This contributor to Slash Film begs moviegoers to wait until after they have seen Wuthering Heights to share their opinion. People are, as the disgraced Drake once said, in their feelings about Emerald Fennell's upcoming adaptation of "Wuthering Heights." To be fair, I understand why. Fennell, who could most politely be described as a "divisive" director, is an interesting choice to helm a take on Emily Brontë's only novel. As Tina Fey famously and correctly stated on the "Las Culturistas" podcast about the Oscar winner's body of work and overall vibe, "What are you going to do when Emerald Fennell calls you about her next project, where you play Carey Mulligan's co-worker in the bridal section of Harrods and then Act 3 takes a sexually violent turn and you have to pretend to be surprised by that turn?" Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are set to play windswept and doomed lovers Catherine and Heathcliff, despite Robbie being nearly a full decade older than Elordi (and Heathcliff not being white), and in general, fans of Brontë are speaking out. In the YouTube comments underneath the movie's trailer, @Raul-j6t took umbrage with the film's tagline, writing, "'The greatest love story of all time' I don't think we've read the same book." Someone else, user @me-sunnyg, quipped, "If you listen really closely, at the end you can hear Emily [Brontë] screaming from beyond the grave." These are, frankly, funny takes on Fennell's upcoming movie, and I understand; anyone who's really attached to the novel is going to have issues with a clearly anachronistic and offbeat adaptation. (The original Charli XCX soundtrack definitely isn't helping either.) Personally, I think people are right to be concerned about this movie, but I also think there's something else at play here ... which is that people are getting into the habit of passing judgment on movies way before they even release. If you're not a big Emily Brontë-head and haven't revisited "Wuthering Heights" since you read it in 11th-grade AP English, let me refresh your memory. The novel, which Brontë published under a male pen name (Ellis Bell, to be specific), is widely considered to be one of the best literary works in the English canon, and it's also unrelentingly dark. (Check trigger warnings before you read it, is all I'll say to that effect.) Through the eyes of a housekeeper named Ellen "Nelly" Dean, who will be played by Oscar nominee Hong Chau in Emerald Fennell's movie, we learn about Margot Robbie's wealthy and highborn Catherine Earnshaw and her torrid and troubled love affair with Jacob Elordi's famously brooding Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by Catherine's father. Though Catherine's father loves Heathcliff and treats him like family, after his death, Catherine's cruel brother essentially discards the young man and is even violent with him, leading Catherine to take care of Heathcliff by showing him affection. "Wuthering Heights" takes place across many years and is a difficult, fraught, and even disturbing book about domestic abuse, generational trauma, the impossible Victorian class system, and a whole host of other issues that were distinctly of their time but are still relevant today. My point here is that Fennell is a truly crazy choice to direct "Wuthering Heights" based on her first two movies, "Promising Young Woman" and "Saltburn," the former of which I'd argue works much better than the latter — but she's still a super-heightened, stylistically strange, and often unfocused director for such a harrowing tale. Still, I also think we need to reserve judgment, because the movie isn't out yet, and that issue is becoming its own problem. Anecdotally, I saw social media chatter about stills released from Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of "The Odyssey," and amidst that chatter, I saw people saying the stills — which, it should go without saying, were quite likely staged and taken for press purposes and are not stills from the actual finished film as far as anybody knows — looked like "cheap" takes on prestige television and thus, the whole movie looks bad. This, frankly, is so ludicrous. "Wuthering Heights" could absolutely be a disaster and feature that "sexually violent turn" that makes the entire movie sort of absurd, especially because the back half of this story has a bunch of ghosts in it. (Fennell could always do what the "MacGruber" movie did if she really wants to make headlines, but I digress.) Still, I am begging moviegoers to stop making assumptions about films that nobody has seen yet and then proclaiming those assumptions like self-appointed town criers. We really need to let the films speak for themselves, and on February 13, 2026, in the United States — just in time for Valentine's Day — Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" will get the chance to stand on its own two feet and earn scorn, acclaim, or some perverse mixture of the two. For now, let's give the movie a chance to prove itself ... and if it's a dud, I'll meet you right back here to dunk on it next year. (Nina Starner)
