Directed and written by Emerald Fennell, this romantic drama starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, and Hong Chau hits theaters in France on February 11, 2026. Based on Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights, the film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and offers a reimagining set within a gothic, passionate atmosphere.
The story recounts the tormented relationship between Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Their bond transforms into a series of emotional tensions, shaped by family and social obstacles. The evolution of their story highlights the impact of this passion on their environment.
The plot explores the destructive feelings that bind the two characters together. Their attachment fuels a spiral marked by breakups, reunions, and lasting effects on several generations.
Warner Bros. Pictures describes the film as an ambitious reinterpretation of the novel. The project is produced by Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, and Margot Robbie. Tom Ackerley and Sara Desmond are executive producers. The film features the director's regular collaborators, including Linus Sandgren as director of photography, Suzie Davies as production designer, Victoria Boydell as editor, and Jacqueline Durran as costume designer. The original score includes songs composed by Charli XCX.
This version highlights natural settings and a dramatic atmosphere. The themes include thwarted love, emotional violence, and the characters' difficulty in escaping their fate. The film is aimed at audiences attracted to classic stories adapted with a contemporary approach.
Our take on "Wuthering Heights":
With Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell boldly takes on one of the most iconic works of English literature—not as a reverent adaptation, but as a visceral, sensory experience that hits directly at the core of flesh and emotion. From the opening scenes, the movie sets its tone: the moors transform into a playground of primal urges, bodies succumb to depravity, and the direction focuses less on storytelling and more on evoking raw feelings. The gruesome pyres at the start serve as an aesthetic manifesto: here, excess isn’t a flaw but the guiding principle.
This aggressively bold approach permeates the entire film. Fennell prioritizes emotional intensity and surface sensations over faithful narrative or social nuance from Emily Brontë’s novel. The passionate relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is portrayed as a toxic obsession, fueled by misplaced pride, revenge, and raw desire — risking stripping the story of its tragic and political depths. The film doesn’t aim to analyze; it strikes hard, overflows, and saturates both visuals and sound in a feverish burst.
Nominally, Wuthering Heights impresses on a purely formal level. Linus Sandgren’s stunning cinematography elevates the wild landscapes, the elaborate sets, and costumes, all bathed in an almost painterly light. Every shot feels like a carefully curated emblem—sometimes bordering on illustration, yet always breathtaking. The soundtrack, gritty and omnipresent, drapes the film in an oppressive atmosphere that amplifies the sensation of a relentless, hypnotic vertigo rather than following a traditional narrative structure.
This lavish aesthetic, while a strength, also marks the film’s limitation. The compelling allure of this grand and lush visual style is undeniable, yet once the credits roll, little remains. The emotion is immediate—almost physical—but fleeting. The moral darkness, social critique, and intergenerational cruelty that underpin the novel are sidelined, absorbed into a form of erotic melodrama that favors shock value over thematic depth.
Ultimately, Wuthering Heights appeals primarily to viewers drawn to excessive art, pop reinterpretations, and cinema objects that embrace “too much” as a form of artistic expression. Fans of immersive experiences—highlighted by music, cinematography, and a deliberately modern iconography—will find a hypnotic, sometimes mesmerizing, but never bland film. Those familiar with Fennell’s provocative previous work will recognize a consistent voice in this daring vision.
Conversely, viewers who appreciate the literary complexity, social critique, and moral brutality of the original novel may feel somewhat disconnected. The film doesn’t engage in dialogue with the source text; it traverses and reworks it, sometimes stripping it of its core essence. The elongated ending reinforces this sense of an object caught in its own vertigo, unsure how to escape.
This deeply polarizing piece is less an adaptation and more a radical reimagining. Stunning visually, unsettling at times, yet often frustrating in its substance, the film solidifies Emerald Fennell’s taste for intense sensory experiments. An audacious but uneven filmmaking gesture, it will likely divide audiences: those willing to surrender to its storm of sensations, and others disappointed that beneath the visceral chaos, Brontë’s tragedy has lost some of its darkness and depth.
"Wuthering Heights" | 2026
In theaters from February 11, 2026
Romantic drama | Runtime: 2h16
Directed by Emerald Fennell | Starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau
Original title: Wuthering Heights
Countries: UK / USA
The film offers a new adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel, focusing on the intensity of the relationships and the tragic dimension of this seminal story.
To make your theater experience last even longer, check out the February movie releases, the must-see films of the moment, and our list of the year's best dramas.
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