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New Wuthering Heights production

(108 Posts)
Fallingstar Wed 11-Feb-26 08:45:17

Not sure if anyone has heard of this new film or whether it is out yet but from clips I have seen and from what I have read it sounds utterly dreadful. Is like a soft porn version of Wuthering Heights with a bit of BDSM. On BBC this morning they are bigging it up.
Will certainly give it a miss.

icanhandthemback Thu 12-Feb-26 15:05:59

Turdiplonk46

Blimey. Think a good number of you need to chill. It’s art. It’s interpretation. It’s creativity. No one is forcing you to watch it.

As for the snooty comment about the director not reading the book 😳 is this based on firm evidence?!

Maybe it’s me that needs to chill (and consider my membership of Gransnet 🤣). And yes, I am a grandma. Pile on if you want!

Why such an aggressive post? You are more likely to get a pile on about the tone rather than because you hold a different opinion. Maybe you are right though, maybe you do need to chill.

As for the new version of Wuthering Heights, I'm not sure it is going to be for me after reading the reviews but I will give it a go because the critics and I often don't see eye to eye.

valdavi Thu 12-Feb-26 15:01:07

Pleasebenice

The book was always problematic in its message about love and obsession. Is that love? Is it what we want to teach our daughter. Not seen it but maybe they have shown that?

Heathcliffe is the mystery in it, he's the one that turns those bleak but undramatic households into a breeding ground of passions, jealousy & cruelty & insanity.
How Cliff Richard could ever have conveyed that is beyond me, though I've never seen that (was it a show?) version.
I'll go & see it if I get a chance, make up my own mind, I must admit I delight in Jane Eyre, probably know most of the Mr Rochester / Jane dialogues word for word, but Wuthering Heights is more indigestible.

Marmight Thu 12-Feb-26 14:30:02

I’m seeing it tomorrow. It’ll be a bit different to the 1970 version with the gorgeous Timothy Dalton & Anna Calder Marshall (who I was at school with). I’m going with friends - not overjoyed at the prospect, but having read varying reviews, think I’ll make up my own mind. Luckily there’s a cocktail bar next door to the cinema so I’ll be found in there if I slope off early 🍹

Missiseff Thu 12-Feb-26 14:17:14

It's been panned in all the reviews I've read so will give it a miss

Fallingstar Thu 12-Feb-26 14:08:01

Well I’m not being snooty and have no doubt the film will be a success but for all the wrong reasons imho, I hope those looking forward to the film enjoy it. And yes I actually hated Saltburn, and am not sure why shaking things up in film or theatre speak means including more gratuitous sex.
It honestly gets tedious.

Chocolatenoodle8 Thu 12-Feb-26 14:05:57

Won’t be going to see Wuthering Heights as it has the same producer as Saltburn: Emerald Fennell. Did not like Saltburn: made me squirm. Enjoyed reading Wuthering Heights many years ago.

Iwtwab12bow Thu 12-Feb-26 14:03:30

Film fan

Iwtwab12bow Thu 12-Feb-26 14:02:35

It's only a film and you don't have to see it if you don't want to. The director Emerald Fennel a one time actor in Call the Midwife, directed Saltburn, I watched it twice because the first time I had no idea what was going on. It was quite shocking and a complete copy of The Amazing mr Ripley. This has completely put me off seeing Wuthering Heights. But I probably will because I am a huge fil family.

Turdiplonk46 Thu 12-Feb-26 13:52:08

Blimey. Think a good number of you need to chill. It’s art. It’s interpretation. It’s creativity. No one is forcing you to watch it.

As for the snooty comment about the director not reading the book 😳 is this based on firm evidence?!

Maybe it’s me that needs to chill (and consider my membership of Gransnet 🤣). And yes, I am a grandma. Pile on if you want!

Lostmyglassesxx Thu 12-Feb-26 13:46:52

If you saw saltburn and didn’t like it then you won’t like this ., personally I like to see a director shake things up .. and the visuals if nothing else will be great ..
where would we be if the arts did not challenge our perspectives . Life would be so boring and predictable ..

Pleasebenice Thu 12-Feb-26 13:43:07

The book was always problematic in its message about love and obsession. Is that love? Is it what we want to teach our daughter. Not seen it but maybe they have shown that?

Juniper1 Thu 12-Feb-26 13:39:04

I hated shades of grey, but going tomorrow to see new wuthering heights film. I have read the reviews but prepared to be open minded. Baz Lermans version of Romeo and Juliet was outstanding, but cautiously received by some.

