David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘Emerald Fennell’ Category

Wuthering Heights

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper, Amy Morgan

Running Time: 2 hours and 16 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

They say you have to be cruel to be kind. Let’s start with the cruelty.

Did director Emerald Fennell read Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights that was a sensation when published in 1847?

Actress Emerald Fennell turned director with her Oscar winning film Promising Young Woman and then followed that up with the shockingly bizarre and strange Saltburn which was actually terrible. So it was with trepidation I learnt that Emerald Fennell would be doing a film version of Wuthering Heights, a mid-Victorian romantic novel which has been turned into a film countless times from the famous Oscar winning 1939 version starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven to more recent versions with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley.

Wuthering Heights was always about a tragic love triangle but at its emotional core is the fiery and unpredictable love between the wilful Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan boy Heathcliff.

In the 2026 version, Oscar nominee Margot Robbie (I,Tonya; Bombshell) stars as Catherine and then the best casting choice ever was to have the hunk of the moment, the towering Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) cast as the dashing and brutal Heathcliff.  

While Margot Robbie did her best as the doomed heroine Catherine Earnshaw, I kept seeing Barbie on the Yorkshire Moors and not Catherine. Catherine, despite all warnings from everyone, does indeed ruin her prospects. Robbie seemed to be crying in every scene of the film.

Jacob Elordi on the other hand was brilliant as Heathcliff, looming and hulking, chopping wood with his hairy torso displayed while Catherine succumbs to indecision and repressed desire. Although that desire does not remain that repressed for director Emerald Fennell then decides to turn this version of Wuthering Heights into a vaguely 1970’s soft porn video.

There is a bizarre scene of Catherine masturbating on the moors while Heathcliff sneaks up on her in disbelief. Then there is the equally strange scene of Catherine spying on the kinky servants having a bondage love scene, with the servants played by Ewan Mitchell and Amy Morgan.

Then there is the dubious casting choices in this contemporary version of Wuthering Heights. While Oscar nominee Hong Chau (The Whale) who is superb as the downtrodden servant Nelly, it is the weird choice of British actor Shazad Latif (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Edgar Linton. There was zero chemistry between Latif and Robbie while obviously this is counterpointed by the onscreen chemistry between Robbie and Elordi.

Veteran British TV and film actor Martin Clunes (Shakespeare in Love) is excellent as Catherine’s alcoholic gambling father Mr Earnshaw and another notable exception is Irish actress Alison Oliver as the repressed and gorgeous Isabella, Mr Linton’s ward, filled with Shakespearean notions of love.

Now for the kindness. To be fair to the production designer Suzie Davies who beautifully captures the Moors and the rambling dilapidation of the country estate Wuthering Heights and the fabulous costumes by Oscar winner Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina, Little Woman), this film does manage to elevate itself out of the mundane and look like an amazing Vogue cover shoot, drawing on inspiration from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

Besides the costumes and sets, the dialogue manages to maintain the correct Victorian diction reflective of the times, however there were some completely unnecessary scenes in this version, which Emerald Fennell included to be provocative without respecting the provenance of the original Gothic romantic novel.

Wuthering Heights will do well at the box office as it has enough stunning cinematic moments that the two main stars help generate and will appeal to 21^st century audience. However, I do urge the 21^st century audience to read the far better novel by Emily Bronte who would turn in her grave if she saw this outlandish version.

The statuesque and smouldering Jacob Elordi saves this version from being trashy and he proves that he is a leading man of this age.

Wuthering Heights expertly marketed to be released on the Valentine’s Day weekend gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. Recommended viewing for the production design and the costumes but not for its disrespect to the original novel.

Promising Young Woman

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Connie Britton, Chris Lowell, Max Greenfield, Clancy Brown, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Molly Shannon, Emerald Fennell

Actress Emerald Fennell who ironically played Camilla Parker-Bowles on the hit Netflix series The Crown has turned writer and director and created an original piece of cinema, Promising Young Woman with a film’s ending that no viewer will guess.

Casting British actress and Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education) in the lead role of Cassandra, a young 30 thirty year old gorgeous woman who gets her kicks out of harassing young men after they have tried to pick her up while playing drunk, is a master stroke. Mulligan channels every controversial female role from Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction to Margot Robbie in Birds of Prey.

Set in a nameless Midwestern city, Cassie still lives with her doting yet confused parents played by Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown after dropping out of med school due to her best friend Nina Fisher suffering from a horrific sexual assault incident at the medical school while they were both in their second year.

The best statement Fennell makes is that the perpetrators of sexual assault are not necessarily wealthy and powerful old men, but they can also be young professional men who behave badly at university and still manage to maintain a lucrative postgraduate career. Cassie witnessing her friend Nina’s life falling apart due to sexual assault, decides to blame all young men and tricks them into taking her home, only to turn on them in their own environment.

Cassie’s revenge really starts getting going when she meets Dr Ryan Cooper, wonderfully played by Bo Burnham, who appears to be a sweet, charming and humorous paediatrician and is attracted to Cassie. Ryan mentions to Cassie that he still sees a lot of their old medical school classmates including Al Monroe and Madison, played respectively by Chris Lowell and Alison Brie, both of whom were directly and indirectly responsible for Nina’s sexual assault.

The beauty of Emerald Fennell’s script is that there is not a lot of details given to the viewer, so Cassie’s actions and her peculiar relationship with men hints at a feminist revenge fantasy. The garish costumes adds to the dark psychology of this thriller, which leaves viewers intrigued.

One by one Cassie hunts down all those responsible for the sexual assault of her best friend and finally lands up at the foot of the bed of the real perpetrator Al Monroe on the night of his bachelor’s party dressed as a kinky nurse.

Promising Young Woman is a tour-de-force of acting for Carey Mulligan who effortlessly transcends from a demure blonde girl behind a coffee counter to a vicious sociopath who is on the hunt for vengeance.

For its sheer originality, Promising Young Woman gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 but as a feminist revenge fantasy it’s going to be divisive and controversial especially with its shocking ending.