Wuthering Heights: Raunchy Scenes Spark Content Warning

Emerald Fennell has divided critics with her new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which has been branded a 'hyper-sexualised' version of Emily Bronte's classic novel. 

The adaptation, in which sports a latex dress while portraying Cathy, and is often without a shirt as Heathcliffe, is a loose adaptation of the novel, after Emerald claimed that she wanted to do justice to the 'primal, sexual' aspects of the story.

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. 

The provocative scenes in question are undoubtedly erotic, however, they are not explicit. 

Much is made of what is portrayed is implied, with plenty of loud moans and writhing between the characters. 

Yet they remain clothed, with the heavy petting shown involving 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. 

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.

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.' 

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