Fallingstar Thu 12-Feb-26 10:38:39

I have to admit Wuthering Heights is not my favourite either but I do like Emily’s poetry. I think the book is a tortured and complex tale of possession and jealousy. Is by no means a simple romance or a lust filled romp.
Have read Jane Eyre many times though, is a firm favourite, and the other works of the Brontë sisters.
If they ever do a fifty shades of grey production of Jane Eyre - perhaps they already have - will not be happy.
They should stick to Bridgerton and similar productions instead of trashing literary works that our nation should be proud of.
Am pretty sure the French wouldn’t do this to Balzac or Hugo.

flappergirl Thu 12-Feb-26 10:37:51

Withering Heights is one of my favourite novels but despite there being at least 30 screen adaptions (cinema and TV) over the years, I am yet to see one that isn't woeful. Its complexity and imagery make it impossible to translate into film. I believe Emily Bronte was writing about herself (or at least her inner self) when she created Cathy.

Witzend Thu 12-Feb-26 10:28:02

Grandmabatty

I read Wuthering Heights years ago but didn't really enjoy it. I disliked the heavy use of dialect as it slowed down the pace for me, disliked every character intensely and didn't enjoy the storyline. The setting seemed so bleak to me too.
I watched the original film with Laurence Olivier which was highly sanitised.
I'll pass.

I didn’t really enjoy it, either, despite being a fan of other Brontë sister novels. I often re-read favourites, but have never felt the urge to revisit WH.

MayBee70 Wed 11-Feb-26 18:54:18

I started watching Emily but didn’t like what I saw so gave up. It did have some very good reviews though when it first came out.

Sarnia Wed 11-Feb-26 18:50:38

The film critic I read said it ought to have been titled Fifty Shades of Grim.

keepingquiet Wed 11-Feb-26 15:46:22

It was Anne Bronte who had a brief romance with Weightman, but why should facts get in the way of a good story?

I watched the beginning of the film Emily and thought what I saw quite good, and may catch the ending later.

She was a fierce spirit for sure, and that is well documented- but she had a tough life, as did all the sisters.

Fallingstar Wed 11-Feb-26 15:17:08

Have read a lot about the Brontes, and read most of the Brontë novels. In my opinion Emily was definitely ploughing her own furrow, today we would probably say she is neurodiverse, certainly she never conformed to what was expected of a young woman growing up in a parsonage at that time. Quite often she would just take off and walk across the moors often caught out by a storm and come home drenched. I don’t think any attempts to rein her in would have been happily received, but by all accounts she loved her family dearly.
A free spirit in a time when women were stifled is how I prefer to think if her. Certainly marriage would never have suited her.

sassenach512 Wed 11-Feb-26 15:08:43

I watched the film 'Emily' the other night about Emily Brontë. It depicted her as being very strange and odd, also being reclusive and unwilling to engage with people. Not really knowing much about her, does anyone know if she really was like this?

They also portrayed her having a love affair with her father's curate William Weightman which, according to Google, never happened.
It seems every time they make a new adaptation of a classic novel, they have to turn it into a Brigerton and completely spoil the original book.

Grandmabatty Wed 11-Feb-26 10:52:37

I read Wuthering Heights years ago but didn't really enjoy it. I disliked the heavy use of dialect as it slowed down the pace for me, disliked every character intensely and didn't enjoy the storyline. The setting seemed so bleak to me too.
I watched the original film with Laurence Olivier which was highly sanitised.
I'll pass.

Witzend Wed 11-Feb-26 10:43:18

keepingquiet

Wuthering Heights can never be well-adapted for stage or screen, it is far too complex a novel.

I don't know if the director ever read the book, but I suspect not.

I won't be seeing the film...

It could probably work as a TV adaptation - given enough episodes.

TerriBull Wed 11-Feb-26 10:30:33

I saw the trailer when I went to see Hamnet.

hmm lavish! Not in tune with my memories of the book umpteen years ago.

It's been very hyped up. However critics can often be very divided about films, reviews can differ between 5* and 1* and of course one person's opinion isn't definitive, or shouldn't be. In the end audiences will make up their own minds. The Box Office receipts will bear that out.

GrannyGravy13 Wed 11-Feb-26 09:58:03

I would rather see/read something for myself, than take a critics word.

Bridie22 Wed 11-Feb-26 09:56:39

Im quite looking forward to seeing it !!