Found Each Other, Saved Two More; a Review of the new film Wuthering Heights

 

Public Domain

The old saying goes about some couples, “found each other, saved two more.” It could be the subtitle of the 2026 film Wuthering Heights, very loosely based on Emily Bronte’s novel, really a poem in prose. While the classic Merle Oberon/Laurence Olivier film remained closer to the book, albeit with a sappy ending where Heathcliff’s and Cathy’s ghosts drift off into the moors towards eternal bliss, the new film starring    Margot Robbie (The Barbie Movie) creates new characters while shedding many of the old.

The clueless narrator of the novel is gone.  The scene where Cathy’s host attempts to enter her old room and scares the narrator silly is gone.  Cathy’s cupboard and her journal (Catherine Earnshaw-her book) is gone. Barring the absence of the cupboard bed, Wuthering Heights the house is portrayed exactly as portrayed in the novel.

                                            Olivier and Oberon as Heathcliff and Cathy

Thrushcross Grange is magnificent, and even has it’s own doll house version complete with dolls of Cathy and Isabella.  Isabella Linton has a tiny house in her own room. Marot Robbie had something to do with the production of the film, and she played a doll. Dolls appear as props throughout, including Punch and Judy Puppets, and wooden dolls.  There is a wax doll that makes an appearance, and rag dolls hanging from nooses.  Some of the dolls are not of the time; the novel takes place during the late 18^th century, and the wax doll and wooden dolls (Grodnertal types) appear to be of a later date.  Some of the magnificent jewelry Caty wears also seems to be later, as are the Christmas trees outside Thrush Grange.  The anachronistic elements seem to work, though, and give the setting of the film a surrealistic air.  Please note that 18^th century doll houses were very popular for adults.

Joseph is no longer and old man who speaks in nearly incomprehensible dialect.  He is now a young pervert who engages in S&M sex play with Zillah that incorporates a scold’s bridle. He also slaughters animals and is a randy nuisance (in this humble author’s opinion). According to my wonderful professor, Dr. Dorothy Parkander, Joseph’s dialect in the novel was a flaw, but a necessary one, part of the novel’s core. 

Heathcliff is well, very well acted in the new film.  Another mystery/flaw in the novel according to Dr. Parkander is the hint in the novel that Heathcliff may be Mr. Earnshaw’s son, albeit illegitimate.  As such, his relationship to Cathy is doomed as incestuous; she is his half sister in that scenario.  Also, Heathcliff, though he wouldn’t’ have been a first son, still may have had some birthright, which the oldest Earnshaw boy stole from him when he brutalized Heathcliff and treated him like a servant after his father died.

The opening scenes are brutal; there is brutality throughout the film.  Public hangings were a means of entertainment; there is excitement later on Isabella’s part as she describes the hanging of a woman.  She’s never heard of such a thing; but many women were hanged in England.  There are descriptions of these hangings in Moll Flanders, Frankenstein and Tess of the D’Urbervilles.  In my own book, Capital Punishment in Popular Culture, Toys, Games and Nursery Rhymes-Toying with Death, (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), I include tables with names of women hanged in England.

The film’s landscaping is breathtaking.  The cinematography is original.  Martin Clues, a combination of Mr. Earnshaw and the oldest son, does an amazing job.  His character is both loathsome and poignant.

This film is wroth seeing, and has some terrific acting, but it is not the novel.  Emily Bronte may well have enjoyed it. But, for me, I have to say I still love the book.  I’m privileged to own Anne Rice’s copy, and am inspired whenever I read it.  My views of Heathcliff have changed; I felt sympathy for him, and blamed his actions on the brutality he faced as a child.  But, my last reading, I decided he was a jack ass.  Cathy has never held my sympathy. Too many people suffered and died because of her.  They deserve each other , and are narcissists.

The book is not a romance; it’s about property rights and family placement.  It’s a cautionary tale of how misplaced love can ruin. Plus, there is an Ellen in it; Ellen is Nelly Dean's real name. Emily Bronte apparently based her story on some newspaper clippings she found.  She created a contrast in worlds, full of unforgettable characters.  The film, in its own way, does the same.