The Brussels Brontë Blog posts about a carefully-planned trip to Brussels following on the footsteps of Charlotte and Emily. A new amateur production of Jane Eyre opens today, November 20, in Jamestown, ND:
Jamestown High School presents Adapted by Thomas Hischak November 20 & 21 at 7 p.m. JHS Theater, 1509 10th St NE, Jamestown, ND 58401, USA
Drama Director Tony McIntyre said Charlotte Brontë's classic comes to the stage with Thomas Hischak's adaptation of the 1847 novel. The story follows a young girl who has lost her family as she grows and becomes a governess employed by the mysterious Mr. Rochester. After saving Rochester from an attempt on his life by a shadowy figure, Jane finds herself on a journey to become a "free and self-reliant" person. Brontë's novel has stood the test of time with its mystery, romance and reflection on the human experience, McIntyre said. "When I was looking for a show for this fall, I was hoping to find something that really fit our cast and crew and allowed us to try a new style," McIntyre said. "It also is a way for our students to interact with classic literature and bring some to the community. It's also exciting to see the students show off their skills in acting, design, construction and all of the elements that go into making a great night of theater for Jamestown." The adaptation attempts to pack in the entire book into around two and a half hours, McIntyre said. Hischak uses three Janes to tell the story: a young Jane, an adult Jane and an older Jane who narrates the tale. "It's a lot of story to fit in, but Hischak's version is able to capture a lot of why people are still interested in Brontë's tale," McIntyre said.
SlashFilm predicts that Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights 'Could Be The First Big Box Office Hit Of 2026'. After just a handful of days, the YouTube version of the trailer has amassed more than 21 million views. While trailers go out all over the internet these days, based on that number alone, it's in good company, and interest is very high. Given that WB spent in the $80 million range to make this movie happen, that's good news. [...] For the sake of comparison, A24's "Materialists," another romantic drama, had its main trailer rack up 23 million lifetime trailer views on YouTube. It went on to make $105 million worldwide. Mind you, "Wuthering Heights" only released its new trailer several days ago. The main trailer for Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" similarly racked up 31 million lifetime views on YouTube, with "Sinners" itself ultimately becoming a smash hit, pulling in $368 million worldwide. The trailer for Fennell's latest could easily touch an identical number. Another film to look at might be "The Conjuring: Last Rites," with its main trailer earning 25 million lifetime views on YouTube. It's one of 2025's biggest hits with $494 million worldwide. [...] Warner Bros. and Fennell have declined to release much of a synopsis for their movie, but it is said to be "loosely based" on the novel. YouTube trailer views alone aren't an indicator of what a movie will eventually do at the box office, but it's sure as heck an indicator of interest. To that end, the teaser for "Wuthering Heights" racked up 11 million views. What we're seeing, in this case, is a rapidly increasing level of interest from prospective ticket buyers. It certainly doesn't hurt that this is a romantic, seemingly very horny movie that is coming out over Valentine's Day weekend. (Ryan Scott)
