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)
Wednesday 19 November, 2025 22:00 BBC Four
The BBC’s 2006 adaptation of Jane Austen’s (sic) classic novel Jane Eyre was a hit with critics and viewers alike, and brought together actors Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens in the leading roles of Jane and the brooding Mr Rochester. Here, the reunited pair look back on the production, sharing their memories of being part of the cast, recalling what it was like working opposite each other and outlining the challenges involved in bringing such iconic characters from English literature from the page to the screen.
Kudos to the BBC intern who confused Charlotte Brontë with Jane Austen. Stellar quality control there, BBC. People shows 'the Cast of the New Wuthering Heights Film Side-by-Side with the Stars of the Original 1939 Movie'. Heathcliff: Laurence Olivier and Jacob Elordi Elordi takes on the obsessive, passionate Heathcliff, following in Olivier’s footsteps, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role in 1940. However, Elordi's casting sparked debate. Some fans felt his fairer look strayed from Brontë’s description of Heathcliff as “dark-skinned,” while others questioned the choice for Elordi to wear muttonchops and gold tooth. Elordi acknowledged the chatter in a September 2025 interview with The Wall Street Journal, assuring fans that Fennell's version will move them. “I think what she’s done is really perfect and super beautiful,” he said. “It’s electric. And it’s also like nails on a chalkboard. It does something. It moves you in some kind of way, good or bad." Catherine Earnshaw: Merle Oberon and Margot Robbie Robbie will take on the role of Catherine Earnshaw, the center of Wuthering Heights' love triangle. The part was previously played by Golden Age leading lady Merle Oberon. "It's so epic in nature, so incredibly romantic, and it really is this stunning world that makes you just want to be there. You're thoroughly transported," Robbie told Entertainment Weekly in September 2025 of the project. Fennell later told the BBC that viewers will "lose their minds" over the Barbie star's performance. "It needed somebody like Margot, who's a star, not just an incredible actress — which she is — but somebody who has a power, an otherworldly power, a Godlike power," the director continued. Edgar Linton: David Niven and Shazad Latif David Niven played the polite and sensitive Edgar Linton, Catherine’s husband, in Wuthering Heights (1939). Now, it's Shazad Latif's turn. "It's like something you've probably never seen before. It looks stunning," the actor, who is best known for his role in Star Trek: Discovery, teased in an interview with Metro Entertainment in August 2025. Isabella Linton: Geraldine Fitzgerald and Alison Oliver In the 1939 adaptation, Geraldine Fitzgerald portrayed Edgar’s younger sister, Isabella Linton, whose infatuation with Heathcliff spirals into a dangerous obsession. Now, Alison Oliver will take over the role, and she has big shoes to fill, considering Fitzgerald garnered an Oscar nomination for her performance. Wuthering Heights marks a reunion for Oliver and Elordi, who played siblings in Fennell's Saltburn. "It was such a gift and an honor to work with [Fennell] again. She’s an absolute genius, and I just can’t wait for people to see [the movie]," the actress told Elle in October 2025. Nelly Dean: Flora Robson and Hong Chau Before Hong Chau, Flora Robson played Nelly Dean, the steadfast and meddling housekeeper and primary narrator in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Chau is best known for her roles in The Menu and The Whale, for which she earned an Oscar nomination. Mr. Earnshaw: Cecil Kellaway and Martin Clunes Cecil Kellaway brought Mr. Earnshaw to life in the 1939 film as the patriarch of the family. In Fennell's version, Martin Clunes will take on the role of Catherine’s compassionate and loving father, whose kindness and favoritism toward Heathcliff help set the stage for the intense family dynamics that follow. (Samantha Stutsman)
The Next Best Picture Podcast looks at 'Final 2025 Awards Season Contenders, “ Wuthering Heights,” “ The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” & “ Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” Trailers'. AnneBrontë.org features a letter written by Charlotte Brontë on November 16th, 1848.
