Brontë museum staff praise racy wuthering heights movie as debates over fidelity intensify
Emerald Fennell’s new wuthering heights movie has split opinion: museum staff in Haworth have hailed the film’s daring reimagining while many scholars and fans push back at explicit additions and dramatic departures from Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. The adaptation’s first preview screenings drew strong reactions, with defenders celebrating its theatricality and others lamenting the loss of the book’s later half and many canonical details.
Museum staff applaud bold, sensual reworking
Staff at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth watched the film at a preview screening in Keighley and offered warm endorsements. Housekeeping staffer Zoe called the movie “amazing” and said it moved her emotionally. Colleague Mia described the film as “a fever dream, ” praising its costumes, sets and soundtrack as an escape into the novel’s atmosphere. A visitor experience coordinator, Ruth, said the picture captured what she called “some essential truths” of the Cathy and Heathcliff relationship, and several team members expressed hope the film will send viewers back to the book.
Museum staff acknowledged the project is not faithful in a traditional sense but framed that as part of its appeal. Outreach officer Diane conceded the film is “not for purists” yet argued it works as “an entertaining riff on the novel. ” The cast also won praise: one staff member complimented Jacob Elordi’s performance, saying he “nailed the accent” even as the casting sits alongside longstanding conversations about Brontë’s description of Heathcliff as dark-skinned.
Explicit content and structural changes fuel controversy
The adaptation opens with a startling image — an aroused nun observing a hanged man with an erection — and proceeds to incorporate scenes and motifs absent from the Victorian text. BDSM sequences, masturbation on the moors, beds filled with eggs staged for erotic effect, and extended sexual encounters in rain-soaked settings mark a clear turn toward sexualised, visceral storytelling. Characters have been conflated or omitted and key plot elements reworked, with the film reportedly foregoing the book’s entire second half.
These choices have provoked consternation among academics and fans who worry that viewers unfamiliar with the novel will take the film as a straightforward adaptation. Critics raise concerns about what is lost when Brontë’s complex narrative structure and moral ambiguities are streamlined or excised in favour of shock and spectacle. At the same time, some specialists and biographers who attended early screenings found much to admire in the performances and the director’s willingness to embrace a personal response to the novel rather than attempt slavish fidelity.
What the split reaction means for Brontë’s legacy
The debate over the wuthering heights movie highlights a long-standing tension in adapting classic literature: fidelity to source material versus inventive reinterpretation. Supporters argue that radical adaptations can revive interest in the original work, drawing new readers who might otherwise never pick up a 19th-century novel. Detractors counter that transformative takes risk misrepresenting authorial intent and simplifying complex themes into easily digestible spectacle.
Backers at the museum voiced a pragmatic view: any new interpretation will appeal to certain audiences and frustrate others, but lively discussion can lead to renewed engagement with the novel. Whether the film ultimately broadens understanding of Brontë’s work or primarily attracts controversy, its provocative choices appear primed to keep the conversation alive.
