This week’s release of the first footage from Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation has ignited fierce criticism from devotees of Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic masterpiece.
The trailer, which premiered on Wednesday, September 3, reveals a dramatically reimagined version of the classic tale featuring Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.
The preview showcases explicitly sexual imagery that has left literary purists aghast, with viewers condemning the film as a “whitewashed” and “hypersexualised” interpretation.
Social media erupted with accusations that the Valentine’s Day 2026 release transforms Brontë’s complex exploration of destructive passion into what critics are calling “Fifty Shades of Heathcliff and Cathy”.
The Saltburn director’s provocative approach includes original music by Charli XCX and promises a contemporary period drama far removed from traditional adaptations.
Central to the backlash are accusations that the production has stripped away crucial racial and class elements from Brontë’s narrative.
Critics point to Elordi’s casting as particularly problematic, given that Heathcliff is depicted in the novel as having dark features and potentially Roma heritage.
“I wish I did not live to see the day Wuthering Heights, a beautiful gothic novel about the cycle of generational trauma with themes of race, class, religion, mental illness, abuse, etc., was adapted into a whitewashed dark romance booktok bodice ripper with a hyperpop soundtrack,” one user posted on X.
Another viewer expressed frustration: “Not to be that one friend who is too woke, but bleaching the class and racial otherness out of Wuthering Heights to sell a horny whitewashed romance genuinely p***es me off.”
The trailer’s most controversial moments include Robbie inserting her fingers into Elordi’s mouth and a grotesque parallel showing someone’s digit sliding into a deceased fish’s gaping maw.
These scenes exemplify what viewers are branding as “erotic softcore porn” rather than faithful literary adaptation.
Test screening reports reveal even more shocking content, including a public execution where the hanged man climaxes mid-death, triggering what attendees described as an “orgiastic frenzy”.
A nun reportedly “fondles the corpse’s visible erection” in subsequent scenes.
The film allegedly features multiple masturbation sequences designed to be “purposefully discomforting” and bondage scenes involving equestrian equipment.
One viewer commented: “they turned wuthering heights into soft porn,” whilst another declared the adaptation “tonally abrasive” and “sexually explicit”.
Casting director Kharmel Cochrane has defended the controversial choices, stating: “You really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art.”
The production features Hong Chau as Nelly Dean, Alison Oliver portraying Isabella Linton, and Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton. Owen Cooper, fresh from his Netflix series Adolescence, plays the younger Heathcliff.
Additional cast members include BAFTA winner Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell. Fennell serves as director, writer and producer, whilst Robbie co-produces through LuckyChap Entertainment.
Despite widespread condemnation, some viewers admit they’ll likely attend screenings. As one user confessed: “Liking every Wuthering Heights hate tweet even though i’ll probably be seated why lie.”