“Wuthering Heights,” the film adaptation of the original 1847 Emily Brontë book, expects to fall short for fans. Director Emerald Fennell stated that the movie was inspired, not replicated. However, it is far too similar to ignore the 21st century elements. Margot Robbie, cast as the lead Cathy Earnshaw, is seen in the trailer wearing less than accurate period pieces: including but not limited to a latex gown and bright red round sunglasses.
Wuthering Heights is originally a book written by Emily Brontë, one of the famous Brontë sisters known for their literary masterpieces. The book was not taken well originally, with early readers calling the characters immoral. In our current era, it is considered one of the greatest novels of all time. Brontë meticulously tells the love story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and illustrates difficult themes like abuse, revenge, the Victorian social class, and gender roles.
The first full length trailer was released on Nov. 13, 2025, and immediately sparked criticism for the period inaccurate costumes. This is mostly derived from the scene where Cathy is wearing a German milkmaid dress, her 80’s inspired wedding gown and a cellophane dress. Costume designer Jacqueline Durran addressed this in an interview with Vogue Magazine, she described how “they created between 40-50 costumes just for Cathy.” Later added, “It’s a costume, and you know it’s a costume. It’s not necessarily realistic or unrealistic.”
It is obvious that some of the visual inspirations for the film were not outfits from the era the book is set in, however there are some elements from the Gothic Revival. Durran revealed in the same interview that some of Cathy’s costumes were inspired by paintings from Franz Xaver Winterhalter, a German painter known for his portraits of the upper class.
Looking past the costume designer’s choice to go with more of a melodrama approach to dressing Cathy, it is hard to look past critical aspects of the plot that seem to be lost in Fennell’s so-called adaption. In the original book, Brontë describes Heathcliff as a “ragged black haired child, a dark skinned g*psy in aspect.” Language surrounding these themes have of course changed from the 1840s. However, many viewers have expressed how this role should have gone to a person of color. Fennell specifically asked Jacob Elordi, a white man from Australia, to play the role.
Fennell then reaffirmed her stance when interviewed at the premiere, “You can only ever make the kind of movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it, I don’t know I guess I was focusing on the sado-masochistic elements of it.” This highlights her ignorance surrounding the merit of the original book.
It also becomes difficult to portray the very important themes of racism and social class that are prevalent in the book if Heathcliff is played by a white man. Fennell also revealed that the movie will only cover the first half of the book, missing even more essential aspects and robbing the audience of the accurate storyline.
Fennell previously said she “could never make a movie that could encompass how the book made me feel.” A word of advice, start with accurate casting. Interestingly enough, Margot Robbie stated in an interview with Jake’s Takes that the movie is “Emerald giving out the feeling she has when she read the book at 14.”
It is important to highlight that Fennell’s last movie hit was Saltburn in the winter of 2023, produced by Robbie with Elordi cast as the lead. Saltburn was an internet sensation, and gained fame through its risqué and shock worthy scenes. The movie had lukewarm writing, but great visual aesthetics. It is abundantly clear that “Wuthering Heights” will fall the same fate. Just clips from the trailer displays that Fennell did not understand the book competently enough to create an adaptation that will be meaningful to fans. Instead, Fennell takes a literary classic and creates a fanfiction version of it: visually exciting, lacking everywhere else.
