Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in Wuthering Heights: a romantic clash to come

Director Emerald Fennell reinvents Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, Wuthering Heights, with a sensual, provocative and resolutely modern adaptation. Scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day 2026.

The announcement surprised and divided. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi join forces in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell, known for her troubled worlds(Promising Young Woman, Saltburn). This contemporary retelling of Emily Brontë ‘s cult novel promises to be a talking point, with its mix of visual scandal, erotic tension and saturated pop aesthetics.

Scheduled for release on February 14, 2026, this version doesn’t seek to reassure purists. On the contrary, the trailer, with its succession of suggestive shots, sensual textures and tense bodies, announces a dark romance much closer to TikTok standards than to traditional Victorian Gothic.

A sultry pop adaptation

Fennell’s visual universe is as reminiscent of the Yorkshire moors as it is of Bridgerton on steroids. Charli XCX, who provides the soundtrack with Everything Is Romantic, sets the tone: destructive, immersive and aesthetic love, where passion is lived out in screams and tears. Hands plunge into egg yolks, mouths open, bodies brush against each other: sensuality is omnipresent, almost provocative.

Margot Robbie, as Catherine Earnshaw, plays a woman torn between desire and norm. Jacob Elordi, as Heathcliff, brings his magnetic beauty to the role, but raises a controversy: the original character is described as mixed-race. This new casting revives the debate on the “whitewashing” of racialized characters in cinema, as was already the case in 1939 with Laurence Olivier.

Paris, soon to be conquered?

Even if the film is set far from Paris, the French capital remains fond of this kind of provocative work. This film, which ticks all the boxes of the ” toxic romance ” genre, could be the subject of a Paris preview at an upcoming festival such as Deauville, or at the Grand Rex, known for its event screenings. We can also anticipate its presence in the selections of cinemas such as Le Louxor or L’Arlequin, often ahead of Anglo-Saxon trends.

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