What have critics said about Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" film?

It's one of the most anticipated films of the year. Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is out in cinemas on February 13, and critics are sharing their thoughts ahead of its release.

The film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, directed by Fennell has already proven divisive as fans of the book questioned the casting choices when it was initially announced that Margot Robbie would play Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.

Some of the criticisms included Robbie's age and blonde hair, and Elordi being cast as Heathcliff when in the novel the character isn't depicted as white and is described as a "dark-skinned gipsy." Additionally, the film controversially cuts out the second half of the novel that focuses on the next generation of characters: young Cathy, Linton, and Hareton.

Meanwhile, Charli xcx created the "Wuthering Heights" soundtrack, her first album after the success of her last project Brat, with the songs, 'House' (featuring John Cale), 'Chains of Love', and 'Wall of Sound' already out, with the full album to be released the same day as the film.

In an interview with Fandango, Fennell explained her directorial choices for the film, which included having quote marks around the title.

"But the thing for me is you can't adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can't say I'm making Wuthering Heights. It's not possible," she said.

"'What I can say is I'm making a version of it. There's a version I remembered reading, which isn't quite real. And there's a version that I wanted to stuff to happen that never happened."

Fennell continued, "And so it is Wuthering Heights and it isn't. But really I'd say any adaptation of a novel, and especially a novel like this, should have, you know, quotation marks around it."

What are critics saying?

All in all, "Wuthering Heights" received mixed to favourable reviews from critics, as the film, at the time of writing, has a 70 per cent critic score on film and TV review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.

However, The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey gave it just one star out of five, in the headline describing it as an "astonishingly bad adaptation" that is "like a limp Mills & Boon."

"Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s performances are almost pushed to the border of pantomime, while Fennell’s provocations seem to define the poor as sexual deviants and the rich as clueless prudes," she said.

"Style over substance? Not at all – it’s more that Fennell understands that style can be substance when you do it right," said The Telegraph's Robbie Collin, who called the film a "bosom-heaving, gasp-inducing thrill ride" in his five-star review.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote in his two-star review, "Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë is an emotionally hollow, bodice-ripping misfire that misuses Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi but makes the most of Martin Clune."

"Fennell’s overhaul flirts with insanity, and if you can let go of preconceived notions about how this story should be told, it’s arguably the writer-director’s most purely entertaining film," noted The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney.

Indie Wire's Kate Erbland gave it a B grade, and wrote, "Clocking in at over two hours, there’s no lack of dazzling design and insane ideas to keep every minute of Fennell’s feature thrilling to watch. As with all of Fennell’s films, boredom is never on offer. And yet, that doesn’t entirely dissipate the feeling that something is still missing here."

Giving it three stars out of five, Empire's Beth Webb stated, "Fennell throws everything at this fever-dream adaptation, which massages the senses while showcasing Elordi’s ever-growing star power. If only its electrically erotic energy was sustained to the end."

Elsewhere from Indy100, We went inside Cathy's bedroom Wuthering Heights, and Every song on Charli xcx's "Wuthering Heights" soundtrack album.

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