Review of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently started an 8-5 job and have been trying to reclaim my sanity and hobbies by finding fun things to do on the weekends and after work, and one of my saving graces truly has been my AMC A List subscription. I’ve always had one on and off throughout graduate school, and I recently reclaimed my subscription after a brief stint of thinking I was going to move to India (long story).

Sometimes the movies I really want to see aren’t included on AMC A List, which is sad, but I accept the reality of the situation. I get a ton of use out of this subscription despite that. On a slightly different note though, I used to work professionally as a film critic, which is very much a dying career, and when I would go to the film festivals I watched everything that really excited me.

A List is also an opportunity for me to go outside of my comfort zone. Recently, at the time of typing this, I’ve seen a handful of movies I don’t think I would have ever seen if I had to actually pay for them. I see so many movies throughout different states on A List that I basically make money off of AMC, rather than spending money. I have an entire spreadsheet for it.

Today’s blog post comes from an IMAX experience I planned ahead in advance for: Wuthering Heights! I actually enjoyed Saltburn in a masochistic way, however indulgent that movie was, so when Fennell was announced for this project I knew I was going to see it in theatres too. I had originally booked my ticket for the evening of Valentine’s Day, but my sister wanted to go, so we ended up seeing it the next day together.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

Cathy and Heathcliff are smitten with each other from the start, but find their life paths forced to go in different directions.

This version of Wuthering Heights begins with a hanging—although it’s a bit of a cop out, as the entrance of the opening scene makes it seem like a sex scene. Cathy and Nelly, who are young at this time, watch the man be hanged then run home to her estate, Wuthering Heights.

There, Cathy’s father, Mr. Earnshaw, is waiting. When Cathy goes up into her room she meets a young boy under her bed, and she names him Heathcliff after the brother she’s already lost. Mr. Earnshaw sees how smitten Cathy is with him, as she sees him as a pet, and decides to let him stay. Nellie watches with what may or may not be resentment as Cathy and Heathcliff become inseparable, running in the rain together and Healthcliff taking Mr. Earnshaw’s drunken wrath when they show up late to his birthday.

That incident leaves him with permanent scars on his back. Six years pass and the estate begins crumbling under Mr. Earnshaw’s drunken gambling and mismanagement. As a new wealthy neighbor, Edgar of the velvet trade, moves in next door, Cathy sees her chance to revive everyone’s careers and her own by potentially marrying him. Heathcliff and her are obviously still dancing around each other, and despite everyone warning Cathy to not go next door, she does so anyways.

She spies on Edgar and his ward, Isabella, as they discuss Romeo and Juliet. Isabella spots her mid-rant and starts screaming, leaving Cathy to stumble down from the wall she’s hanging on, spraining her ankle. Edgar takes her in and nurses her for six weeks, much to Heathcliff’s despair. That’s when Edgar falls in love. We get a few scenes where Cathy starts discovering her sexuality and masturbates in front of Heathcliff, but she runs away.

When she comes back to the estate, Edgar is there and ready to propose marriage. She accepts because she sees it as a cushy financial future, but she despairs to Nellie about how she loves Heathcliff. Nellie spots Heathcliff out of the window and behind the door, but goads Cathy into talking about how Heathcliff is lower than her. He leaves before her declaration of love for him, takes a horse, and vanishes into the night.

Cathy tearfully married Edgar and has the comfortable life with him and Isabella. Nellie joins her at the estate, and while everything seems like sunshine and rainbows, Cathy can’t forget Heathcliff. Five years pass by and she becomes pregnant, but Heathcliff decides to make his return then. He received an education and is wealthy, purchasing her family’s estate, but this is the beginning of the end.

Isabella shows interest in him, which Cathy notices and quickly becomes resentful towards her for it. Cathy’s jealousy sparks something anew in Heathcliff and they begin a dangerous game, cutting off contact at one point even, but then Cathy’s father dies and she confesses to Heathcliff what happened. He tells her about Nellie, and Cathy’s attempt to dismiss her goes wrong when Nellie tells Edgar about their backstory and what’s happening.

Now forbidden to see Heathcliff, Cathy becomes more despondent. As the tense dance continues and Cathy decides to end things, Heathcliff marries Isabella in revenge, telling her he doesn’t love her and wants to get back at Cathy, and they leave behind everyone else for Wuthering Heights. Cathy despairs over these events and loses the baby, which Nellie doesn’t take seriously at first.

Heathcliff uses Isabella to try and lure Cathy back to Wuthering Heights, but Nellie intercepts the letters and burns them. Eventually, Nellie discovers Cathy in her bed dying of septicemia. Edgar calls for a doctor, and while we know Cathy is dying, she reconciles with Nellie over everything that happened. Nellie leaves the home, having been dismissed by Edgar, and goes to Heathcliff to tell him of what’s happening.

He sets out for th estate immediately, but she dies before he has the chance to talk to her. He lays with her body and laments about their love and childhood memories, promising that he will continue being there forever with her.

Overall Thoughts

First things first—I don’t know the story of Wuthering Heights beyond this movie, so I’m not going to comment on accuracy or the controversies surrounding this movie. I simply don’t know enough to make a critical comment on whether it is or is not accurate, or depicts people properly. That’s not my judgement to make right now at the time of writing this.

Second—Emerald Fennell definitely has a vision and aesthetic for her movies. I think I prefer the world of Saltburn to this one, but there were some gorgeous shot scattered here and there. I spotted some similarities to movies like Gone With the Wind and some of the broader shots, which makes this a love letter to film as a medium, too. Her crew and she do an excellent job immersing us in this world, and the soundtrack is fantastic.

This wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, but I could see how people might love this movie, especially the general audience going into theaters. I think my problems stemmed with both of the main characters being toxic—I felt so bad for Nellie when she was being treated poorly by Cathy, who comes across as petulant and childish well into her adult years.

Granted, this is a movie demonstrating how a toxic love pushes people to hurt others to the point of no return, so it makes sense that they’re acting this way. It felt like watching a trainwreck in slow motion though at certain moments for me, and while I was immersed, I simply didn’t like these characters.

Go watch it though if you’re interested! I think this is a movie that definitely should be experienced on a big screen.

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