New performances of Jen Silverman's The Moors:
by Jen Silverman Florida International University 10910 Southwest 17th Street. Miami November 14-23, 2025
Love, ambition, and a little bit of murder—welcome to the moors. Love, ambition, and a little bit of murder—things get weird fast on the moors!
Two sisters, a mastiff, and a moorhen wait in a lonely house, but a new arrival proves that nothing is as it seems. A dark, twisted comedy full of mystery and feminine fire.
“This play is about loneliness and isolation,” says director and assistant professor Melvin Huffnagle. “Coming out of Covid, a lot of people can understand and relate to that sense of yearning. These characters are yearning for human connection.” (...) She’s barely in the door when she’s greeted with an ominous warning from Agatha, the older sister: “The moors are a savage place, and we who live here, despite our attempts to cling to a modicum of civilization, find ourselves often forced to contend with savagery. Are you sure you’re up for the task, Miss Vangergaard?” (Ivan López)
More comments on the Wuthering Heights 2026 trailer: Filmbook, Scroll.in, India Today, Tomatazos, Today, LiveforFilm, The Future of the Force, Stanisland Magazine, Masala!, The Independent, Hollywood Life, Far Out Magazine, The Hollywood News, Outlook India, The Sentinel, Daily Tribune, Wales Online, Daiji World, Filmibeat, Crispng, Glamsham, Entertainment Now, Cineplay, Arynews, Goss.ie, OneNewsPage Diario Mendoza, Los40, 20 Minutos, eCartelera, Acción, As, MundoCine, Qué Ver, Ámbito, Les Inrockuptibles, Cosmopolitan, Madame Figaro. Premiere, Elle, L'Officiel, Ciak Magazine, Kinomaister, ...
Never one to play it safe, Fennell appears to have transformed Brontë’s vision into something far less like a polite period drama and more like the kind of torrid, wind-tossed romance novel you’d hide in your nightstand drawer—with Elordi’s Heathcliff as the smoldering paperback cover model. But we expect things to eventually combust into an unhinged storm of lust, heartbreak, and gothic fury before the credits roll. Visually, the film leans heavily into moody gothic aesthetics: rain-drenched kisses, fiery embraces, and anguished stares across stormy landscapes. But Fennell also brings her signature boldness — there’s color, eroticism, and cinematic flourishes that feel modern even as they evoke the Victorian setting. The trailer’s soundscape plays a big role in setting the tone. Charli XCX contributes original music from her concept album tied to the film, including the stirring track “Chains of Love” that underscores key emotional beats.
If the trailer is anything to go by, this adaptation isn’t just retelling Wuthering Heights; it’s resurrecting the original novel’s wildest instincts. Expect passion, cruelty, beauty, shock value and more- (Morgan Truder) Wuthering Heights, the limited series starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, has resurfaced again after landing a new streaming home in the UK. Billed as a "sumptuous" take on Emily Brontë's classic novel, this is one you won't want to miss. (George Lewis) Netflix Junkie is able to criticize both the new versions of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, which is quite something because the first one has not even been premiered yet: Emerald Fennell has strongly argued that Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is "primal, sexual," per BBC, and her polarizing lens enhances the nuances of sadomasochism in the novel like never before. However, Brontë's classic is a twisted tale of psychological tragedy, not page after page of horse-saddled BDSM. When a canonical piece of literature is stripped of its layered narrative of gender, race, class, eco-criticism of civilization, and human psyche, only an unrelatable salacious imagery-in-motion remains. Social media wishes Fennell could have created a new sensual Gothic love story instead of axing most of Brontë's dimensions. (Ipshita Chakraborty) Scorpio Like You makes another list of Wuthering Heights adaptations. From worst to best:
