Emerald Fennell has announced that her next film will be an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel “Wuthering Heights.” She didn’t reveal whether it would be a modern-day adaptation, but that could technically be a possibility. I’m inclined to believe she’ll remain faithful to the book’s time period.
The source material does go well with what Fennell has so far tackled in her first two films (“Young Promising Woman" and “Saltburn”) — mental and physical cruelty, revenge, abuse, and the class system. She could it into a very dark direction, one by which we haven’t seen yet in the other movie adaptations.
One of the most tormented love stories ever written, “Wuthering Heights” tackles troubled orphan, and antihero, Heathcliff and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw. The ensuing ramification of his unhealthy affection for Catherine sets up a tale of revenge and social climbing.
There have been four movie adaptations of Brontë’s novel, released in 1939, 1970, 1992 and 2011. I liked the 1970 version, starring Timothy Dalton, but there’s always room for improvement as I don’t believe there’s been a definitive take on the source material. Not even Andrea Arnold could muster up a great film out of it. Maybe Fennell will finally “crack the code” in that regard.
