I am someone who never cries at movies.
This movie made me cry.
On Valentine’s Day, Emerald Fennell released this very loose adaptation of the novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë. This film features a transportive soundtrack, bold costumes juxtaposed by the dark and gothic scenery and ethereal scenes of Margot Robbie running through the fields of Northern England. As well as the absolutely debilitating adoration and obsession that the main characters, Catherine, played by Margot Robbie, and Heathcliffe, played by Jacob Elordi, have for each other. It’s hard not to have your eyes glued to the screen for the entirety of the movie.
Wuthering Heights is a film about a forbidden love that must be pushed down and hidden away for the sake of Catherine’s marriage. It is an utterly heartbreaking film that made me want to get my imaginary horse and give the tortured couple the getaway carriage they deserve.
But this film has nothing close to a “happily ever after” storyline, nor a “they rode off into the sunset” ending. Which, of course, left me devastated, but also made me even more in love with this movie. Just because it is so raw and real, and because it is so painfully out of reach.
The Director, Emerald Fennell, released this very loose adaptation of the novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë on Valentine’s Day.
This film left fans of the book absolutely shell-shocked,, leaving a raw and steamy connotation to the hopeless and devoted love story that the 1847 novel is about.
As someone who watched the movie on opening day and never read the novel, my expectations were far from let down. I was in absolute awe of the tension and attraction that was silently built throughout the film, making me want to squeeze myself into the screen and force the two characters to figure out their mess of a relationship, for the sake of my sanity.
One scene that stuck out in particular is shortly after Heathcliffe unexpectedly arrives at Catherine’s new home with her new husband. This is where they begin sneaking around their estates, in hopes of not getting caught with their adultery. Though each time they meet, Heathcliffe grows angrier. Because as much as he wants her all to himself, he knows that she will never leave her husband. It is the 17th century after all, and divorce wasn’t even a possibility, even for those in an unsatisfying marriage. These unfair circumstances leave Heathcliffe uneasy and agitated about their future together. One rendezvous in particular, Heathcliffe grabs Catherine’s face after she accuses him of breaking her heart. She claims that his fleeing their childhood left her feeling helpless and abandoned, to which he says, “I have not broken your heart— you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine,”
After this moment, their love affair becomes even more addictive and dangerous. Every odd is stacked against them, which left me absolutely distraught and weepy with the ending.
Overall, if I had to rate this movie, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. While it is something that I would never watch with my parents, it is something that I wanted to see again, not even an hour after leaving the theaters. It is something that I have and will recommend to my friends. And it is something that I plan to see again this weekend.
