Wuthering Heights Movie vs. Book: The Biggest Difference

This is absolutely not Accommodations in Wuthering Heights he attends high school.

A new film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s best-selling classic novel Margot Robbie (Catherine) and Jacob Elordi (Heathcliff) hits theaters on Friday, February 13 – and it’s already causing a lot of controversy, from casting to major plot changes.

The film currently has a 66 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, marking it fresh, with reviews all over the map.

In Us WeeklyReviewing the film, we noted, “The biggest joy here is how much of a joy it is to watch a gorgeous period drama with lush, beautiful production values ​​and a great cast. Aided by some Celtic-y tunes Charlie XCXthis film is unemotional, depraved and, yes, romantic as it bounces between reality and stylized fantasy.”

Director Emerald Fennell he said he took the elements of the story that appealed to him the most (the WTF-worthy love story between Catherine and Heathcliff) and made everything else fun.

Below are some of the biggest changes in youth “Accommodations in Wuthering Heights” film adaptation.

No Hindley

In the book, there is a character named Hindley, Catherine’s brother, who abuses Heathcliff and basically makes him a servant. Heathcliff’s mistreatment at the hands of Hindley is the force that makes Heathcliff worse as an adult. In the new version of the movie, it is Catherine’s father (drunk and cruel) who takes most of these points and defeats Heathcliff, but only a small part of the story.

Sex

A gothic tale of longing and madness, the book features just one kiss between Heathcliff and Catherine. Naturally, Fennell has taken some liberties here to further this complicated love story, including sexualizing the character, and the perfect romance.

Isabella Linton

In the book, Isabella (Alison Oliver) of Edgar (Shazad Latif) younger sister; in the film, he is her ward but the relationship between the two is basically the same. Isabella falls in love with Heathcliff and marries him in the novel, but ends up being tortured by him as an act of revenge on her family.

Related: Why the New ‘Wuthering Heights’ Movie Has Caused Controversy Among Fans

Wuthering Heights by Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie is one of the most anticipated films of 2026 – but the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel has faced its fair share of controversy from the start. Brontë’s 1847 novel follows the Earnshaw and Linton families in late 18th century England. The story is focused […]

In the film, he’s clearly weird, giving Catherine strange gifts and showing off his hobbies (like paper dolls with real hair). She marries Heathcliff and abuses him, but it’s more of a BDSM relationship in the movie, with Isabella enjoying things like wearing a dog collar and crawling around Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff also came out about how he will never love her and just married her to get revenge in this movie. In the book, Isabella finally has a son, Linton, with Heathcliff.

Scope of the Story

Emerald Fennell’s film focuses on the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine, ending (spoiler alert!) when Catherine dies, having already lost the child she was pregnant with. In the book, Catherine dies much later in the story, and the story continues with Heathcliff continuing to abuse Catherine’s daughter and Edgar (Cathy) and Hindley’s son (Hareton).

The servant Nelly is the narrator in the book, while she is a supporting character in the film (played by Hong Chau).

It ends

The film ends with Heathcliff holding Catherine’s dead body and promising to love her forever — “Always be with me. Take any path. Drive me crazy. Only don’t leave me in the abyss where I can’t find you” — it puts more love into their broken love by not showing all the trauma that comes after that choice. There is no next generation.

In the book, young Cathy and Hareton Earnshaw finally come together to try to heal their various traumas within their families and make peace.

Broadcasting Conflict

In the book, Heathcliff is described as “dark skinned,” which Elordi is not. There has been some debate about whether that means Heathcliff was a person of color in the novel, however. The Vulture has a great article explaining that this is a topic that scholars have been debating for decades!

Sexual Assault

In addition to Heathcliff and Catherine having sex (see above), another major difference is how sexually charged the entire film is, from the public hangings that amuse the locals to the random finger-cutting in mouths and voyeurism.

Fennell’s commitment to the dark side of desire is a recurring theme and permeates everything from baking bread to dinner.