtrack, does this in spades, and I include the movie opener House in that.) But the problem with hinging a film on self-destructive eroticism is that it requires a self to destruct – the messy, confusing, contradictory substance of desire. Otherwise, it’s just dress-up. (Adrian Horton in The Guardian)
Where consumerism overpowers Yorkshire winds. (...) Either way, my impression was that Margot Robbie’s corsets were not tight enough to convey the Gothic suffocation of Brontë’s novel. More crucially, I fear the Yorkshire winds stand no chance against the sweeping forces of consumerist intrigue. (Ivett Berényi in The Oxford Student)
Dark comedy and sexual symbolism abound in a fiercely feminine film with a pop video aesthetic. It’s knowingly silly at times, but it also delivers an intense reminder of the first flushes of love, a vivid sense of loss and longing, and a career-best performance from Martin Clunes, who plays Cathy’s father. Outrageous, naughty fun. ( Anna Smith in Saga)
Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ adaptation strips the novel of its racial, regional, and class dynamics, producing an empty spectacle emblematic of the erasure of working-class voices from the arts. (...) Worse still is Wuthering Heights’ empty Northern soul. The Moors scenes, filmed on the Dales, feel too tame and bright. The townsfolk only feature briefly; when they do, they are ‘sexual deviants’ who get off at the sight of a hanging man’s post-mortem erection. While Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are immaculately designed, the surrounding land and town feel so generic that Fennell’s film might as well be set anywhere in Victorian Britain. ( Katie Tobin in Tribune Magazine)
Wasted potential and poor creative choice holds Fennell's 'Wuthering Heights' back from glory. (...) Overall, while I had fun – and the core performances are well acted – there isn’t enough in this film for me to cling to. The film can linger in scenes and subplots that feel inconsequential to the meatier themes that could be explored so well in a modern light, and that with the aforementioned blabbering above in the end just made it hard for me to connect with the film. I found it hard to connect to the emotions of regret, loss of time, lack of action that it is trying to explore, let alone the commentary on the class system and the boundaries of the time. (Luis Daly in Stratford Observer)
While "'Wuthering Heights'" is a beautiful movie, it falls short in reaching its audience in the same way the novel does because it sacrifices the core of the plot to tell a story that borrows the characters of the novel but cannot portray them sincerely. (Demiana Ghobrial in Daily Titan) If I was to describe Wuthering Heights in a succinct way I’d say two-dimensional. The world was bright and sprawling, and used its budget to the fullest. But did the film truly make me feel anything? Not really. It was a story that I could fortunately look at, but sadly couldn’t touch. It was fine overall and completely beautiful, but I daren’t say I’d ever think of these characters over their counterparts from 1847. (Kaya Şentürk in Harrogate Advertiser)
Although I found myself occasionally wondering if more would happen regarding the story, I absolutely want to rewatch this film for the visuals alone. Beautiful and unforgettable. I was particularly a fan of Alison Oliver as the eclectic, slightly psychotic, absolutely deranged Isabella Linton. She was so sweet and scary. I just don’t believe Emily Brontë was as horny as Emerald Fennell was when making this movie. I don’t know if that opinion will make you want to see the film more or less. But I think it’s worth a watch either way. (Nattia Jones in MkauGaming)
The film doesn’t capture the same emotional layers and social commentary of the novel, and can feel a bit “surface.” However, it’s also worth cutting through all of the debates, controversy and complaints of deviations from Brontë’s work and giving it a watch to form your own opinion. The lavish visuals, the romantic plot (which can be genuinely moving toward the end), the sex sex sex- for an escapist romp in the doldrums of February, it’s not a bad shout. (Rufus Punt in The Handbook)
“Wuthering Heights” is a movie about two people who deserve each other. At first, this can be said with positive connotations that slowly turn to negative. Because there are so many erotic scenes with the main characters in fancy costumes, this movie is supposedly “romantic.” I’m worried about what young romantics will take away from this movie, considering how many of them came out of last year’s “Nosferatu” with a crush on Count Orlok. I walked away from this film wanting both main characters to fall from a height – Wuthering or otherwise. (Bob Garver in Kiowa County Press)
Just as online pornography has molded a generation of young men’s sexual preferences, Ms. Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is the logical conclusion of a female heterosexuality based not in real-life men, but fictional ones. When increasing shares of young people are completely sexless, it’s hardly surprising that young women are drawn to these books. What, after all, is the point of a sexually explicit, BDSM-inflected “Wuthering Heights” but to turn a classic novel into yet another work of spicy fan fiction? Ms. Fennell’s film is successful enough when judged as an adaptation of an erotic bodice-ripper, but it has none of the charm—and power—of Brontë’s original. (Emma Camp in Wall Street Journal) Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is haunted by nothing. ‘Wuthering Heights’ lays traps for the audience, inviting them to search for meanings that are not there. (Charlie Lewis in Crikey)
"Every generation gets the Wuthering Heights it deserves. And Emerald Fennell’s is for the always-online" says Nadia Khomami in The Guardian: Still, when I saw it on Friday night, the cinema was packed. There were squeals, gasps and, yes, tears. It was an entertaining fever dream, with beautiful cinematography and a final sequence that leaves you devastated. When fewer people are going to film theatres, it should be welcome that “Wuthering Heights” has recouped its $80m production budget on its opening weekend. Event cinema sells tickets.
