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BONUS: "Wuthering Heights" (2026 Film)
93 Plays1 month ago
Surprise! We headed to the theater to catch Emerald Fennell’s brand-new “Wuthering Heights”, starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff—and we’re sharing our immediate, straight-out-of-the-cinema reactions. What worked? What didn’t? And was this the dark and twisted story we were hoping to see on screen? Tune in to this bonus episode for all our hot takes.
Hosted by Crystal with co-hosts Keri and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
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Thanks for listening to Based on a Book—see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(01:15) Expectation Recap (Soft Spoilers)
(09:30) Movie Breakdown (SPOILERS)
(27:15) Final Verdict
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Host Backgrounds
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to Based on a Book, the podcast that makes incredibly meticulous plans well in advance, but also pulls off the best last minute ideas ever.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm your host, Crystal, and once again, I've hurt my own feelings. I'm Keri, and I still don't know if this is the greatest love story of all time.
00:00:30
Speaker
And I'm Lindsay. And I'm still a proud saucy witch.
Bonus Episode Announcement and Preparation
00:00:34
Speaker
This is a surprise bonus episode of our reactions to the new Withering Heights movie. It's a surprise for our listeners and a surprise for us. We seriously didn't know we were going to do this until about eight hours ago. when we all discovered that somehow the stars aligned and we were all going to get the chance to see this movie today, which never happens. So we're super excited to bring you our thoughts in this bonus episode. Surprise!
00:01:03
Speaker
In our Wuthering Heights episode earlier this month, we read the book and watched three already existing adaptations to get a feel for what to expect for Emerald Fennell's new movie.
00:01:14
Speaker
Before we get too spoilery, though, let's reflect on whether this adaptation did what we were hoping it would. Soft spoilers ahead. If you don't know the plot or the characters, maybe stop here. I'll warn you again before we get into specifics of the new movie.
Expectations for Wuthering Heights Adaptation
00:01:31
Speaker
Lindsay, in our original Withering Heights episode, you said you really needed this new adaptation to be ugly. Did it hit the mark for you?
00:01:42
Speaker
I'm going to say it was definitely messy. I can agree with that for sure. Still could have been uglier. Definitely messy.
00:01:53
Speaker
Okay. Carrie, you really wanted to see the dark vibes of Heathcliff rather than some of the toned down versions of the past. How do you think Jacob Elordi did?
00:02:07
Speaker
a
00:02:10
Speaker
Okay. So to be fair, i just left the movie theater 20 minutes ago. Yeah. yeah I just left 20 minutes ago and sat down here to record. So I'm still processing my thoughts on this.
00:02:24
Speaker
I don't think he did terrible as Heathcliff. I think that he has a way of like, really like draw, like drawing you as a someone watching a film like to his character. like,
00:02:44
Speaker
like you pay attention to him when he's in the room kind thing.
Film Critiques and Adaptation Choices
00:02:49
Speaker
He's also a very big guy, but I, you I feel, you feel very drawn to him whenever i feel like he's like a very good actor.
00:02:58
Speaker
That being said, they did like some very interesting, they took some creative liberties with Heathcliff's character in this. yeah So I wouldn't really say that they went the dark route necessarily because They went a route.
00:03:16
Speaker
They went route. They went a route. Not the dark one. I'm trying to keep the spoilers right away till we get to the spoilery section. We'll get into specifics in a little bit for sure. Yeah.
00:03:28
Speaker
What I wanted to see most out of this movie was the second half of the book. A lot of adaptations. was thinking that the entire time. I was like, Crystal's never going to see that second half. never going to see the second half. and And because the second half of the book is very, it is where things get more into the like the haunting ghost side of it. We get into a lot more abuse and just rage and hatred and revenge.
