Wuthering Heights to screen at Jones this weekend

 Let’s see, it’s been, what, 179 years since Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights was published. Across that time, almost 40 film and TV adaptations of the novel have been produced. Reel News could be mistaken, but it appears the first one was a 1920 silent film produced in England; subsequent offerings have been made in Japan, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and of course, the UK and America.

Perhaps using adaptations from quiet book reading to moving images as the only framework to consider for critique of the 2026 Emerald Fennell Wuthering Heights film accounts for the wildly divided frenzy we see in recent review articles. The films stand almost as a genre unto themselves, whether considered as Romance, Drama, Period Piece, etc. The professionals seem clearly split between lauders and bashers. The latter claim Brontë is disgraced in the Fennell “reading” of her story, while the former praise Fennell for her unique vision and fine directorial skills.

Released as a Valentine’s Day romantic cineplex get away, Wuthering Heights makes its R-rated Heathcliff and Catherine romp onto Main Street USA, Westcliffe from February 27 through March 1. We have the good folks who book films at the historic Jones to thank for keeping us locals abreast of current, popular cinema. 

The controversy among film critics shouldn’t inhibit any Custerite from attending; we can all decide for ourselves if we want to view Wuthering Heights through the lens of Brontë’s original writing, or through the lens of creative film making, or simply through the lens of our own eyes seeking a weekend entertainment on a winter eve or afternoon.

Come to think of it, we don’t have to “decide” anything at all! Seems only paid movie reviewers have to do that—and of course they bring film history, directors’ and actors’ trajectories, box office draw, and cinematography to the game of “deciding” if a film is worthy of the expense and time to view. We folk can let that go; our “go” is to the movies!

Anyway, the steamy scenes, indeed not penned by Emily Brontë, earn the film’s R rating. Reel News may be way out of the mass culture vibe, but frankly, we don’t see anything erotic about flopping and sopping in raw eggs…or dead fish. Fennell “sees” something in her rendering of the old tale that she has been anxious to get out there, and so here it is. If you’d like, you can see the catalogue of all the differences between Brontë’s book and Fennell’s film at the handy list made available at tyla.com on February 18, “Every major change between…”

It’s difficult to find a summary review, but the brackets of disparate opinion are much easier to cite. For example, here’s Brian Truitt in USA Today: “With flair and bombast to spare, Fennell reaches such great ‘Heights’ that this feels like the first must-see movie of 2026, an enthralling retelling of an all-time love story through an accessibly modern lens.” And Nick Schager in The Daily Beast: “It’s depressingly uninspired—a devolution into simplistic drama…an immature reimagining devoid of its source’s nuance and complexity.” The distance between these views is wide and gaping. Is it 2026 or 1847?

No matter, we are free to sashay on down to the historic Jones on Friday or Saturday, February 27 and 28 for 7 p.m. showings, or Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. to view the two hour and 16-minute Wuthering Heights. Doors open 30 minutes before screen time, at ticket prices so modest you’ll think that trailer you previewed was a hoax.

Enjoy!

– W.A. Ewing