Wuthering High School (2015) Yeah, this one? No. It relocates everything to a California high school, which basically steamrolls the novel's gothic bones. At 88 minutes, it sprints through the emotions, rewires motivations, and leaves the story's tragic weight behind. Widely considered the flimsiest take because it swaps out the book's haunting intensity for teen-drama CliffNotes. Wuthering Heights (2003) Director: Suri Krishnamma MTV turned it into a modern rock musical and moved the action near a lighthouse instead of the Yorkshire moors. Did we need that? Probably not. The musical swings are novel, but they pull focus from the emotional wreckage that defines the book. More teen melodrama than gothic tragedy; a loose riff that got mixed reviews and made a tiny splash. Wuthering Heights (1967) A BBC staging that feels very much of its era: stagey sets, marathon dialogue scenes, and pacing that drifts. It does squeeze in more of the book than earlier screen versions, but the limited production design undercuts the Heathcliff/Catherine hurricane. Closer to the outline than the experience, and largely forgotten for a reason. Wuthering Heights(1962) This earlier TV take sticks to the first half of the novel, zeroing in on Heathcliff and Catherine's childhood into early adulthood. Performances land, but the mostly interior staging misses the moors' feral energy. It also drops the entire second-generation arc, which is kind of the book's point about cycles of revenge and repair. Still, a solid historical snapshot of how TV first wrestled with the material. Wuthering Heights(1958) Often measured against the 1939 classic, and it comes up short. The atmosphere feels thin, Heathcliff is played with less sympathy than he needs, and it drifts from the source. Bright spots in the acting, sure, but the gothic vibe goes missing. Historical curiosity bonus: it's one of the few surviving TV performances of Richard Burton as Heathcliff. Wuthering Heights (2009) Two parts and emotionally loaded, with strong acting and locations that actually look and feel like the moors. It takes some liberties in how it reads the characters but taps into the book's wild, destructive pulse and gives the second generation more space than most films. Also, yes: Heathcliff is played by Tom Hardy. Big, brooding energy, and a more complete ride than you usually get. Wuthering Heights (2011) Harsh, tactile, and almost documentary in style. Arnold goes heavy on natural light, bad weather, and the kids' POV, which gives the story a flinty realism. The tradeoff: it largely sidelines the second generation. It did, however, walk away with Best Cinematography at Venice, which tells you how striking it looks. Unconventional, but it hits nerves the glossy versions miss. Wuthering Heights (1970) Timothy Dalton broods, the score (Golden Globe-nominated) swells, and the film hews closely to the first half of the book. It axes the second-generation storyline, but nails the tragic tangle between Catherine and Heathcliff with proper gothic swagger. One of the best straight-up classic interpretations. Wuthering Heights (1939) The granddaddy of them all: luminous black-and-white photography, sweeping score, and the kind of old-Hollywood star wattage you can still feel. Eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and a win for Best Cinematography. It ends with Catherine's death, so you only get the first part of the novel, but Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon are definitive enough to explain why this shaped how so many people think of the story. Wuthering Heights (1998) Director: David Skynner Beautifully shot, emotionally paced, and unusually faithful to Brontë's darker textures. It lets moments breathe instead of sprinting through the plot. Some viewers quibble with the casting, but the performances hold onto the sorrow, trauma, and generational churn the book is built on. A moody, faithful version that sticks the landing more often than not. Wuthering Heights (1992) Director: Peter Kosminsky My pick for the most complete retelling. This is the one that finally brings the second generation into the frame on film, mirroring the book's structure instead of lopping it in half. Lush visuals, full-throated emotions, and indelible leads: Ralph Fiennes (in full volcanic mode) and Juliette Binoche. Weirdly under-awarded and under-loved by critics on release, but in terms of fidelity and scope, it is the truest screen echo of Brontë's design. (Leo Hartwell)