Hunger claims that, 'Literary adaptations are getting lusty again — Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is making sure of it'. Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is quickly shaping up to be one of 2026’s most exciting, ambitious and creatively unapologetic literary adaptations. It’s a version of Emily Brontë’s novel that leans into everything that has made it unforgettable for nearly two centuries: the passion, the danger, the destructive love and the primal pull of its central relationship. With Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi leading the cast as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and Charli xcx composing an original album inspired by the story, the film is designed not simply to revisit Brontë’s work, but to electrify it for a new generation. Earlier this autumn, Fennell spoke about the project publicly for the first time in Brontë’s hometown of Haworth. “I wanted to make something that made me feel like I felt when I first read it,” she told the BBC, recalling her teenage reaction to the book. “It’s an emotional response to something. It’s, like, primal. Sexual.” For Fennell, whose previous films Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023) showcase a bold, psychologically-charged filmmaking style, Wuthering Heights represents both a long-held dream and a profound creative risk. The director has described the 1847 novel as “so sexy”, “so horrible” and “so devastating”, and has cited it as the film she’s wanted to make the “most desperately” for years. Now, after the success of Saltburn, Fennell has finally had the freedom to choose it as her next project. “I’ve been obsessed. I’ve been driven mad by this book,” she has admitted. That intensity shapes every artistic decision. Though retaining much of Brontë’s original dialogue in the adaptation, Fennell has been open about her decision to take liberties casting-wise — Robbie and Elordi are older than Brontë’s teenage characters. Fennell, however, saw something uncanny in both leads. Elordi, fresh off a career-defining run that began with the director’s own Saltburn and, most recently, included Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, struck Fennell immediately. On the set of Saltburn, she’s alleged to have said the actor looked “exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that I read”. Robbie’s Catherine, meanwhile, channels an almost mythic charisma. “She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met,” Fennell has said. Her performance promises to capture Catherine’s contradictions with force and sophistication. Supporting the film’s emotional landscape is Charli xcx, whose forthcoming album Wuthering Heights (out on 13 February 13 2026) serves as a companion piece. xcx has already released two singles , ‘House’ featuring John Cale, and a few days later, ‘Chains of Love’. Her involvement signals the project’s contemporary sensibility — a willingness to bridge Brontë’s nineteenth-century ferocity with the urgent, emotionally-charged world of modern pop. But rather than updating the story, the music amplifies it, reinforcing the passion, fire and pulse Fennell sees in the original text. Ultimately, what sets this Wuthering Heights apart is its clarity of purpose. Fennell is making a film driven by emotion — primal, sensual and unsettling. It is a Wuthering Heights that embraces complexity rather than avoiding it. One that sees the novel not as a fragile artifact, but as a living, breathing, overwhelming force. The trailer is full of longing stares, sexual tension and tightened corsets, exploring a story of obsessive love in an adaptation that’s as steamy as it is artistic. And it’s no better proven than in the film’s costume design, which sees Robbie in a white, glittery wedding dress, centuries ahead of its time. Highlighting Fennell’s distinctive aesthetic, it’s less about period accuracy and more about creating a heightened, visually-intoxicating world. The trailer, then, has only intensified the debate circling the film months ahead of its release. Viewers remain divided over the casting and the adaptation’s unapologetic eroticism. Marketed as “a bold and original imagining of one of the greatest love stories of all time”, the argument rages on: was Wuthering Heights ever a love story to begin with? Either way, with its powerhouse cast, visionary director, impressive set design and an album that promises to become a cultural moment in its own right, Wuthering Heights is poised to redefine what a classic adaptation can be. It is ready to be experienced passionately, provocatively and without apology on 13 February next year. (Flore Boitel)
AnOther shares 'The Story Behind Charli xcx’s Gothic New Wuthering Heights Music Video'.
