Movie review
February 11, 2026 · 136 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is a stylized erotic reinterpretation of Emily Brontë's 1847 novel. It follows the obsessive, destructive love and revenge between Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a declining family on the Yorkshire moors, and Heathcliff, the dark foundling boy brought into her home in 18th-century England. Catherine chooses a wealthy suitor for status and security, triggering years of jealousy, betrayal, and tragedy as Heathcliff returns wealthy and bent on ruin. The film leans hard into primal sexual tension, sado-masochistic power games, and gothic visuals with a modern pop edge rather than deep literary or social themes.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Wuthering Heights.
Woke representation / casting
Casting puts white stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the central romantic leads for a period English story. Visible diversity appears in supporting roles with Hong Chau (Asian-American) as narrator Nelly and Shazad Latif (British-Pakistani heritage) as Edgar Linton. The prominent Heathcliff casting drew heavy criticism for whitewashing the source's racial ambiguity rather than any audience-visible identity signaling or quota emphasis from the production. Creators framed choices as personal vision and "just a book," not representation priorities.
Woke political dialogue
No modern activist language, identity lectures, or ideological speeches appear. Dialogue and conflicts stay rooted in personal obsession, jealousy, class status, love, and revenge, matching the novel's core without added contemporary framing.
Identity-driven story themes
The story centers obsessive passion, betrayal over class and status, and cycles of personal revenge on the moors. The adaptation prioritizes erotic tension, sado-masochistic dynamics, and individual emotional destruction over systemic identity, race, or social-justice messaging. Reviews frequently note it strips or sidelines deeper class and racial elements from the source in favor of spectacle.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Historical class divides, domestic abuse, and power imbalances are present as in the book. The film highlights psychosexual games and degradation within the central relationship, including BDSM-tinged scenes, but does not reframe them as modern activist critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, whiteness, or Western norms. Emphasis remains gothic romance and personal torment.
Woke character or canon changes
Heathcliff is cast white, consistent with most prior film versions despite novel descriptions of dark skin and outsider origins that some interpret racially. This has been attacked as whitewashing rather than a woke or DEI-driven swap. Other shifts favor erotic and stylistic intensity for a personal take; they read as ordinary adaptation choices, not identity-motivated canon alterations.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Some social media posts and reviews called out heavy sexualization, added BDSM and kink elements (including pup-play style treatment of Isabella) absent or downplayed in the novel, modern soundtrack, and provocative style as a pervy desecration or cultural overreach. A few labeled it a "woke trap" that used the classic name to deliver explicit content to conservative-leaning audiences. These complaints exist but are limited in volume and secondary to dominant casting and fidelity debates.
Creator track record context
Emerald Fennell has a clear pattern of stylish films centered on gender dynamics, power, sex, and taboo (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn). Margot Robbie and LuckyChap partners (Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara) repeatedly back complex female stories and women filmmakers. Casting director Kharmel Cochrane is known for pushing fresh and diverse talent. Other producers are largely commercial or technical with no matching activist patterns. The key creatives' body of work signals interest in provocative, power-themed, or female-forward narratives more than explicit DEI or identity-politics framing.
Production