00:03:57
Speaker
And I still want to see that. I still really want to see that. We we didn't get that this time around. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. got the first half of the story. So when I noticed, I noticed that the second that the movie started, i was like, we are not getting that second half. No, which I've heard is very like, I've only watched, you know, one adaptation before this. But I've heard it is very common. Yeah. or Adaptations to stop at a very specific point in the book, which is around a third or a half. I don't want to say too much right now. But if you haven't seen it or read it, but I'm heard that that's very common. So I was like, oh, it's one of those adaptations. yeah I mean, also I'm saying adaptation is very loose. Remember whenever I was like trying to put in my prediction about this quote situation, i was like, throw that out the window, you guys throw it out because that is not the case whatsoever. And adaptation is loose. Like, I would yeah probably say this is, like, inspired by i the idea of Wuthering Heights. Right. yes Now, like, with this the same character names. Yeah.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah. Inspired by. Now, it did say, because I was watching the opening credits, and it did say, based on the book. Yes. that's what they were going for, but yeah ah I do want to discuss before we get into too many spoilers. It has been huge all over my FYP about Margot Robbie's wardrobe and how these particular costumes in this in this adaptation were not period specific.
00:05:33
Speaker
I just want to jump in like because I feel like it's not spoilery. Do you think that those costumes added to the story or the vibes or distracted from them? I want to start with Lindsay because I know that you probably paid attention to that.
00:05:45
Speaker
it was almost It was almost distracting. i felt like with all of the changes in setting and wardrobe that they should have just made it more modern, which they didn't really focus on a time frame. You don't really know when this takes place. Right. But if they were going to take those creative liberties, it probably should have been a little more modern. It would have made more sense at least.
00:06:11
Speaker
Carrie, what did you think? Like, don't get me wrong. The costumes and like ah for everyone is very beautiful. Like they're stunning. Yes. Like they're absolutely stunning. But I mean, I felt it was extremely distracting to the point where like,
00:06:33
Speaker
I mean, i don't want to go too much into the setting, but i mean, i feel like the costumes and the setting yeah kind of correlate with each other where there was so much like almost like symbolism and every little thing to the point that it was so distracting. yeah And we're to the point where it's like, I feel like no one can have like a normal conversation in this movie without this like,
00:07:00
Speaker
you know, the symbolism in the background of every single conversation or every single scene or like just like one moment frame, like every frame has meaning. And I get that for like a specific viewer, just for me personally, it just didn't feel enjoyable. It felt distracting where you never like, no one can just be normal. I guess that's what I'm trying to say is like, no one can just like talk and have a conversation and where everything feels like,
00:07:30
Speaker
I don't know what i'm trying to say. like And nothing feels like they can't have... Right. Like, you know what I'm trying to say. I feel like the setting and the costumes. You mean. You know. Right. I feel like the settings and the costumes were their own dialogue. And it distracted from the actual conversations and dialogues happening. They were their own characters. Yes. And they upstaged the actual actors a lot of the time. Yeah.
00:07:54
Speaker
I absolutely agree with that. Yeah. hundred percent. and There was a lot of symbolism going on there. And there is an art form to it. But I feel like it definitely upstaged the characters. the characters the actual the real characters yeah to the point that we were having like exact quotes from the story
Character Portrayals and Performances
00:08:10
Speaker
and i was getting distracted from that because i'm looking at but like margot robbie looking like red riding hood or like cruella de vil like i was very confused i mean again freaking gorgeous yeah stu those dresses yeah like girl um but also
00:08:30
Speaker
kind of took me out of the character so yeah there were quite a few times i was like damn margot robbie is fine instead of like look at katherine you know yeah like you're supposed to be able to forget the actor for a minute and i want to say though i think margot robbie made an incredible katherine oh my gosh yes and she was the katherine i've been wanting this entire time absolutely Where and yeah i find it very interesting because I've kind of had little sneak peeks at some reviews. I've tried to stay away from them so I could have like a good, you know, opinion to myself going into this. But I really felt like she did a really great Catherine, like Catherine being mean, you know, Catherine being selfish. She really dug into that character and I thought she did an incredible job.
