US Edition
What Emerald Fennell Has Said About “Wuthering Heights” Controversy
Emerald Fennell’s adaptation emphasizes the novel’s provocative, sado-masochistic elements and aligns with a trend of centering female and queer desire in period dramas.
- Emerald Fennell, writer-director, said she made a personal version of Wuthering Heights to capture the novel's provocative nature, adding, `I wanted to make something that made me feel like I felt when I first read it.`
- Critics and academics note period dramas recently prioritise women’s and queer sensuality, while Jeremy Strong says canonical works get reread every 20 to 25 years, balancing familiar scenes with new material.
- Test screenings last August reportedly included extreme scenes like a public execution and stable-room bondage, while the December trailer showed provocative acts including Cathy cracking half a dozen eggs into Heathcliff's bed.
- Supporters argue reinterpretation is not vandalism, while critics criticize the film's overtly sensual slant; Margot Robbie says it is tailored to a female audience and perspective.
- Placed in context, observers link Fennell's film to sex-charged period dramas like Bridgerton, The Great, and Harlots, noting its edgy style targets Gen Z viewers and may boost box-office sales.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a million times edgier than Emerald Fennell’s
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie as Heathcliff and Catherine in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. | Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures You come into a movie based on Wuthering Heights with certain expectations. Emerald Fennell has been clear that she considers her “Wuthering Heights” — pointed quote marks and all — to be a fantasia, not a straight adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. “It could only ever be an attempt to take a tiny piece of th…
Ignore the Wuthering Heights haters – Emerald Fennell is good, actually
The British filmmaker’s new movie ‘Wuthering Heights’ has largely received a critical drubbing. But the style may be the point, writes Adam White, who’s come to love her propensity for posh sex, pop-video silliness, and the marvellously asinine
Film reviews: ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,’ and ‘Sirat’
‘Wuthering Heights’Directed by Emerald Fennell (R)★★“Wuthering Heights is Emerald Fennell’s dumbest movie,” said Alison Willmore in NYMag.com. “It also happens to be her best.” In her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel, the director of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman “throws off the burden of trying to saysomething significant” and instead makes the legendary romance of Catherine and Heathcliff simply the story of two drama whores who…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
