Wuthering Heights
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Scroll down for my full Report Card Review and a chance to share YOUR grade for Wuthering Heights!
A passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) and Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie).
STORY: A-
Not the version you’ll see in schools.
This is no prim-and-proper reenactment from the BBC. There is seduction. There is sex. There is full-on, rampant, wholehearted debauchery.
It all combines into a deliciously saucy, two-hour romp through the fog-draped moors of the English seaside. Director Emerald Fennell’s version is a brilliantly exaggerated take on Bronte’s original novel.
PEOPLE: A
Robbie and Elordi score an A+ in chemistry.
Margot Robbie is extraordinary. As in Barbie and I, Tonya, she melts our hearts with a single tear or a crack in her voice. Her physical choices reveal her inner conflict with grace and compassion.
Jacob Elordi plays Heathcliff as half Fabio and half Frankenstein (a role that’s already earned him an Oscar nomination). He’s swoonworthy and then some, but his hulking frame and narrow eyes give him an edge of danger.
FILM NERD STUFF: A
Now that’s a hook.
As the title card emerges, we hear an unfamiliar sound. Soon, that sound becomes quite familiar. And once the visual arrives, the disconnect hurls into a nasty state of unease.
It feels like Fennell grabs our cheeks, stares into our eyes, and whispers, “Have I got your attention? Good. Keep watching. Closely. Or else.”
It’s fantastic and visceral, and at the same time lays out the film’s themes.
ONE BIG LESSON: A-
For love or money?
The story’s main conflict revolves around Catherine’s decision to marry for love or money.
This film takes a strong point of view on the subject. If that stance isn’t obvious after watching this movie, please consult your local library and/or English professor to see which side Bronte endorses.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Wuthering Heights is a rollicking, bawdy, thoroughly entertaining spin on Bronte’s novel. But I’d recommend checking out Fennell’s oeuvre before diving in, just so yu know what you’re getting into.
If you don’t have the time, know this: Fennell’s films are like Las Vegas. They’re loud. They almost cross the line into gaudy but stay truly, breathtakingly gorgeous. You’ll usually find a fancy buffet. You’ll lose all track of time. And the characters’ trysts definitely fall under the umbrella of “what happens at Wuthering Heights stays at Wuthering Heights.”
FINAL GRADE: A-
Wuthering Heights is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG. Common Sense says ok for 15+.