If you want better cultural representation
Choose Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. It scores 5.0 vs 1.9 for cultural representation, with a 3.7 overall score.
Wuthering Heights Movie Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for lavish visuals, bold costumes, strong music, and a deliberately modern, erotic spin. Skip it if you want Brontë fidelity, deeper class-and-race themes, restrained style, or a romance that consistently lands emotionally.
Best for
Best for viewers who want a lavish, sensual, highly stylized period melodrama and are comfortable treating the novel as a launching point rather than a blueprint.
Not for
Poor fit for Brontë purists, younger viewers, or anyone who prioritizes faithful themes, restrained pacing, and a consistently convincing central romance.
Verdict
This Wuthering Heights is easiest to admire as an audacious visual object rather than a faithful literary adaptation. Reviewers repeatedly praise the cinematography, production design, costumes, score, and supporting cast, and a sizable group is swept up by its sensual, maximalist energy. The harder sell is the core drama: reactions to Robbie and Elordi’s chemistry range from electric to nonexistent, while pacing and runtime draw frequent complaints. The largest objection is what the reinterpretation leaves behind—especially class, race, revenge, character complexity, and the novel’s second-generation consequences. Even the sexual approach splits opinion, with some finding it provocative and others unexpectedly tame or troubling in its treatment of abuse. The result is visually confident, emotionally uneven, and unusually dependent on how much freedom you want an adaptation to take.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
47 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.03 (6%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.413 (28%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.421 (45%)
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Negative 1.5-2.49 (19%)
-
Very negative below 1.51 (2%)
Pros
-
The photography is one of the clearest strengths, repeatedly praised for sweeping Yorkshire landscapes, bold contrast, moody textures, and strikingly cinematic compositions.
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Anthony Willis’s score is one of the most consistently praised elements, described as haunting, sumptuous, and emotionally forceful even when the drama itself falls short.
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The film’s look is its broadest area of agreement: bold color, texture, gowns, weather, and heightened gothic imagery make it visually memorable even for many detractors.
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Sets and interiors are among the most praised elements, with lavish color, texture, and scale offset by occasional criticism that spaces look artificial, over-designed, or tonally mismatched.
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Supporting players are a strong point, with Alison Oliver, Hong Chau, the younger actors, and several secondary performers repeatedly singled out for lively or nuanced work.
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The costumes are widely admired for sumptuous color and spectacle, even by reviewers who object to their deliberate period inaccuracy or occasional excess.
Cons
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Race and representation are a major concern, especially the handling of Heathcliff’s identity and the way the adaptation redistributes class and racial dynamics.
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The most common thematic complaint is lost depth: many reviewers say class, race, revenge, abuse, and generational consequences are reduced in favor of surface-level desire.
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Character depth is a recurring weakness, with critics saying major figures are flattened, simplified, or denied the growth and complexity the story needs.
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Length is a recurring complaint, with multiple reviewers describing the film as overlong or feeling the 132–136 minute running time.
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Pacing is a consistent drawback, especially in the later sections, with repeated complaints about dragging, repetition, and scenes running longer than their emotional payoff.
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Ticket-worthiness is weak overall among reviewers who address it directly, with several saying the spectacle does not justify the time or recommending other options instead.
Cast & Creators
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ComposerThe original songs are often described as electric, immersive, or perfectly matched to the film’s heightened mood, though a minority find the modern cues distracting or out of place.
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CinematographerSandgren’s cinematography is one of the film’s strongest consensus wins, repeatedly praised for sweeping moorland imagery, dramatic contrast, and immersive visual scale.
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HeathcliffElordi generally fares well, with frequent praise for his physicality, brooding intensity, and screen presence, although some critics still object to the casting or find the characterization too limited.
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IsabellaOliver is one of the most dependable supporting standouts, repeatedly praised for comic timing, scene-stealing energy, and the strange vitality she brings to Isabella.
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ComposerWillis’s score earns strong approval for its haunting, sweeping emotional force, even from critics who think the movie itself fails to deliver comparable feeling.
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Mr. EarnshawClunes draws strong notices for turning Mr. Earnshaw into a vivid, cruel, and sometimes darkly entertaining presence.
View all 47 feature scores and cast & creators
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Movies, this product is above average in makeup quality, editing quality, humor, near average in cinematography, sexual content level, below average in cultural representation, age appropriateness, theme depth.
Comparison summary
47 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher6 (13%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts17 (36%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower24 (51%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| cultural representation | 1.9 | 3.9 | -2.0 |
| age appropriateness | 1.0 | 3.1 | -2.1 |
| theme depth | 2.2 | 3.7 | -1.5 |
| faithfulness to source material | 2.6 | 3.8 | -1.2 |
| chemistry between characters | 2.9 | 4.1 | -1.2 |
| realism | 1.8 | 3.3 | -1.6 |
| rewatch value | 2.0 | 3.6 | -1.6 |
| character development | 1.8 | 3.1 | -1.4 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better faithfulness to source material
Choose Project Hail Mary. It scores 4.6 vs 2.6 for faithfulness to source material, with a 4.3 overall score.
If you want better sexual content level
Choose How to Make a Killing. It scores 5.0 vs 2.8 for sexual content level, with a 3.5 overall score.
If you want better theme depth
Choose Girls Like Girls. It scores 4.5 vs 2.2 for theme depth, with a 4.0 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
1939 version starring Laurence Olivier
- Alternative: faithfulness to story The older version is recommended as a better take on the story.
Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation
- Alternative: faithfulness and casting The reviewer recommends Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation for a version that does not whitewash Heathcliff.
Crimson Peak
- Alternative: gothic alternative The reviewer recommends Crimson Peak instead of this adaptation.
FAQ
Is this a faithful adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel?
Mostly no. Many reviewers emphasize major omissions, altered character dynamics, and reduced class, race, revenge, and second-generation material, though some enjoy the freedom of the reinterpretation.
Do Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi have good chemistry?
Opinion is sharply split. Some reviewers call their chemistry electric, palpable, or undeniable, while others describe the central pairing as awkward, cold, or chemistry-free.
What is the movie’s biggest strength?
The visual and technical craft. Cinematography, costumes, production design, score, and supporting performances receive the most consistent praise.
Is it as sexually explicit as the marketing suggests?
It is clearly adult and sensual, with explicit or BDSM-tinged material, but several reviewers still find it surprisingly tame, chaste, or less provocative than advertised.
Does the movie drag?
For many reviewers, yes. Pacing and runtime are recurring complaints, especially in later sections where the romance can feel repetitive or overextended.
Who is most likely to enjoy it?
Viewers open to a bold, visually maximalist reinterpretation are the best fit; Brontë purists and viewers seeking deeper thematic fidelity are much more likely to be frustrated.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - Amanda the Jedi
- Review score
- 3.9
Article Reviews
voicemag.uk
Emerald Fennell's steamy modernisation on Emily Brontë's novel might be divisive for good reason, but it's breathtaking enough in both it's...
- Review score
- 3.4
moviereviewmom.com
MOVIE TITLE: Wuthering Heights (2026) This smutty adaptation of Emily Bronte's classic story is now available on digital platforms. RATING: R...
- Review score
- 3.4
magpiebyjenshoop.com
A review of Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" movie, including what it means to be an adaptation, the Jacob Elordi effect, and more.
- Review score
- 3.6
cinelinx.com
A gorgeous set design is not enough to make up for a flawed production that badly misinterprets the story Emily Bronte set forth to tell in...
- Review score
- 2.8
chicagoreader.com
The racism of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights overwhelms the film’s virtues.
- Review score
- 3.8
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