emerald fennell is not an intellectual
yes i saw wuthering heights and yes i thought it was just okay
(The concept of Charli XCX’s Everything is Romantic playing in the trailer of a “Wuthering Heights” adaptation. )
This movie is a snooze. Like, aggressively boring.
I’m not even going to get into the novel because honestly, who cares. I’ve never actually read it. I’m judging what’s on screen. And what’s on screen is two people who’ve known each other their entire lives (and let’s be real, the half-sibling vibes are doing some heavy lifting) waiting until adulthood to suddenly start fucking like rabbits.
Why?
We’re told it’s class. Heathcliff is poor. Okay. But nobody said they had to get married. And that excuse immediately falls apart when the maid marries well and disappears halfway through the movie.
Nelly exists only to be mean and block communication. She burns letters, talks shit, keeps them apart — but why does Heathcliff just… accept this? He had no issue sleeping with Cathy while her husband was literally in the next room. But now suddenly he respects boundaries?
Also. Five miles. In England. On horseback. Is that not, like, an afternoon?
Isabella’s character is another mess. And that accent? Some weird “chav check” English thing that was so distracting I stopped paying attention. As an American, I don’t know regional accents — but I do know when something feels weirdly modern. It felt very 2026.
Margot Robbie is beautiful. She is also way too old to be playing Cathy. I’m sorry. Watching crow’s feet talk about souls and soulmates completely took me out. If Cathy reads as young on the page, then this performance just makes her seem immature and kind of silly.
They also have zero sexual chemistry. Honestly, zero chemistry at all. This is what I think Gen Z actually means when they complain about sexual content in media — not because it’s awkward or taboo, but because it sucks. Where is the eroticism? Instead, I spent two hours and sixteen minutes watching Jacob Elordi stick his fingers in Margot Robbie’s mouth with zero emotional payoff. Oh — and they don’t even take their clothes off. BOOOOOOOOO.
I’m also really tired of the industry force-feeding me “leading men” who can’t act. There is no Denzel or DiCaprio for Gen Z. You cannot convince me that Jacob Elordi or Timothée Chalamet fit that bill. Maybe that’s a longer essay about celebrity and constant accessibility — but still.
And yes, I hated Promising Young Woman and Saltburn. I find Emerald Fennell’s writing limited and oddly juvenile for an adult woman. Her understanding of interpersonal relationships feels shallow and lame.
This was “Wuthering Heights” the way it would be if you skimmed a SparkNotes summary.
(Also, I don’t know if they were doing BDSM in the 1800s…?)
2/5.
The 2 is for cinematography and costuming.
Completely agree - it was just okay. I’ve read the book and I highly recommend, it gives answers to all all the strange questions Fennell just left hanging or situations she assumed everyone would just buy into because she assumed everyone had read the book. I don’t completely hate the movie. It has style, it was something new, and no matter what scathing takes are on Substack, it is still legal to make a bad adaptation. A lot of people are acting like this movie came into their home and murdered their family. On the other hand, it was a bad adaptation and I don believe Fennell is limited in her scope of interpersonal relationships, as you said.