CrimeReads lists '5 Novels Set in the Wild British Moors'. If you’re unfamiliar with British moorland, I urge you to listen to Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush to get into the right mood, and then dive into these atmospheric classics. The moors really are “wily” and “windy,” with vast open spaces, craggy rocks and plenty of thick heather in which you could easily hide a body…. [...] Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights is as weird, esoteric, experimental and challenging now as it was at publication in 1847. Structured like a conch shell, with stories with stories, shifting perspectives and unreliable narrators, Wuthering Heights is a book that keeps readers on their toes and demands attention. If this makes it sound like hard work, I’m doing it a disservice – it’s an absolute riot to read. Originally published under an androgynous pseudonym, Ellis Bell, it was controversial from the get-go due to its subject matter which includes mental crises, brutal domestic violence, the subjugation of women, the dangers of childbirth, religion and the rigid Victorian class system. With the furore surrounding the recent trailer for Emerald Fennel’s reimagined movie adaptation, it’s clear this is still a story with the power to shock and surprise. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre The Brontës are well represented here. All three of the Brontë sisters that made it to adulthood became writers, and all three set their stories in the Yorkshire of their upbringing. As a result, a swathe of land in the North of England is known (almost) officially as Brontë Country. Jane Eyre bristles with social criticism, sharp observations and an introspective first person narrative that still feels fresh and bold. Orphaned Jane grapples with her identity and sense of belonging, finally escaping her abusive childhood through employment. She becomes governess at Thornfield Hall, a gloomy, isolated and gothic manor house large enough to have multiple apparently disused rooms and, of course, a deeply disturbed character secreted on one of the upper floors. It was billed as a romance, and there is dark passion at its heart, but it is also a mystery, a character study, and a sly manifesto for social change and personal growth. (Holly Seddon)
The EveryGirl lists '16 Classic Lit Movies to Stream if You Can’t Stop Thinking About ‘Frankenstein’' such as 1. Jane Eyre If you love Jane Austen adaptations, the 2011 version of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre will be an instant favorite. The story centers on Jane, an orphan abused by her aunt and later sent to the harsh Lowood School. As an adult, she becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls for her employer, the mysterious Edward Rochester. But when she uncovers a dark secret, she’s forced to flee—though she may not be able to stay away for long. 2. Wuthering Heights Before Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation drops, revisit the iconic ’90s version starring Ralph Fiennes as the brooding Heathcliff. If you don’t know the plot of Emily Brontë’s famous story, it follows an orphan, Heathcliff, after he is adopted into the wealthy Earnshaw family. He moves into their estate and strikes up a strong bond with his foster sister, Cathy. Cathy gives in to societal pressures and marries Edgar Linton, a man of higher standing. But Heathcliff vows to get her back, no matter what. (Lauren Blue)
Tomorrow, on BBC4, we have a Brontë night:
An exploration of the BBC's long love affair with the lives and works of the Bronte sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne. For over half a century, the ill-fated literary dynasty has proved irresistible to drama and documentary makers alike, keen to reinvent their novels for new audiences. So we get Brontë heroines reimagined for each emerging generation, first as classic 1950s housewife material, then wild child '60s 'chicks', Gothic waifs and, finally, empowered modern women. The Brontë males, meanwhile, are restyled as assorted prigs, wife-beaters, even brooding prog rockers and, of course, wouldn't you know it, new men. Wonderful stuff.
November 19 at 22.00 Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens Remember... Jane Eyre Actors Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens look back on the 2006 TV adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
November 19 at 22.20 Jane Eyre 2006 (Episodes 1,2,3 and 4)
November 19 at 02:00 The Brontë Business with Joan Bakewell Joan Bakewell visits Haworth in Yorkshire, home of the Brontës, to see the setting in which the novelist worked and which has now become a tourist spot.
The Guardian has an obituary of the fabulous Rachel Cooke reminding readers of her Virago Book of Friendship, published last year. The Virago Book of Friendship (2024) is an anthology of excerpts that was her excellent idea, and ranges from the tragic (Jane Eyre) to the comic (Bridget Jones) and fraught (Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield). (Susanna Rustin) Rolling Stone reports that Charli XCX has dropped the new music video for her song Chains of Love. Charli XCX has dropped an appropriately dramatic new music video for “Chains of Love,” the latest single from her upcoming album tied to Emerald Fennel’s Wuthering Heights adaptation. Directed by C Prinz, the clip finds Charli performing the song in a grand but empty dining hall where she contends with an unseen force that flings cutlery and candlesticks in her direction, and lifts the giant table off the floor. At the cathartic climax, Charli stomps on the glass table, sending up a storm of shards. Charli released “Chains of Love” last week, the song arriving fast on the heels of her other recent single, “House,” with John Cale. Both songs will appear on the Wuthering Heights companion album, which Charli crafted with songwriters/producers Finn Keane and Justin Raisen. Wuthering Heights the movie — which co-stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — is set to arrive Feb. 14, 2026, while the album is slated to drop Feb. 13. (John Blistein)
