Film Review: Wuthering Heights (2026): Emerald Fennell’s Love Story is Steamy Enough to Please Romance Fans More Than Fans of the Novel
Wuthering Heights Review
Wuthering Heights (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Emerald Fennell, written by Emily Brontë and Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell, Amy Morgan, Jessica Knappett, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper, Vy Nguyen, Millie Kent, Vicki Pepperdine, Paul Rhys, Robert Cawsey, Gabriel Bisset-Smith and Louie Benjamin Potts.
Emerald Fennell’s lavish adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 novel, “Wuthering Heights” is a remarkably crafted love story laced with tragic circumstances which are absolutely heart-wrenching in their excesses. This film has two lead performances which aren’t exactly equally mesmerizing in terms of quality. Jacob Elordi is the star player here, portraying the grown Heathcliff who tries to realize the dream he always had of loving his childhood soul mate, Cathy (Margot Robbie). Elordi’s work is full of depth and complexity while Robbie’s performance seems to exist on an entirely different level. In fact, despite Cathy’s longing for Heathcliff, Robbie doesn’t always make us believe she yearns for Heathcliff until the later sequences of the film. That being said, there’s something remarkable about a movie like this which places the songs of Charli xcx in the middle of the action in a way that recalls Baz Luhrmann’s unique adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
This film opens with a man being hung. We soon meet the main characters as kids, Cathy (Charlotte Mellington) and Heathcliff (Owen Cooper). Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes) takes the poor young boy, Heathcliff, into his home. As a result, Cathy and Heathcliff automatically seem to form a connection unlike anything they’ve ever felt before. Heathcliff is scolded when the pair is out for a prolonged period of time, but both characters seem to cherish the time they have together while it lasts.
As adults, Heathcliff appears to be a man unlikely to score riches as the grown Cathy starts to develop a relationship with a man named Edgar (Shazad Latif) who just may win over Cathy’s hand in marriage. Of course, if you’ve read the book, you know this will be a love triangle of sorts even though nothing you’ve read in the novel can prepare you for the hot and steamy sex scenes that occur throughout “Wuthering Heights.”
The biggest scene-stealer here is the pawn in the action, the slightly less attractive Isabella (Alison Oliver), who Heathcliff “abuses” to make Cathy realize what she could have had if she just waited for Heathcliff to make something of himself. Oliver’s Isabella nods up and down when Heathcliff states the terms of the marriage they will enter into and is completely hoodwinked by the handsome Heathcliff except if you examine the character of Isabella closer, there are certain determinations that can be made about her character that makes her seem much smarter than she appears to be on the surface. Oliver makes longing and submission seem sexy in the most unusual way in this role and is a pure delight to watch on-screen. Hong Chau expertly plays Nelly, the barrier to romantic bliss between Heathcliff and Cathy, who burns letters to prevent the romantic pairing of our two central unfortunate lovers.
Whenever Elordi appears, he’s larger than life on-screen. He pulls the rug out from under Robbie who seems to be lost at times in the complicated labyrinth that is Emily Brontë’s famed tale which has been studied by students for so long that the tale has sort of become the quintessential romantic tragedy that is not Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Elordi’s yearning for Cathy would have been a tad more believable if Robbie was more up to the task of seeming like the unattainable dream she was for Heathcliff. This film is quite steamy and fulfilling in terms of its romantic scenes even if sometimes one wishes Fennell would have extended rehearsals to make Robbie’s turn come more alive in the earlier scenes within the film.
“Wuthering Heights” would seem like a miscalculation, at first, because of the inconsistencies in Robbie’s performance except it’s so stunning to watch. There are visuals here that entice the viewer and draw them into the story line. The art direction and gorgeously conceived costumes are of the highest caliber. Passionate Charli xcx songs certainly don’t hurt the transition between several key scenes in the movie.
Fennell knows what she’s doing here. She makes the passionate moments leap out so the other sequences feel bland in retrospect. That makes one understand the desire Cathy has for Heathcliff and vice versa. The appeal of the mysterious Heathcliff is juxtaposed to Cathy’s dead-end life with her well-to-do husband and with the despicable Mr. Earnshaw who is lost in his life and ultimately gambles it away. Latif and Clunes are noteworthy for their earnest supporting work, but it’s unlikely anyone will think this movie is headed in a different direction than the one it is moving in. Latif and Clunes’ cut-and-dried characters could have used pizzazz to strengthen their functions in this heartbreaking tale of love and loss.
Elordi is a master thespian. That much is certain. Elordi makes the movie work thanks to his towering screen presence. Robbie eventually grows into the part she plays even if it’s too late to make the role a total success. In the end, “Wuthering Heights” isn’t going to be sufficient CliffsNotes for people reading or studying the book. However, it is just sexy enough to warrant a place in history as what is bound to become one of the most watched love stories of 2026 and of years to come.
Rating: 7.5/10
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