by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
To think of Emerald Fennell’s newest movie, a retelling of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, as a Valentine’s Day movie or even a love story would be wrong. It is a movie devoid of any acceptable perception of romance. Its central figures Cathy (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) possess only “sinful desire” for each other. Finnell does an excellent job of showing this, making us drown in the sorrowful yearning between these two “lovers.” Unfortunately, for this movie, I do not enjoy buying tickets to drown in a young director’s or a singular author’s narrow-minded view of love.
Having grown up together at the titular Wuthering Heights, Cathy and Heathcliff share a bond unlike any other. Close like siblings they have an ease around each other, it is a kind of love more than friendship. But it can never be more due to their stations. Essentially a servant, Heathcliffe lives a restrained life, working for Cathy’s drunken gambler of a father, Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes). While Cathy is free in the sense of coming from wealth, she knows her own well-being lies in marriage. Which she does achieve with the help and counsel of her lady-in-waiting Nelly (Hong Chau), to the wealthy Edgar (Shazad Latif). After this engagement is announced, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Height, only to return years later with his own fortune in his pockets. Now married and living with Edgar, Nelly, and Edgar’s close friend Isabella (Alison Oliver), Cathy lives a very different life than she once did. But Heathcliff’s return stirs long-gone feelings in Cathy, as she combats her loyalty to Edgar with the once dormant passions that burn for Heathcliff.
I must admit before going forward that I am a certified Jacob Elordi detractor. There have been no performances he’s given that I thought I couldn’t do. Most of Euphoria he just yells and uses his height to be intimidating, and his character in Saltburn was wooden and seemed to exist just to be a piece of meat. Do not even get me started on the dumpster fire called The Kissing Booth trilogy. He’s a good-looking guy to be sure, but I don’t think he has had much opportunity to show off his chops. As Heathcliff he gets slightly more opportunity than before. The first half gives him a lot of moments of restrained emotions as he holds back desire for Cathy, hatred for his station, and a general despair. After he receives his wealth he becomes just an absolute brute. He terrorizes Cathy and Nelly, snipes at Edgar, and both flirts with and sinisterly romances Cathy. It’s more fun than I’ve seen Elordi have than any other role he’s taken on. So, I commend him here as he brings the right energy to the part in both the first and second act. So, I am dropping my own status down from detractor to skeptic. Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein needs to be seen before I can determine if I need to waive my automatic critiques of Elordi going forward. (Yes, I haven’t seen Frankenstein yet. I have no excuse. I’m sorry, my fellow cinephiles).
Robbie does exceedingly less in her role. Most of what I would praise Robbie for in her career is her innate charisma and charm. Certainly, a capable dramatic actor, she has been terrific in movies like I, Tonya and Wolf of Wall Street. But playing Cathy does not require much from her on either front. She gets the occasional moment of banter or flirtation with Heathcliff, and the back half of the movie has a lot of trauma for Cathy. But most of what she does in the last 30 minutes of the movie is despair and it is a mopey despair that does not strike me as a performance worthy of an Oscar reel. I cannot necessarily critique Robbie so much as critique the script for giving her so little to chew on as an actor.
Perhaps the movie would hit harder for me if I really enjoyed the writing and the nature of Cathy and Heathcliff’s dynamic. Going from childhood friends to suppressed young adults to secret lovers is quite an arc. I don’t think one movie is too little time to explore this. And honestly, their romance feels genuinely fleshed out to me. The theme of desiring someone you cannot be with is a good one for those who yearn. But there is a lot of acceptance or at least condoning of their betrayal of Edgar and mistreatment of Nelly and Isabella. It makes it difficult to root for the protagonists themselves. While I understand this might be the point Finnell and Brontë were making, it does not make the pill easy to swallow.
What does go down smoothly is the amazing eye that Fennell has. Each shot and scene feels incredible and could be a painting. Her camera work has always been impressive, but this feels like a step up. The use of fog, the old English countrysides, the cliffs, and the sea are excellent. They add well to the mood of secrecy and temptation in this story. Without question, if anything is the standout star of this movie it’s Linus Sandgren’s cinematography. My personal favorite is a scene with Heathcliff riding on his horse full speed through the fog. It feels real and remarkable at the same time.
While none of them do enough to steal the screen I think it’s important to mention three of the supporting roles here. As Nelly, Chau brings a sense of subtly and sad acceptance of her position. In a movie so heavily focused on the leads adultery, her performance seems a bit out of place but more in line with other movies based around this time. On the more fun side Oliver has a goofy role in Isabella. She gets a more playful dynamic with Cathy and later to a much different extent with Heathcliff. I would hope Oliver gets more opportunities in the future. Finally, Clunes does an incredibly dedicated job as Cathy’s devious dad. While not straightforward malevolent, he is violent and selfish to no end. He does great as the most truly evil person in this story. With so much of the screen dedicated to Cathy, Heathcliff or both, it would be difficult for anyone else to make too much of a dent.
Overall, there truly is a lot to like in Fennell’s most recent fare, but I appreciate it more than I enjoyed it. As a late 20’s married with no kids man, I know I’m not the target audience. I felt that when I was sitting by myself in the theater surrounded by couples and groups of young women. Perhaps those audiences can truly enjoy this. But no amount of appreciation for the use of fog can help me get over the moral quandaries presented by the plot. On my own personal rating scale, I would categorize this as, “too well made to be bad, but too pretentious to be good.”
Rating: High Side of Just Okay
Wuthering Heights is currently playing in theaters
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