00:09:21
Speaker
Especially that like flipping, like being sweet and loving in one second and then just so just crazy, it you know, selfish and mean and cruel in the next. so It was really great.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So now let's get into some specifics. We're going to get a little bit more spoilery here. If you plan on going to watch this movie and you don't want to know a ton about the story, here's your chance to back out. You've been warned. Yeah.
00:09:50
Speaker
I want to talk about specific scenes that were your favorites or that stood out. Lindsay, what you got? This is by no means a favorite.
00:10:01
Speaker
yeah I cannot stop thinking about it.
00:10:08
Speaker
Heathcliff and Isabella. Okay. Let's talk about it. Let's break that down. Let's go. Let's go. Let's break that down immediately. I cannot stop thinking basically all of it from the moment they are together alone.
00:10:25
Speaker
And he's like, I'm not going to treat you well. um I'm doing this as revenge. I'm getting back at Catherine. Are you okay with this? And yeah, from there on, I just...
00:10:40
Speaker
I mean, honestly, Jacob Elordi standing in front of me telling me that he's going to treat me horribly. Like, do I want him to stop? I'd probably be like, no, don't stop. Let's go. That was so hot right up until the moment it got really freaking weird. You know what I mean?
00:10:56
Speaker
It was a hot moment. Well, can we talk about just Isabella in general? Like that character being so completely different. Yeah. So different. Yeah.
00:11:08
Speaker
I still haven't wrapped my brain around that one, honestly. Yeah. She is very, like, quirky and just very strange in the movie. And she's not very, like, her personality is not very relevant in the book. No. But just like her character in the place of Heathcliff's revenge plot basically is extremely relevant in the book. But the fact that we are putting her in this important space in the movie is very interesting. I mean, think about the movie in general.
00:11:46
Speaker
They have removed an extremely large amount of characters. So many. So many characters. I want to get into that in a second. But specifically, they are focusing on a very small group of people in this very large amount of characters in this book. I mean, when we were reading it, we were talking about how we couldn't even keep the characters straight. Mm-hmm. And the fact that they're putting this whole personality on a side character who was, I mean, relevant enough, but not to the point of having an entire personality in the story. So we created an entire personality for this character. And then to the point of...
00:12:28
Speaker
ru even rushing it at the end of the movie. Where like Lindsay just said, being like, well, okay, so now I'm pissed off. So just let you know, you're going to be my whole revenge against Catherine. I'm going to marry you. i don't love you. So you good with that? All right, let's go.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to treat you like shit. Are you okay? You want me to going? Yeah. but And then being this whole, i'm go ah we got to talk about it. Being a part of this whole, like dog situation near the end was wild because I remember seeing like this little scene, little clip of it in the trailer. And I was like, what is going on there?
00:13:11
Speaker
and i mean, we all knew that this movie was going to get a little strange. Right. With Emerald Fennell as the director. Right. But I, that part really, I was like, what the hell is going on?
00:13:27
Speaker
And Isabella was like behind it. Like she was like a part of it. And then near the end, we kind of just, she just kind of went off. Like her story just kind of ends. They put her into a carriage. Yeah. She's rushed into a carriage and that's the last we see of her. That's it. Yeah.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. And Heathcliff is like mean to her, but like not to the extent of like how the book is. Right. I mean, he he warned her. I'm not saying it's okay. Yeah. He warned her that These were hit his intentions. This is what was going to happen. Do you want me to stop?
00:14:04
Speaker
yeah And she was a part of it. Like, she's like, I'll write your letters and you're going to do this for me. I'll write your letters. Yep. Which was. She had every opportunity to leave in this movie. Yeah. And didn't.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah. So. The scene that's like burned into my brain. Burned into my brain. And you guys probably know exactly what I'm talking about.
