Why Emerald Fennell was so well placed to adapt Wuthering Heights – period drama expert explains
From Kate Bush’s otherworldly pop anthem to Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon embracing on the wild Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is one of the most adapted works of literature in the western world.
One of the most critically acclaimed adaptations to date was Andrea Arnold’s art house take on Emily Brontë’s only novel, released in 2011. Arnold’s film, following her roots in neo-realist filmmaking, adopted a low-key approach to characterisation.
She used improvisational dialogue and placed emphasis on the characters’ relationships with the natural world. The result was a beautifully evocative depiction of the Yorkshire landscape, but a rather understated telling of the novel’s central love story between the foundling Heathcliff and proud, passionate Cathy.
Following in these well-trodden footsteps is filmmaker Emerald Fennell. Her new adaptation, Wuthering Heights, is in cinemas on Valentine’s Day. Just like Arnold, Fennell’s adaptation is her third full length feature. And just like Arnold, Fennell comes to the project having already established herself as a filmmaker with a singular vision. She’s unafraid to confront audiences with challenging characters and a unique visual style.
Though critically lauded, Arnold’s adaptation faltered at the box office. Based on the reception of Fennell’s past films, however, there is every reason to anticipate that her interpretation of Brontë’s novel will be more crowd-pleasing.
Despite being described in the new film’s trailer as “the greatest love story of all time”, Wuthering Heights is arguably a tough sell. Cathy and Heathcliff might be iconic characters, but they are also rather unlikeable. They repeatedly seek to harm each other and any innocent bystander who gets in their way. The novel is morally ambiguous. It communicates not only humanity’s capacity for love and passion, but also its appetite for destruction.
Read more: Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a dark parable about coercive control
Luckily, if any filmmaker has demonstrated their ability to sit comfortably with the darker sides of human nature, it is Fennell. Promising Young Woman (2020, a pastel-toned revenge mission) and Saltburn (2023, a systemic annihilation of the privileged upper class), both successfully portrayed protagonists who do the unthinkable while also, just about, keeping the audience onside.
Fennell’s theatre of obsession
Both Fennell’s previous films centre around obsession. Cassie (Carey Mulligan), once the “promising young woman” of the title, has allowed her life to become dominated by her determination to avenge the death of her childhood best friend. Fennell followed this audacious debut with Saltburn. The film achieved notoriety for its “did he really just do that?” depiction of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) and his silently obsessive pursuit of friend Felix (Jacob Elordi).
This pattern looks set to continue with Wuthering Heights. It’s a story with obsession at its heart, in the deep-rooted bond between Cathy (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Elordi). The promotional material has leaned into this. The trailer features Heathcliff’s desperate plea to the dead Cathy to “be with me always, take any form, drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss where I cannot find you!”
While previous adaptations of the novel often emphasise the wildness of the landscapes, Fennell’s film has a heightened theatricality. The costumes, impressive set design and lighting all suggest an expressionistic take on the story which privileges the uncontrollable emotions of the characters, rather than the naturalistic approach of other filmmakers.
This theatrical visual style also allows Fennell to follow the trend for recent period dramas to present a colourful and rather fantastical vision of the past (hello Bridgerton). Albeit with her own darker twist.
Following on from Saltburn, which was set in the titular stately home, Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is also rooted in the British class system, once again following the fate of a seemingly underprivileged hero (Heathcliff) and his complex relationship with his social superior (the ambitious Cathy).
As with Saltburn, the plot of Wuthering Heights reveals the shifting sands on which apparent class differences are built. The more privileged characters gradually succumb to misfortune as the socially inferior hero succeeds to a position of power through a combination of cunning, skill and luck.
The varied aesthetic of the pre-release material for Wuthering Heights also hints at this undercutting of the myth of the civilised society, with Elordi’s Heathcliff shifting from dishevelled labourer to respectable gentleman. Just as with Oliver Quick’s eventual ownership of Saltburn, this process hints at the fallacy of civilisation. Obsessive, destructive behaviour is not quite forgotten despite the façade of social privilege.
So, will Fennell’s Wuthering Heights find its audience? All the signs are there. The reception of her previous work has shown that there is an appetite for boundary-pushing, morally ambiguous characters, and her uncompromising ability to plumb the darkest corners of human nature makes her an ideal auteur to tackle this material.
Couple that with the recent trend for more fantastical representations of the British past, and now feels like the perfect moment for Fennell to move into literary adaptation. Prepare to get obsessed.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Shelley Galpin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.