On Feb. 13, 2026, “Wuthering Heights,” directed by Emerald Fennell, came to theatres. The movie is based on a book written by Emily Brontes published in 1847, and was later adapted to a movie. When Wuthering Heights was officially announced, fans expected it to be a direct, or close copy, of the book, which it did not turn out to be. The movie starred two big name actors: Margot Robbie who played Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi who played Heathcliff, which brought a lot of attention to the film itself. In addition to popular celebrities, well-known artist Charli XCX contributed a 12 track soundtrack for the movie with popular songs like “Chains of Love” and “Out of Myself” that are viral on Tiktok.
“Wuthering Heights” is a depressive destructive love story between Heathcliff and Catherine “Cathy” Earnshaw set in 19th century England. Healthcliff was an adopted orphan by the Earnshaws and created a close bond with Cathy since they were children. Cathy chose money and security over Heathcliff even though she loved him, which led her to lots of regret as she lived with her husband five miles away from where she grew up. Heathcliff left, but ultimately came back in a shocking arrival, destroying Cathy’s devotion to Edgar Linton, played by Shazad Latif, her husband. Throughout the movie, Cathy and Healthcliff come into contact but end up breaking it off before they hurt other people. Towards the end of the movie, Cathy becomes extremely ill, and Heathcliff fights for one last time to see her, but he is too late. This ending ultimately led to the realization that the tragic love story ended for both of them in terms of wanting each other but not knowing it, making it a heartbreaking end.
The novel written by Bronte was described as a dark, gothic, fatal romance novel centered around the idea of yearning. Fans believe that the movie fell short of book adaptation expectations, even though it wasn’t meant to be an exact replica but just a movie based on the book, hence why the movie title is in quotation marks. Some fans loved the movie, specifically those who didn’t read the book, but the fans who did read the original novel saw big flaws and plot holes within the movie. These include Heathcliff being white, which undermines the racial aspect present in the book, which makes the separation between Heathcliff and Catherine even more devastating. Certain things like this ultimately made some people critical of the movie, but most people saw it as a heart wrecking love story.
Before watching the movie, I did not have any clue what it would be about because I haven’t read the book. But from seeing it from my TikTok feed, it looked very interesting and I wanted to see more of one of my favorite actors in it (Jacob Elordi). Every role he plays, he translates that character even further and really gets deep into his role, which is what I love about Elordi and it makes me excited to see him in movies every time. He dove into his character Heathcliff so well and precisely, it’s like he is that person in real life.
The whole movie was about two hours long, but I still left wanting more. Cathy and Heathcliff went through so much in their life together, just for Cathy to end up dying not knowing that Heathcliff has been writing letters to her and still has love for her because Nelly kept on burning them. That made me angry and frustrated and for the long movie to just end there was not satisfying. I wanted a happy ending to their love story, not one that leaves Heathcliff in a mess. I also thought that throughout the movie, it was a little bit confusing with the storyline and knowing the characters, I couldn’t tell that Heathcliff was adopted into the family until he and Cathy were both teenagers. The movie ultimately left me in tears, more than I expected to be, and the ending was very tragic.
