Emerald Fennell’s recent rendition of ‘Wuthering Heights’ has stirred up a whirlwind of opinions among critics, with some describing it as a ‘hyper-sexualized’ take on Emily Bronte’s timeless tale.

In this version, Margot Robbie, clad in a latex dress, takes on the role of Cathy, while Jacob Elordi frequently appears shirtless as Heathcliff. Fennell’s adaptation diverges from the original, as she aimed to highlight the story’s ‘primal, sexual’ themes.

Margot Robbie has described the film as being ‘more romantic than provocative,’ yet it has still earned a ‘severe’ content warning for sex and nudity on IMDB.

The scenes sparking controversy are indeed sensual, but they stop short of being explicit.

Much of the film’s sensuality is hinted at through suggestive sounds and movements between characters.

Despite the passionate interactions, the characters remain clothed, with intense scenes involving kissing and the gentle licking of fingers and necks.

How racy IS Wuthering Heights? As ‘hyper-sexualised’ film is slapped with a ‘severe’ content warning, here’s exactly what’s shown (pictured: Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie)

While much has been made of the BDSM aspect of the remake, this is shown not through erotica, but through Alison Oliver’s character Isabella Linton wearing a dog collar 

While Margot insisted that the film is ‘more romantic than provocative’, that hasn’t stopped it being slapped with a ‘severe’ content warning in the sex and nudity section of IMDB.

A particularly racy montage shows Cathy and Heathcliffe in various clinches as they cavort in bed, in a carriage, and on the moors. 

There is also a prolonged scene in which masturbation is simulated by Margot’s Cathy, while Jacob’s Heathcliffe watches on with desire.  

While much has been made of the BDSM aspect of the remake, this is shown not through erotica, but through Alison Oliver’s character Isabella Linton wearing a dog collar and acting in submission to Heathcliffe as he feeds her. 

The scene itself is not designed to be sexual, but rather disturbing, feeding into the toxic love theme that runs throughout the film. 

Notably, many of the ‘erotic’ scenes are centred around inanimate objects rather than between the characters, with lingering shots showing fervent fingers caressing egg yolks, penetrating jellied fish mouths and at one point, sensually gutting a pig. 

These scenes were far from an afterthought, with Margot revealing that ahead of filming the jellied fish scene, Emerald tested roughly 50 different fish before choosing one, because she ‘wanted the exact right sound and consistency.’

While 2026’s Wuthering Heights will undoubtedly be far from the raunchiest film of the year, it marks a departure from its tamer predecessors. 

In comparison, the 2011 Wuthering Heights movie starring Kaya Scodelario and James Howson, and the 2009 TV adaptation with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley, are ranked as ‘moderate’.

The 1970 version with Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton is dubbed ‘mild’, while there are no references to sex or nudity at all in the 1992 film starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes or the 1939 film with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.

Much is made of what is portrayed is implied, with plenty of loud moans and writhing, while the heavy petting shown involves kissing and licking of each other’s fingers and necks

A particularly racy montage shows Cathy and Heathcliffe in various clinches as they cavort in bed, in a carriage, and on the moors

Many ‘erotic’ scenes are centred around inanimate objects, with lingering shots showing fervent fingers caressing egg yolks and penetrating jellied fish mouths

Margot revealed that ahead of filming the jellied fish scene, Emerald tested roughly 50 different fish before choosing one, because she ‘wanted the exact right sound and consistency’

While 2026’s Wuthering Heights will undoubtedly be far from the raunchiest film of the year, it marks a departure from its tamer predecessors

Director Emerald previously defended putting a spin on the gothic classic, revealing it was a portrayal of how she interpretated the book upon first reading it during her impressionable teenage years. 

‘It’s an act of extreme masochism to try and make a film of something that means this much to you,’ she told The Guardian. 

‘There’s an enormous amount of sadomasochism in this book. There’s a reason people were deeply shocked by it [when it was published].

‘It’s been a kind of masochistic exercise working on it because I love it so much, and it can’t love me back, and I have to live with that. So it’s been troubling, but I think in a really useful way.’

Meanwhile Margot downplayed the eroticism of the reboot, telling British Vogue: ‘Everyone’s expecting this to be very, very raunchy. I think people will be surprised. 

‘Not to say there aren’t sexual elements and that it’s not provocative – it definitely is provocative – but it’s more romantic than provocative. This is a big epic romance…

‘It’s that feeling when your chest swells or it’s like someone’s punched you in the guts and the air leaves your body. That’s a signature of Emerald’s. Whether it’s titillating or repulsion, her superpower is eliciting a physical response.’ 

She added that she and Emerald often discussed on set what they considered to be ‘hot or exciting or sexy’, with the pair agreeing it wasn’t just sex scenes or nudity. 

Margot noted that this was demonstrated by scenes in which Heathcliffe picked Cathy up with one arm or sheltered her from the rain.  

‘It almost made me weak at the knees,’ she confessed. ‘It was the little things that we loved as two women in our 30s, and this movie is primarily for people in our demographic. These epic romances and period pieces aren’t often made by women.’ 

In comparison, to the new Wuthering Heights movie’s ‘severe’ rating, the 2011 version starring Kaya Scodelario and James Howson is ranked on IMDB as ‘moderate’ for sex and nudity

The 2009 TV adaptation with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley is also ranked as ‘moderate’

According to the IMDB score there are no references to sex or nudity at all in the 1992 film starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes

The 1970 version with Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton is ranked as ‘mild’

There are no references to sex or nudity in the 1939 film with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier

Emerald has made a name for herself for pushing the boundaries of eroticism through film, notably in her 2023 offering, Saltburn.

The tale, an exuberant satire on class and privilege, followed Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a boy from an apparently working class Merseyside background who, desperate to fit in with the cool kids in Oxford, befriends another first-year student, the dishy, popular, wealthy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), with whom he soon becomes infatuated. 

Audiences were left shocked by the graphic nature of the scenes, which showed Barry’s character simulating sex with a grave, performing oral sex on a character who is menstruating, and drinking the bath water of a character who had masturbated in the tub. 

Emerald defended the racy nature, of her work, claiming the ‘rage and fury’ had been directed at her because she is a ‘female writer’, while confessing she does enjoy ‘making people squirm’.

Speaking on the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast about its reception, she said: ‘It’s exposing for all of us, it’s exposing for me because I wrote it and I’m saying I think the scene of licking a drain, the idea of that is very sexy.

‘It’s also exposing because when things come out, as the filmmaker, particularly if you’re a female, the responsibility rightly comes down to you.

‘But it means you’re on the receiving end of a lot of the ire or the criticism, that’s also fine.

‘It’s been absolutely crazy. I actually – although nobody ever believes it – really do not set out to make things that are divisive, it’s really not an intention but it seems that they have been.’

Wuthering Heights is released in cinemas on February 13.  

Emerald Fennell has divided critics with her new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, but has held onto her crown as the queen of smut after her last racy offering with Saltburn