00:14:26
Speaker
Probably. Is this Joseph scene. Okay. Joseph's character being completely flipped. Joseph in the book is like a very like religious older Mm-hmm.
00:14:40
Speaker
yeah in the book and now in the movie we have him he is still like a servant but he is now like we see him in this he's younger he's much younger and Catherine sees him with a woman tying this woman up And having sex with her. And Catherine's like seeing her. Seeing them through the crack. With a horse bridle. Yes. Like what?
00:15:11
Speaker
oh That was insane. Okay I'm sorry but that scene. going to be burned into my brain. When Jacob Elordi. Comes behind her. Puts his hand over her mouth and eyes.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. I almost died. Yep. I almost levitated. yeah That was a good one. Yeah. That was also when they're out on the moors and she's finally realizing that she is madly in love with him before she runs off ah to Mary Linton.
00:15:43
Speaker
And he like snatches her up by the front of her corset lacings. Oh, holy shit. i yeah I had a moment and i was just like, oh, is anyone looking at me? in this theater yeah but Blushing. It was. Yeah, that was hot.
00:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, that part was good. I think one of the scenes that stands out to me um as far as like just amazingly well done is when it's somewhat after the that scene is that Catherine is at She's at the Heights. She's talking to all and D to Nellie and saying like, Linton has proposed.
00:16:26
Speaker
I said, yes, what else was I supposed to do? And she's talking about, but I love Heathcliff. I, whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same. And she is clearly like, even in that moment I felt for Catherine. Right.
00:16:37
Speaker
And then like Nellie says something to her about, you know, what will you do? And Catherine just snaps back at her. What do you know about love? You've never loved anyone or been loved by anyone. Just like that fast. Like for one, for half a second, I'm feeling for her. I'm thinking poor Catherine. my God, this, this deep, horrible choice that she has to make.
00:17:05
Speaker
And, and then she just flips on Nellie so fast. And I was like, that, that bitch. Yeah. you know and then nelly is the painted the villain for the rest of the movie for the most part and honestly like what else are you gonna do yeah no honestly they changed up nelly's character quite a bit where they had her where she kind of like grew up with them which is i don't think was necessarily the case where she was like younger Whenever they were first together. In this one, it almost seemed like they were the same age. Yeah. In the very beginning. But then when we see Catherine's character grown, Nellie seems significantly older at that point. Yeah. You know, so i don't.
00:17:55
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. How do we know? You know? Also, she was the... She was like a paid companion, not an actual servant. Oh, yeah. not a paid companion, but like a bought companion. Yeah. She was the... We learned that she's the bastard child of a lord. Yeah.
00:18:12
Speaker
Yeah. You know? Also, can we talk about... i mean, like I said... and so many missing characters. This is literally just like Catherine and Heathcliff's story. Like this is just, that's the main focus. So much of the fact that like Edgar feels like so irrelevant, like he is like driving some of the plot, but like he, like his personality is extremely irrelevant to the point think Isabella has a more of a personality than Edgar and Edgar is more important. than Isabella. So I find that very strange, but like Heathcliff and Catherine are like the main point of this entire story. And that's the main focus.
00:18:52
Speaker
Right. But what I find absolutely insane is, you know, a huge part of Heathcliff's entire backstory and part of the driving factor of his revenge is missing.
00:19:09
Speaker
In this entire plot. And that is Henley. Yep. Yep. Henley, his brother is missing. And they kind of...
Adaptation's Focus and Storytelling Choices
00:19:19
Speaker
merged his father earnshaw and hiddly earnshaw are yeah kind of the same yeah yeah yeah they like merge these characters and i think i saw emerald talking about this about merging it because she was talking about how there were so many characters and how it would be difficult in you know two hours putting this together and stuff
00:19:43
Speaker
But yeah, we don't have a Henley. We don't have a Francis, obviously, because we don't have Henley. We don't have a second half of the book, which is, you know, Harriton, Kathy Jr., Linton.
