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Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic novel of doomed love, dark obsession, and revenge, has always been the perfect story for screen adaptations. And there have been many of them over the last hundred years. The first was a 1920 silent film made in England, though there are no prints available. Director Luis Buñuel shot a Mexican drama, Abismos de Pasión, in 1954. India’s “Bollywood” studios have made several versions. There was also a 1958 TV translation featuring Richard Burton and Rosemary Harris, a 1992 movie with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and a modern-day MTV take from 2003. This proves obsessive love is a universal theme.
The 1939 Wuthering Heights starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon is now considered a cinema classic. It changed many of the harsher aspects of the Heathcliff character from the novel, concentrating more on his longing for Catherine. The story is mostly told in flashback by Ellen (Flora Robson), a servant at the bleak Wuthering Heights manse. Her audience is Lockwood (Miles Mander), a visitor stranded during a snowstorm. Ellen shares how Catherine and Heathcliff first met as children. Cathy’s father (Cecil Kellaway) brings home a young boy he found living on the streets of Liverpool. Cathy and her brother Hindley are at first unwelcoming. Eventually Heathcliff, as he is named, and Cathy become friends. Years later, after their father dies, Hindley relegates Heathcliff to stable boy and becomes arrogant with his sister and the help.
Cathy and Heathcliff are smitten with each other and have secret meetings at a place on the Yorkshire moors named Penistone Crags. One night they happen upon a party at their neighbor Edgar Linton’s home, climbing a wall to better see the festive goings on. Cathy is bitten by a watchdog and brought inside the Linton estate so her wounds can be treated. It is decided she will need to stay there to recuperate, which infuriates Heathcliff.
Cathy eventually returns home and Edgar Linton (David Niven) proposes marriage to her. Heathcliff overhears Cathy and Ellen talking about the proposal and leaves the estate when Cathy says it would “degrade” her to marry Heathcliff. He never hears the end of the conversation, where Cathy acknowledges she belongs with him. Realizing he was eavesdropping Cathy runs out in the storm after him and becomes ill. While Heathcliff is gone, Cathy and Edgar marry. Returning years later rich and refined, Heathcliff buys Wuthering Heights from Hindley, now a drunken wastrel. He begins romancing Edgar’s sister Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald), which causes a jealous reaction from Cathy. They marry and an inconsolable Cathy becomes severely ill. Heathcliff rushes to her bedside and a dying Cathy admits she has loved only him.
Directed by William Wyler, the film was a major success. Wyler and Olivier reportedly clashed during production, in part because Olivier was not used to the many takes Wyler demanded. Though I may be in the minority, I find Olivier a bit too polished for the role in the early scenes, and at times his performance feels overly theatrical. He becomes more convincing once Heathcliff returns as a refined gentleman. As Catherine, Oberon recalls Scarlett O’Hara, minus the Southern accent. Robson brings warmth and authenticity to Ellen, and Niven gives a solid performance as Edgar.
2026 has brought us a lush new adaptation by Emerald Fennell. She wrote and directed this more adult version, with two strong leads, a sharp eye for color, and a focus on eroticism. Fennell’s prior films, which for some are polarizing, include the terrific black comedies Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023). She has a bold and satirical style and makes incendiary choices.
In this version Catherine and Heathcliff are played by genetic lottery winners Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (last year’s Frankenstein). Fennell eliminates the brother character Hindley and assigns his vices of drinking and gambling to the father. Hong Chau is Nelly, Cathy’s companion/servant and covert troublemaker. Isabella (a very game Alison Oliver) is now a ward of Edgar (Shazad Latif), not his sister. Robbie and Elordi easily convey the passion of the doomed lovers while being jealous, cruel, and spiteful.
Elordi especially nails the roguishness and vengeful qualities of Heathcliff but keeps you firmly on his side. After Cathy weds Edgar a forlorn Heathcliff says, “I have not broken your heart–you have broken it, and in breaking it you have broken mine.” His pain is palpable. When Heathcliff decides to use Isabella as jealousy bait for Cathy and marries her, Isabella’s eager responses could not be funnier. Oliver somehow makes her completely endearing even when chained up as a dog and barking for her master Heathcliff. This lady commits.
Cathy becomes pregnant (by Edgar), but being distraught over Heathcliff’s marriage, refuses to eat and takes to her room. Heathcliff sends her love letters, but Nelly steals them, causing Cathy to believe Heathcliff has deserted her. She suffers a miscarriage and develops sepsis. This leads to a heartbreaking conclusion.
Fennell knew she could not adapt the entire Brontë novel. With this revamping, the filmmaker said, she tried to capture the feeling she had as a teenager reading the book for the first time. She also saw the story as what happens when you deny something primal within you and the consequences of that. Every detail in the film was well thought out. The costumes and set designs themselves are true works of art. The cinematography is simply beautiful, and the score by Anthony Willis and songs by Charli xcx help create a haunting atmosphere.