Robbie and Elordi Revive Fennell’s Bold Wuthering Heights

Explore Emerald Fennell’s raw adaptation of Wuthering Heights featuring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

Wuthering Heights

The Moors are Bleeding: Why Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Will Break You

Forget the stiff collars. Forget the polite yearning in candlelit drawing rooms. If you think you know Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell is about to prove you wrong.

Her latest adaptation, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, isn’t a “period drama”—it’s a haunting. It’s a movie designed to make you physically respond, a visceral descent into a love that curdles into obsession and revenge.

A Director Who Thrives in the Dark 

Emerald Fennell doesn’t do “safe.” After the neon-soaked revenge of Promising Young Woman and the aristocratic rot of Saltburn, Fennell has turned her gaze toward the ultimate gothic nightmare. She isn’t interested in the faded, sepia-toned adaptations of the past.

Instead, she delivers a world that is raw, sensual, and electric. “The moment I read it, it just broke me open,” Fennell admitted, and that brokenness is exactly what she’s put on screen.

The Casting of a Doomed Duo 

The choice of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi initially raised eyebrows, but the chemistry is undeniable. Robbie, who also produced the film, describes the project as “more romantic than provocative,” yet she leans into the raw intensity of Catherine Earnshaw with a ferocity we haven’t seen.

Beside her, Elordi brings a brooding magnetism to Heathcliff that Fennell actually envisioned years ago—inspired, believe it or not, by his sideburns in Saltburn.

Elordi describes Fennell as having the book “pumping through her soul,” a passion that pushed him to move beyond the tropes of the character’s past iterations.

The Bold Creative Gamble 

Perhaps the most counterintuitive move Fennell made was her “surgical” approach to the source material.

• The Cut: She zeroes in exclusively on the first half of the novel, stopping before the next generation takes over.
• The Heat: By narrowing the scope, she turns up the emotional temperature to a boiling point.
• The Imagery: Fennell teases a specific, feral moment on a rock that she promises will stick with audiences long after the credits roll.

How to Adapt a Classic 

Most directors fail Wuthering Heights because they try to make the characters redeemable. Fennell does the opposite.

• Lean into the Mess: Brontë’s world is messy, dark, and complicated; trying to polish it kills the heart of the moors.
• Reject the “Historical” Look: Fennell uses striking imagery and gothic energy that feels modern. Authenticity isn’t found in old filters; it’s found in the raw, universal agony of a bond that wrecks people as much as it unites them.

This is not a film to sit back and watch; it is a film to feel in your bones. Robbie and Elordi have made it clear: when Emerald Fennell leads, you follow her anywhere—even into the heart of a doomed, obsessive storm.