Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s Wuthering Heights Is Gorgeous, Guilty, and Gloriously Unfaithful

Emerald Fennell’s 2026 reimagining trades Victorian Gothic restraint for latex, lust and lush visuals — breathtaking as cinema, divisive as adaptation.

Wuthering Heights

(Warner Bros Pictures)

Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi

What’s that saying? Still waters run deep? Well, they certainly did with Emily Bronte, a reclusive, possibly agoraphobic writer of the 1800s, who penned one of the greatest novels ever written in English, Wuthering Heights. Set against the romantic backdrop of the tempestuous moors with main characters the brooding Heathcliff and wild Cathy, the book has remained an enduring classic, spawning countless movies. It explored how taboo love with someone ‘beneath you’ was in the classist 1800s, and the passion and pining of unfulfilled, unsanctioned desire. Could the 2026 movie, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, do such a triumph of literature justice? I watched the film to find out just that. 

Before I even plopped myself into the comfy environs of the Gold Class cinema, I was well aware of the fact that this latest film is a reimagining, dreamt up by Emerald Fennell, channeling her 14-year-old self. I also knew early reviews had been scathing, and had seen photos of the vastly historically inaccurate costuming, like the latex-look dress Margot Robbie wears. Which brings me to my first point: is Wuthering Heights particularly faithful to the source material? No. Is it faithful to the historical era? For the most part, no. Does it strangely have graphic BDSM style sex in it, akin to, as one reviewer put it, 50 Shades of Grey? Yes. (I have, however, never seen 50 Shades, so I’m just going by what I’ve been told!) So yes, it’s fair to say this adaptation is riddled with some sizeable problems! 

However, while it’s no secret Wuthering Heights the movie is problematic in many ways, there are quite a few redeeming qualities, if viewed as its own entity. The costuming, while about as historic as Kim Kardashian, is nevertheless still stunning. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi have sizzling chemistry. The Charli XCX soundtrack works surprisingly well, despite not being the famous Kate Bush song, much to the chagrin of my mother. The movie is aesthetically gorgeous and moved me to incessant tears, (and not because the BDSM was so sacrilegious to Emily Bronte, as sceptics might theorise). It was, if taken without the context of the book, a visually beautiful and moving film. 

Taken with the context of the novel in mind, though, Wuthering Heights the movie changes the plot and ending so decidedly, that many of the Victorian Gothic elements and some of the overarching themes are completely lost. While many of the films have definitely strayed from the book, (the 1992 Ralph Fiennes movie is apparently the most faithful), this effort definitely takes a lot of liberties. I enjoyed it immensely, and give it a 9 out of 10, just on an ‘enjoyment’ scale. However, if I were to grade it with the Bronte text in mind, it would sadly receive more like a 4 out of 10. 

While I don’t want to wax lyrical, (yes, I’m happy to cheekily insert the name of the website wherever I can), another point worth considering, is whether the recent movie romanticises and sanitises, what is essentially a toxic union. While the novel showed some of the complexities and layers of such a relationship over decades and multiple generations, the movie condenses it down into one torrid love affair. It’s worth remembering that while Cathy and Heathcliff belong to different classes, the more important factor is Heathcliff’s temper and tendency towards seeking revenge. Coupled with Cathy’s similarly hot head and perverse love for emotionally torturing Heathcliff, the two would make for an explosive union, even if wealth and status didn’t stand in their way.

Given how rich and insightful the book was, it’s hard to limit myself to exploring only these points, but I will say, in conclusion, that Wuthering Heights 2026 is extremely enjoyable, but also extremely flawed. Give it a watch if you don’t mind it lightly following the blueprint, but give it a miss if your sensibilities will be offended by how much it strays from the original. Much like the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, this movie is a guilty pleasure, a wild and chaotic ride that one would be sensible to avoid, but that less sensible people will revel in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fLCdIYShEQ