00:19:54
Speaker
yeah None of those characters. Yeah. Yeah. None of those characters. I think she said that she named Heathcliff... For her brother that died?
00:20:05
Speaker
I don't remember kid's in the book. In the she said that? thought that was in the book. I don't remember. It's mentioned like once. Okay. So I'm watching the movie and I was like, wait a minute, was there dead brother? like yeah And i I thought I remembered Mr. Earnshaw saying it, but it could have been Kathy.
00:20:25
Speaker
But yeah, I do vaguely remember something like that. There's no telling. Maybe. Yeah. Do we feel like this movie took inspiration from any of the past versions?
00:20:39
Speaker
I mean, obviously cutting it where off where they cut off the story is very similar to a lot of of scripts and screenplays of the past. And I feel like combining some of the characters and leaving out like the um the Linton parents, the original Linton parents, leaving out of a Mr. Lockwood. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:02
Speaker
So there's, i feel like that's all kind of been done before. There was nothing really shocking there. yeah I did see like a side by side of the trailer that was next to the one that you covered.
00:21:18
Speaker
crystal the 1939 with yeah laurence olivier yeah that there that trailer side by side with this trailer uh the new one and it was like very similar like they were doing the similar scenes next to each other so probably taking inspiration from that i noticed like a lot of like the costumes and stuff like our different scenes like uh gone with the wind and I feel like, no, this is why they're calling it a love story, because they're only telling the first half of the story. Exactly. The the love part. Yeah. And and leaving. And honestly, again, this one was like Lindsay said, messy. but It still wasn't quite as.
00:22:00
Speaker
Kind of ugly and horrible. I really do think that we got the Catherine we deserved this time around, though. Yeah, I think it's really funny. I actually saw this with my sister and my mom.
00:22:10
Speaker
And, you know, me and my mom, we both read the book and my sister had not read the book and she had no idea anything about the story. So she's watching it and she's loving it. She's crying the entire time next to me. And then my mom and I are looking at each other like, come on.
00:22:29
Speaker
Right. This is ridiculous. Like, we're like kind of like, like personally, honestly, overall, I don't necessarily think I enjoyed it that much. Like, especially like this whole, like, at one point I felt like I was in a music video. Like, I felt like we were just like in a montage music video. Yeah. For a lot of it. And honestly, Something I was really excited about is like this like whole like Charlie XCX like soundtrack in it. And I felt like we only played two songs that we have already heard already.
00:22:58
Speaker
Yep. And like over and over again. and I was like, I don't know if I like this. I was a little disappointed by that. But i there was like a point where it's like a montage of all like, like.
00:23:12
Speaker
Of the Grange and all like the crazy costumes and the settings for so long. Like I feel like the first bit at the Heights when they were younger to when they got older was like really good. Like even the costumes everything was really good. The second the Grange came into play, I stopped enjoying the movie. That's fair. And then also like the entire montage, like whenever Heathcliff comes back,
00:23:41
Speaker
For like his, you know, revenge, like he just left and he's been gone for a really long time. He's coming back to start his revenge against Catherine and like everybody that's done him wrong.
00:23:55
Speaker
He isn't really, like, he is, loves kath Catherine still, but he's not, like, hooking up with her. At least we assume he's not in the book. But in this movie, there is, like, a whole compilation of them hooking up constantly, like, having sex with each other for a really long time. Yep. To the point where I'm just like, okay, this is getting kind of ridiculous. Right. Yeah.
00:24:19
Speaker
But i want to ask what your thoughts are on the very opening scene with the hanging. Okay. I'm so happy we're talking about this. Because I don't know what that had anything to do with the story. And I'm still trying to figure that out. Did I miss something? Was i
00:24:36
Speaker
There was nothing like that in the book that i remember. i don't remember ever seeing that in any other adaptation or hearing about it in any other adaptation. And I don't, I cannot figure out what it added to the story.
