Trailer for Wuthering Heights starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are embroiled in a bad romance in this bold new adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic novel Wuthering Heights.
LOS ANGELES – Oh, the girls are off, I get it.
It was February 13, also known as Galentine’s Day, the morning after I invited 18 friends to rent a private movie theater to watch Emerald Fennell’s wild interpretation of Wuthering Heights, and I’m sure we all woke up with a Jacob Elordi hangover.
Or you can actually choose from one of the Valentine’s Day-themed specialty drinks flowing at the bar. Depending on your viewing experience of what’s being touted as “the greatest love story of all time,” go for the gin-based “Love in Bloom” or the tequila-based “Strawberry Kiss.” nevertheless it is For many who have read Emily Bronte’s 1847 Gothic novel, this question is debatable. If you know, you know.
But during the screening on a warm Friday afternoon, at 3:30 p.m., in broad daylight, to be exact, 18 women were indoors, hollering, hollering, stunned and speechless every time the glorious 6-foot-5 Elordi appeared on screen.
Jacob Elordi of Wuthering Heights talks about “What are dreams made of?”
In one of the first scenes in which the Oscar-nominated actor (“Frankenstein”) plays Heathcliff, one of his friends sings “This is what dreams are made of” to a Hilary Duff song.
“Yeah, daddy,” joked another as Elordi covered Robbie’s mouth while secretly watching Joseph (Ewan Mitchell) have sex with his maid (played by Amy Morgan).
Another added: “This is what women want!” When Elordi’s Heathcliff and Robbie’s Catherine finally share a passionate kiss.
Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and the casting of the “half-savage, strong, free-spirited” Catherine Earnshaw as Elordi opposite Margot Robbie have set the literary world on fire ever since trailers teased them last fall. That’s when we finally got a glimpse of Elordi’s role as the loud, toxic fictional lover boy. The Saltburn director’s vision for the novel quickly drew criticism for whitewashing the character of Heathcliff (played only by black actors in the 2011 film adaptation directed by Andrea Arnold).
The deeply flawed and complex character, detailed in the book as an “it” and “gypsy brat” who is “as dark as if it came from the devil,” is portrayed by the Australian actor as a charmingly strong and beautiful man in this reimagining of Fennell’s novel.
Wuthering Heights, the only novel Bronte wrote during her lifetime, also contains strong themes of domestic violence and coercive control, as Catherine and Heathcliff wage psychological warfare against each other and their partners, further passing on their trauma to their children and their children’s children. Many of these were not included in Fennell’s version, and many initially complained that the film seemed to glorify the abuse in the book.
So, even though this book is one of the most dysfunctional love stories I’ve ever read, why did I invite 18 women to watch this perverted 2026 version set to a soundtrack by Charli XCX?
Wuthering Heights is both insane and sacred.
In Robbie’s words in a recent interview with USA TODAY, it’s “complex and juicy.”
When I was a teenager, I read about the fierce and deadly love between Heathcliff and Catherine. something. I mean, Heathcliff’s lines on this page are just chilling. “You said I killed you. Then please follow me. Always be with me. In any way you want. Drive me crazy.”
Since then, I have collected various editions of that novel. For anyone who will listen, I recommend the novel, which was made into a 2009 PBS movie starring Tom Hardy and his real-life wife Charlotte Riley. Then I’ll try to convince you to read this book.
Naturally, the film’s Valentine’s Day weekend release and collective thirst for Elordi was the perfect amalgamation of many of my interests. Friends, romance movies with unfortunate endings, literature, vacations to celebrate sisterhood and friendship, and, well, an excuse to stare at cute celebrities for nearly two hours.
Thus, the “Feral 4 Elordi” viewing party held on Galentine’s Day was born. Because Wuthering Heights, as a reading or visual experience, is both crazy and sacred.
In Fennell’s version, we’re immediately transported into a kind of fever dream, and we realize it’s going to be a wild ride ahead. Sometimes, it’s enough to know deep down that subtle works of literature and provocative, deviant works of pop culture can coexist without one detracting from the other.
This torture story has both Fennell’s and Brontë’s versions.
Every time Elordi moves a finger, we can gasp and giggle, we can clap and cheer as Robbie’s Catherine enjoys herself on the moor as Heathcliff looks on, and retain the impact and lasting impact of Brontë’s novel, which deals with race, class, and gender.
Elordi told USA TODAY. “That’s the beauty of ‘Wuthering Heights’ and what Bronte did with this book. She exposed something at a time when everyone, especially women, was so restricted in what they could feel and what they could say.”
In a darkened theater, we were transported, almost for the first time, to the Yorkshire moors of Brontë’s world, and we poured out our raw, unfiltered reactions to this story of an unruly “love” that we would only express between other women. Because, as Nicole Kidman once said, “We come to this place for magic.”
