Wuthering Heights has torn the Independent’s culture desk apart

Are you currently distrusting your friends and loved ones due to their feelings about Emerald Fennell’s garish bodice-ripper? Then you are not alone! Here at ‘The Independent’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ has left us more divided than ever. So, in the interest of healing, we asked eight of our writers to explain their very heated feelings on it CultureFilmFeaturesOffice PoliticsWuthering Heights has torn the Independent’s culture desk apartAre you currently distrusting your friends and loved ones due to their feelings about Emerald Fennell’s garish bodice-ripper? Then you are not alone! Here at ‘The Independent’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ has left us more divided than ever. So, in the interest of healing, we asked eight of our writers to explain their very heated feelings on itWednesday 18 February 2026 00:21 ESTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverMargot Robbie and Jacob Elordi fight and kiss in new Wuthering Heights trailerYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreBrexit. JFK’s assassination. That blue and black or white and gold dress. All vaguely impressive sources of debate, but sorely lacking in the drama and volatility of The Independent culture desk’s first few days in a post-Wuthering Heights world. Emerald Fennell’s grass-eating, dough-molesting bodice-ripper – “adapted” “loosely” from Emily Brontë’s literary touchstone – has been the canary in the coal mine for our offices here, helping surface long-standing tensions and sharpening inter-desk rivalries.No, I kid. We’ve all just really, really disagreed with one another on it, Fennell comfortably reaffirming her position as the most divisive filmmaker currently working. Questions are constant. “Was Margot Robbie supposed to act like that?”; “Jacob Elordi gold tooth – yay or nay?”; “Did I enjoy Wuthering Heights or was there a gas leak in my cinema?”, and so on.At the insistence of our HR department, we’ve been asked to calmly express our fractured feelings about the film here, and publicly declare that each of our interpretations of the movie are valid. They do not reflect positively or negatively on their respective writers, and no one will be mocked, commended or jeered at for their thoughts on Emerald Fennell. Phew.Katie RosseinskyI entered the Odeon on a Friday night hoping for one thing and one thing only from Wuthering Heights: a truly excellent Martin Clunes performance. On this count, Wuthering Heights delivered. Is Martin now in his prestige era? Is Doc Martin about to “do a Colman” and go Hollywood? Otherwise, though, the film elicited a big old shrug from me; it was nowhere near as clever and scandalous as Emerald Fennell clearly thought it was. Her tendency to relentlessly aestheticise just ended up stripping out all the emotion and nuance, leaving one of the most strange and fascinating books of all time feeling flat and empty.Annabel NugentIt’s easy to get caught up in the hatred of Wuthering Heights because yes, the acting is dodgy in parts and yes, as an adaptation, it really does dumb down Emily Brontë’s classic – but when I feel myself start to give in to the no-fun-having naysayers, I remember that I was actually having a good enough time sitting in the cinema watching the movie. Between the highly stylised Yorgos Lanthimos-lite set, Charli xcx’s soaring soundtrack and all the sexy, silent longing going on, there’s plenty to distract from the film’s obvious pitfalls. Sure, there’s nothing deep or meaningful here, but does there always have to be?open image in galleryJacob Elordi as Heathcliff in ‘Wuthering Heights’ (Warner Bros)Patrick SmithFew directors polarise opinion quite so much as Emerald Fennell. For most, her films are either brilliant or an unmitigated disaster. I thought Wuthering Heights was fine. At its best, it’s a bold, glistening, schlocky melodrama with a Charli xcx score that burrows its way into your ear. At its worst, though, it drags and… isn’t that hot? Best enjoyed with lots of wine.Roisin O’ConnorI loathe this film. I think it says plenty about today’s film industry and its condescending belief that audiences aren’t smart enough for anything other than superficial takes on actual art – perhaps it also says that Emerald Fennell’s Oxford degree in English Literature was wasted on her. Wuthering Heights is a challenging book, perhaps, but that doesn’t mean its central themes – colonialism, destructive love, reven