Luckily, Brontë fans who can’t abide this film have countless alternatives that cleave more faithfully to the novel’s spirit, including the 1939 version with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, 1992’s take with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes and Andrea Arnold’s 2011 film. They should also be reassured that the controversy around the film has driven renewed interest in the book itself, with UK sales up 469% over the past year. That is one good thing Fennell lovers and haters can agree on. Adam White in The Independent has real problems making up his mind about the film, or Emerald Fennell, or anything, really: ‘Wuthering Heights’, then, is Emerald Fennell unleashed, a marvellously asinine exercise in style and panache, both as sumptuous and breathtaking as it is completely terrible. It’s like a birthday cake that tastes like garbage. A 20-room mansion made of sticks. I absolutely adored it, then actively despised it. Then back again. Job done, really. Long may her reign of terror continue. Vulture has a very comprehensive (and almost complete) take on 32 Wuthering Heights film versions. From the worst one ( Wuthering High 2015) to the best one Arashi go Oka 1988) passing through some very obscure and exotic versions. Impressive: Is there another novel that crosses borders and eras as smoothly as Wuthering Heights does? The recent release of Emerald Fennell’s version of Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic has prompted a new wave of debates over literary fidelity, but the truth is that Wuthering Heights works no matter the context or the culture. It is the ultimate melodrama, and despite its English origins the enthusiasm with which it has been adapted into other nations’ cinemas is proof of the visceral power of its story and themes. When the new film was first announced, I had the idea of trying to track down all its many film and TV versions — loose, faithful, or otherwise. This… turned out to be a bigger project than initially envisioned. The story has been adapted all over the world, sometimes in modern settings, often in its original setting, and occasionally in a different period entirely. (Medieval Japan? 1930s France? I’m still waiting for the sci-fi version.) I did have to limit my search to feature-length films and mini-series, because I’m not sure how I’d even track down (let alone have time to watch) a 48-episode Venezuelan telenovela from 1976 or the various Mexican telenovelas over the years, the first of which aired in 1964. Then there are the adaptations that have been lost to time. A 1920 silent feature film no longer exists. At least two early BBC versions were never preserved. But for now, here are all the film and TV adaptations of Wuthering Heights that I could get my hands on. Ranked. Screendaily publishes the box office results of UK and Ireland: Emerald Fennell’s Emily Brontë adaptation Wuthering Heights took flight at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend with a £7.6m start. The Warner Bros title took an excellent £10,030 location average, even given its 761-site release – the second-widest ever for a non-event release in the territory. (Ben Dalton)
Now, some reviews of Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights: In the case of Wuthering Heights, the album sometimes feels as if Charli committed fully to her concept, but didn’t allow herself to branch out even further, reach higher, express – or even abandon – more. It is a symphony, but not quite an opus. Yet as it stands, this might actually be her most successful album: re-imagining herself as bravely as she has many times, but shedding the fur coat. And in that, this is likely a more valid, lasting and, surprisingly, necessary adaptation than Fennell could have managed. Happy, belated, Valentine’s Day! (John Wohlmacher in Beats per Minute)
But Wuthering Heights (the album, pointedly un-quoted, as if it’s trying to outgrow its source material) refuses total self-seriousness. Instead, it’s a feverishly romantic valentine to the film, corseted in orchestral swells yet still beating with Charli’s signature chrome-plated pop. There are violins, yes—sawing away like they’re auditioning for a BBC period drama—but even at her most windswept, the synths land with a nightclub exactitude similar to 2024’s BRAT. The moors, it turns out, have a subwoofer. (Cam Delisle in ReadRange)
At some point after Fennell asked Charli to contribute music to Wuthering Heights, Charli raised that request and inquired about making a full-length concept album. From a creator’s standpoint, it’s a brilliant way to follow up Brat. Its ambiguous association with the film invokes inherently lower stakes, but defining it as a “concept album” still grants Charli a considerable amount of creative freedom that a proper soundtrack album might restrict. Most of what we hear in the film Wuthering Heights, for instance, isn’t Charli’s songs but Anthony Willis’ string-laden score. (Abby Jones in Stereogum)
Wuthering Heights unfolds as a shape-shifting fever dream, reveling in its strange, abrasive textures while never letting go of sharp hooks or plainspoken immediacy. Charli feels far more attuned to the dark, knotted intensity of Brontë’s original vision than its film counterpart; the emotions here aren’t framed with irony or held at arm’s length. They arrive raw and unguarded. The result is a stormy, gothic triumph. (Caroline Kelly in Extra)
The Guardian explores Olivia Chaney's song Dark Eyed Saylor and the movie: For years, Chaney’s version of Dark Eyed Sailor only existed in live YouTube clips, but she finally released a recorded version last Friday, produced by Oli Deakin (mastermind of CMAT’s albums If My Wife New I’d Be Dead and Euro-Country). She’d recorded “many” versions of it before – three were even mastered for albums, but “never quite fit”. She finally heard it fit at the Wuthering Heights premiere in Leicester Square on 5 February. What was the evening like? “Drinking champagne behind Richard E Grant?” She laughs. “Insane. I gripped my husband’s hand so tight when the song came in – hearing my voice all alone – that it reminded me of giving birth, gripping my doula’s hand so hard I nearly broke her knuckles!” The song appears again when Heathcliff returns to Cathy, now rich and grown up, and in the film’s final, longing minutes. It’s always been Chaney’s husband’s favourite recording, she adds. “It’s a song I love very much. It comes back and haunts you.” (Jude Rogers)
And more music inspired by Wuthering Heights. Far Out Magazine rescues a 1983 song by Stevie Nicks, Wild Heart which was inspired by Wuthering Heights 1939 film. More Recent Articles
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