‘Wuthering Heights’ movie review: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi invite us to come brilliantly undone in synthetic adaptation

After the execution, which amuses and excites young Catherine (Charlotte Mellington) and her salaryman companion, Nelly (Vi Nguyen), they move back to their luxurious home, Wuthering Heights on the moors.

Catherine’s father Earnshaw (Martin Clunes) is an alcoholic and gambler. When he returns home with a boy (Owen Cooper) who was being abused on the streets of Liverpool, the whole family goes into a lather.

Catherine takes the boy in and names him Heathcliff, after her dead brother, and Earnshaw says that Heathcliff could be Cathy’s pet. As the years pass, the two grow closer while Earnshaw’s addiction leads Wuthering Heights to ruin.

Thrushcross Grange’s new neighbors, cloth merchant Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) and his ward, Isabella (Alison Oliver), give the now grown-up Cathy (Margot Robbie) the idea of ​​marrying Edgar to get out of poverty, much to the anger of Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi).

A scene from ‘Wuthering Heights’ Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Upon hearing Cathy tell Nelly (Hong Chau) that marrying her would humiliate her, and not hearing the latter’s confession of love for her, Heathcliff runs off into the sunset. Cathy marries Edgar and lives a nice but empty life until a well-dressed and mysteriously wealthy Heathcliff returns to upset the household applecart.

To all the sweaty couples in film, Wuthering Heights Strangely it is without heat. Choosing Nelly as the villain of this piece provides no original insight. Bible-thumping, stubborn Joseph (Evan Mitchell) engaging in BDSM with maid Zilla (Amy Morgan) is a bit of fun; Isabella’s downfall, not so much.

Where? Wuthering Heights Soars in its framing, which combines sweeping wide shots with Linus Sandgren’s extremely tight close-ups, and explosive music (Anthony Willis, score, Charli XCX, songs).

A scene from ‘Wuthering Heights’ Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

The marshes, the cliffs, the gorgeous crumbling ruins that are Wuthering Heights, and Thrushcross Grange, with its blood-red floors, hand-built fireplaces, green and gold canopied beds and wallpaper designed to look like Katherine’s face (spooky, of course, up to the mole), are a treat for the senses.

The clothes are also lovely, from Kathy’s vintage wedding dress (the shot of her walking to the Grange with the veil behind her is breathtaking) to the black velvet gown that almost looks like latex.

It’s not an adaptation or reimagining of Brontë’s Gothic story of toxic love that fosters an unhealthy desire for revenge, so much as Fennell hopes to do what Heathcliff and Cathy did with one eye, one shoulder, with in Windsway Yorkshire.

Even if you remove Brontë from the mix, still tragedy. Wuthering Heights Well, it doesn’t stand very well on its own. It’s just a well-crafted, beautifully shot and brilliantly made, yet ultimately lifeless costume drama.

Wuthering Heights is currently playing in theaters