Miscelana looks to Wuthering Heights through the voices of Charlie XCX and Kate Bush: In Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë never romanticizes love — she exposes it as a primal, almost violent force that shapes, destroys, and condemns. And Chains of Love, which was written directly to Emerald Fennel‘s film, translates precisely this incendiary dimension of the bond between Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a connection that was never gentle but inevitable; never tender but absolute. The song uses physical pain to express emotional agony — “I’d rather lay down in thorns / I’d rather drown in a stream / I’d rather light myself on fire” and this could easily be Heathcliff himself confessing the impossibility of existing without Cathy. He would rather endure any bodily pain than face the void of her absence. As he says in Brontë’s novel: “I cannot live without my life, I cannot live without my soul.” The song, in its own way, echoes the same wound. (...) Perhaps the most Brontë-esque line is: “No matter how hard I try / I’m here so permanently” because no one escapes Wuthering Heights — neither living nor dead. Their love exists beyond body, time, and reason. Brontë never frees them because they do not know how to exist apart. (...) Where Chains of Love is the breathless cry of a love that suffocates, Kate Bush sings from the perspective of Cathy’s ghost, already freed from her body, yet still chained to the world she left behind. “Let me in at your window” is the plea of someone who died but could not move on. It echoes the same voice that, in Chains of Love, says, “I can’t breathe without you here.” In Bush’s version, Cathy no longer breathes — yet she still knocks at the window, because Heathcliff is the air she never had in life. Both songs rely on images of pain and transcendence. In Chains of Love, the speaker accepts thorns, fire, blood — a living martyrdom. In Wuthering Heights, agony becomes ghostliness, a lament dissolving into the wind: “It’s me, Cathy, come home. I’m so cold.” The cold that, in Chains of Love, suffocates (“my face is turning blue”) in Bush becomes literally the chill of Cathy wandering the moor after death. (Ana Claudia Paixão)
Charli XCX, Chains of Love The creator of Brat is moving on from her neon green age and into movies, appearing in several films and creating the album for Emerald Fennell’s controversial Wuthering Heights, which is out next year. Two tracks have dropped: House with Velvet Underground’s John Cale and this echoing, desperately romantic piece packed with haunting synths. (Blanca Schofield)
The Charli XCX song is also discussed in The Last Mixed Tape, soapcentral. El-Balad. Dork, Attitude, Stern, Russh, The Line of Best Fit, Kiss FM Cleveland, WDEF, Daily Jang, Female First, CrazyMinds, Stereoboard, UMusic, Vogue... Express visits Haworth's Main Street: Haworth is the kind of village that makes you want to slow down and take it all in. Nestled on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, it’s best known as the home of the Brontë sisters, whose novels immortalised the windswept landscape. But the village itself has a story worth exploring, a mix of literary history, industrial heritage, and small-town charm that feels genuine and unpolished. The village grew around the textile industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of its stone houses were built for workers in the local mills, and the streets still echo that past. Cobbled lanes twist between stone cottages and independent shops, and while tourism has increased over the years, Haworth retains an authenticity that makes it feel like a lived-in place rather than a museum. Today, the Brontë Parsonage Museum sits at the top of the main street, a constant reminder of the village’s literary fame, while the moors beyond provide the dramatic backdrop that inspired Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. (Aditi Rane)
The Telegraph & Argus also highlights Haworth's many wonders. Country & Town House interviews Anne Tennant, Dowager Baroness Glenconner (best known as Lady Glenconner): Olivia Emily: This book made me want to be a writer… A.T.: I suppose I always admired the way Jean Rhys wrote. When she wrote Wide Sargasso Sea, I sort of thought, ‘oh, I would love to be able to write like her’. I love her.
The Times also recommends this very interesting radio programme next week: Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens Remember… Jane Eyre BBC4, from 10pm The actors reminisce about the 2006 adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel in which Wilson is the titular orphan and Stephens plays Mr Rochester. All four episodes are shown, starting with a bleak opener (10.20pm) covering Jane’s schooldays and time living with an aunt. Then she gets a job as a governess, but the master — Rochester — is never there and his mysterious wife is never seen. (John Dugdale)
Women suggest reading Wuthering Heights before watching Emerald Fennell's film. Good advice. More Recent Articles
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