A contributor to Vogue says that, 'My Love Of Wuthering Heights Is Why I Also Love Terrible Men'. Wuthering Heights tells us that love should hurt. Actually, it should burn. Lacerating your heart and excavating your soul, it will, in the words of Emily Brontë herself, drive you mad. Fans of the 19th century classic were reminded of this last week, thanks to the release of the first full-length trailer for Emerald Fennell’s highly contentious but much anticipated adaptation, which stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. The trailer depicts Cathy (Robbie), meeting Heathcliff (Elordi), as children before becoming embroiled in what it describes as “the greatest love story of all time”. While it’s not clear how far Fennel has strayed from the 1847 novel – the film has raised eyebrows among literary types who’ve pointed out that Heathcliff is described as “dark-skinned” in the book, while Cathy wears a red latex dress among other things in the film – it’s set to be a major cinematic event, with original songs by Charli XCX and a Valentine’s Day release date. Make no mistake: Wuthering Heights – which focuses on the intense bond that develops between Cathy and Heathcliff as children into young adulthood, and the subsequent devastation that occurs when social mobility prevents them from being together – is a heart-wrenching tale, one that offers up meaningful commentary on everything from class and revenge to generational trauma. For me, though, it has always been about one thing and one thing only. And that’s Heathcliff, AKA literature’s original fuck boy. Brooding, handsome, and troubled beyond repair, he epitomises everything straight women are supposed to run from and yet somehow run towards. Or, at least, I do. (Olivia Petter)
A contributor to Jezebel is a brand-new fan of Jacob Elordi. Yes, I’m brand new to…whatever his fandom his called. The Jacobis? The Elordians? Team Jacob? And I’m sorry it took me this long, but I’m ready to pay my dues and collect my t-shirt. [...] And yes, there is plenty to criticize about the Wuthering Heights trailer and (I suspect) the upcoming film. Like, are we really calling this a “love” story—and could this really be based on one of the greatest English novels of all time?? Fennell herself admitted that this “primal, sexual” interpretation isn’t necessarily faithful to the source material. And while I was skeptical of that creative choice at first, now that I’ve seen Elordi’s shoulder-length hair, I could not be more grateful to Fennell for just going with her gut here. (Though it must be said that Brontë’s Heathcliff certainly wasn’t white.) But there will be a time and a place for all those think pieces, but that is not here and not now. (Lauren Tousignant)
Meanwhile, a contributor to The Chosun Daily discusses ' Wuthering Heights and the Autumn Scent'. Of course, Brontë’s novel doesn’t explicitly contain such a scent. Yet, as I follow the “mad” (no love has ever suited this word better) love between Heathcliff and Catherine, the relentless fate and curses spanning generations, and the windswept manor that feels like the true protagonist of those stormy hills, I sense a familiar, chilling odor at the tip of my nose. The smell of burning leaves, the earth’s resolve before winter. Literature is beautiful because it creates sensations through language alone. Though we’ve never seen Heathcliff’s face, heard Catherine’s voice, or smelled the manor, we feel and experience them through a novel written in a foreign language over 170 years ago. The second of the famous Brontë sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—she wrote only this one novel in her lifetime. Published at the age of 29, the book received little acclaim at the time, with many critics condemning its characters as vulgar and immoral. A year later, she died after a cold caught at her brother’s funeral worsened into pneumonia. I sense the same scent in Emily’s life. The original title, “Wuthering Heights,” is a proper noun, making the Korean title—literally “Storm Hill”—a near-mistranslation. Yet some mistranslations are more literary than accurate. For each of us has our own “stormy hill,” and ascending it always carries a familiar smell—the dark shadow left by late autumn. (Moon Ji-Hyuk)
More autumn as The Boar has an article on 'The original autumn girl: Anne Shirley’s whimsical legacy'. It is impossible to write about the autumnal aesthetics without mentioning the dominance of Halloween in the autumnal months. Inspired by the pagan festival of Samhain, where it was believed the veil between the living and dead was weakened, and later the Eve of All Saints’ Day, Halloween has become the pinnacle of the gothic and horror lovers’ year. Autumn, therefore, becomes the backdrop for the gothic canon: Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. (Libby Davis)
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