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'Wuthering Heights' is a bad romance worthy of your obsession - review

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi play Cathy and Heathcliff in a steamy adaptation of Wuthering Heights based on Emily Brontë's book.

- Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star as eternal lovers Cathy and Heathcliff in the new film "Wothering Heights" (opening Friday, Feb. 13).

- Filmmaker Emerald Fennell takes some liberties with Emily Brontë's 1847 novel.

- Full 2026 film soundtrack with original Charli XCX songs.

Emerald Fennel's take on the literary classic Wuthering Heights isn't exactly a Valentine's Day pick, but it's stunning to watch in all its poisonous obsession, forbidden lust, and gothic sincerity.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are friends, lovers and bitter rivals in the cold and stormy "Heights" (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters Feb. 13).Fennell's adaptation takes things a bit too far from Emily Brontë's original 1847 Victorian novel, but unless you're a devoted superfan, you probably won't be too upset.The Oscar-winning British filmmaker creates a sumptuously bad romance that's slightly highbrow, darkly funny and ultimately heartbreaking.

After an opening that leaves the crowd inexplicably heated and fearful of an execution - an auspicious choice to begin a tragic love story - alcoholic farmer Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes) brings home a street boy (Owen Cooper) as a "charity."He tells his headstrong, high-maintenance little daughter Cathy (Charlotte Mellington) that the boy can be her “pet.”

He is named Heathcliff, and when the servants, including Nellie (Vi Nguyen) whom Cathy trusts, do not like having another child to look after, the two children become very close. Cathy even tells Heathcliff one night, "I will never leave you."

Years later, their house Wuthering Heights becomes a terrible disaster after Mr. Earnshaw is their money. Cathy (Robbie) and Heathcliff (Elordi) enjoy a friendship full of tricks and jokes, and they like to annoy each other, although Heathcliff is strong for his friend.

Cathy is also a woman who feels pressure to marry, preferably to a wealthy man.When wealthy velvet tycoon Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) moves into the luxurious Thrushcross Grange next door, Cathy awkwardly introduces herself, Edgar is hurt, and his young guardian Isabella (Alison Oliver) is delighted that he has a new girlfriend.

Heathcliff is not very happy, he is unhappy when Cathy and Edgar get married, and he intends to return five years later to be rich and mayhem.Cathy always yearns for Heathcliff, the two begin a secret affair, but it turns into a brutal war between them.

Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is a star-studded sensory overload with flashy costumes and a set that, interestingly enough, encourages rich people to be totally weird.(Edgar furnishes Cathy's bedroom with walls that look like her skin, with veins and moles.) The film also features several original songs by Charli XCX, whose soundtrack is much better than the singer's lackluster documentary.

But the director's film is impressive, revealing new depths from the woman who made The Promised Land and the exterior of Salt.He uses English mud wings and impending electrical storms to show the electric couple and their complex emotions.Fennell then created a visual appeal to mirror Cathy and Heathcliff's childhood in their adult lives, a nod to their stunted development, but also the kind of naivety and bond only children can have.

Whether it's the mysterious ethnicity of Heathcliff (who is described as a "dark-skinned gypsy" in the novel) or his teenage years with Cathy, Fennell certainly goes as far as Brontë's favorite book as a discourse.

Cathy can be suicidal and crazy, Heathcliff aloof and ruthless but never condescending.And while their steamy, sweaty shields are hot and heavy (despite being heavily clothed), the sweetest moments are the little ones, like Heathcliff gently waving his hand to keep the rain out of Cathy's eyes.

Hong Chow is a good choice as the grown-up Nellie, someone who secretly hates and causes more friction in Cathy and Heathcliff's messy situation.Latif brings an inner goodness to Edgar that makes him a foil for Heathcliff but also a better man for Cathy.

With flair and bombast to spare, Fennell reaches such great “Heights” that this feels like the first must-see movie of 2026, an enthralling retelling of an all-time love story through an accessibly modern lens.