00:24:50
Speaker
Other than the fact that Kathy was there. Yeah. So what? Lindsay, I'll let you go first. We did get the scene later on when Catherine, Isabella, and Edgar are eating together. And Isabella makes the comment about there being another one. And she asks Catherine she's excited because of who is being hanged.
00:25:18
Speaker
And then, you know, obviously she's afraid it's Heathcliff because she hasn't heard from him. Other than that, I don't really know why it was there Yeah.
00:25:30
Speaker
I don't know either, but all I know is whenever I was like hearing the noises when it was completely dark, I was like, what is going on? Yep.
00:25:41
Speaker
We all thought that. Everyone in the theater thought that. Everyone in the theater thought that. Yeah. What am I about to see? There's much sound in this movie that is suggestive, right? So like we hear the opening scene with the the hanging, right?
00:25:56
Speaker
um And and we like we don't see a man hanging right away. we just hear the sounds of someone breathing horribly. And so, that of course, everyone's like, wait, what are we listening to? Are we already having sex in this movie? And it's definitely not.
00:26:12
Speaker
And then we get like the The sounds of like the kneading bread and like the wet sounds all the time. And it's it like the touching of the the eggs and the jello and squishy sounds. It is a very audio heavy.
00:26:30
Speaker
yeah it's ah It's an experience. Yeah. yeah And even like the skin wall. my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And then the hand fireplace mantle? What was yeah i There was a whole skin wall that's like made to look like her skin. And it's like squishy. I hated it. I hated that so much. They're like, look, your mole is right here. he literally said that. it's so weird it was so bizarre like it was like too in my opinion for like some people do like that stuff like watching cut that kind of stuff my opinion it felt too much yeah it felt a little too much ah like you said a little distracting from the story um yeah so overall how do we how do we feel about this one is it a a yay and a book still better what do we think
00:27:27
Speaker
I think the book is still better.
Final Thoughts and Listener Engagement
00:27:29
Speaker
Oh yeah. The book is still better. Also, I randomly want to say I'm back. yeah I'm back. I randomly want to say back back to the symbolism because I just like, can't get over like how the symbolism was so much in your face. Can we talk like when her dad dies,
00:27:47
Speaker
And he's laying there on the ground and there's giant piles of bottles on each side. Literally what I was thinking about. I thought they were Christmas trees at first until like focused a little more.
00:28:00
Speaker
that was like, oh, damn. Yeah. Yeah. It was like giant po piles of bottles on each side because he's an alcoholic. But like. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, okay, I got that already.
00:28:13
Speaker
Weird to put it in our like face like this is like an obvious thing. Right. But I already got it. So, okay. Yeah. That's just like kind of the things that like really distracted me.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, the I have to admit, it was almost like comedically large stacks of bottles. I thought they were Christmas trees. yeah I was like, I laughed out loud a little bit because I was like, what? Okay. And there's so much reference to like Christmas. So like, this could be a Christmas movie.
00:28:45
Speaker
It really could. So many Christmas references. Yeah. It came out in December. Yeah, it really should have. That's wild. Well... I guess, unless you guys have any more things that you want to cover while we have the chance. I'm sure we'll talk about this a ton later too. Yeah. I'll probably just random thing randomly think of things. We all just saw it. So yeah give us a day or two let this sit. I'll just be in our own comments. Just going away. Yep.
00:29:13
Speaker
Speaking of comments. I think this is a good place to wrap it up. Thank you for listening or watching if you found us on YouTube. If you like what we've said and you want to hear more, don't forget to follow, subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen. Our regular episodes drop each Thursday, but you can also find us chatting away on all of our socials all day long. All of our links are in the show notes at the bottom of this page.
00:29:40
Speaker
And we'd really love for you to join the conversation. But until then, be nicer to the staff. We'll see you on the next chapter of Based on a Book. Bye.
00:29:51
Speaker
Bye.