A steamy Wuthering Heights trailer has dropped. We have five big questions

The teaser trailer has dropped for Wuthering Heights, with Australians Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi starring as the tragic lovers at the core of the tale – and it’s a lot.

The trailer for this new version of Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic tragedy, which is set to be released on Valentine’s Day, features a track by Charli XCX (no sign of Kate Bush’s classic), and sees Elordi reunited with Saltburn director Emerald Fennell. That suggests things are going to be a lot heavier and hotter than previous adaptations of the classic novel.

Here are some of the biggest questions we – and the internet – have after taking in the new teaser.

Is this the Freudian version of Wuthering Heights?

In the film publicity game, this isn’t actually a trailer, it’s a teaser. Take out the credits and intro, and you’re left with barely a minute of fast-cut, heavy-breathing footage. But what a steamy offering it is, all whips and bridles and tightly drawn corsets, and lots and lots of lingering looks. Fifty Shades of Grey and Gloomy Yorkshire Skies? You betcha.

There’s no sign of the reported scene in which a nun fondles the erect penis of a dead man who’s been (well) hung, apparently, over some crime or other, but there’s enough here to suggest Fennell isn’t shying away from the kinkiness she first displayed in her debut feature A Promising Young Woman – and took to the next level with Saltburn (that bathtub scene especially).

But the thing that most sticks out (ahem) here is the oral fixation.

We open on a shot of a suitably foggy landscape, then cut straight to a close-up of Robbie’s face, her lips plump and full, her mind wandering, it seems, to thoughts of kneading dough; Elordi’s face (his mouth looming similarly large); his whip-scarred, sweat-drenched back; hands in eggs; more dough kneading. Lordy, making bread has never been so hot.

And then, 26 seconds in, we have it: Catherine (Robbie) sticks her fingers in Heathcliff’s (Elordi) mouth. And we’re off.

At 49 seconds, someone’s finger – we’re guessing it’s Catherine’s again – is inserted with unmistakable sexual intent into the mouth of a dead fish. At 50 seconds, Heathcliff has his fingers in Catherine’s mouth. At 51 seconds, Catherine has her fingers in her own mouth. At 54 seconds, a bridle is slipped around the head of a woman – possibly Catherine – in a stable (there’s a bonus whip crack from some bloke a second later), and at 63 seconds we see a woman on all fours, chain around her neck, crawling towards the camera, her tongue lolling lasciviously. And then it’s all over. I need a cup of tea and a lie-down.

What it all means is anyone’s guess, but consider us teased.

How faithful will it be to the novel?

When Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 (under the pseudonym Ellis Bell), it was highly controversial, with many critics finding it indecent and “savage”. Its themes of obsessive passion, abuse and vengeance challenged Victorian-era class structures and sent many reviewers to their fainting couches. One can only imagine the horror if they were to see this teaser.

Aside from the 1980s colour palette (and wedding dress) and the possibility of necrophiliac nuns, Fennell’s adaptation is bound to annoy Brontë purists.

Does the casting actually work?

Robbie and Elordi are 35 and 28 respectively – ages that were basically middle-aged when the novel was published. Catherine is aged between 16 and 18 in the novel; Heathcliff about the same. While Robbie looks fabulous for her age, neither she nor Elordi look like teenagers.

The bigger issue that purists might object to is the fact that Heathcliff is described by Brontë as a “dark-skinned gypsy” who, while handsome and “in dress and manners a gentleman”, is suspected to be “under-bred”.

Elordi certainly has the “black eyes” Brontë describes, but he’s clearly white. Heathcliff’s ambiguous background is an integral part of the storyline, his “otherness” shaping his character – and used by the author to explore the impact of racial prejudice. Granted, if the teaser is anything to go by, exploration of societal issues is not one of the film’s key attractions.

What about the story’s underlying themes of mental illness?

There’s not a lot to go on from the teaser about how the film will explore Catherine’s mental health – or her “brain fever”, as it’s referred to in the book – or Heathcliff’s obsessive rage and desire for revenge (often interpreted by modern critics as a narcissistic disorder).

The trailer is more focused on the erotic aspect of the pair’s love.

But the intense soundtrack and the snippets of costume and production design– with its bold, saturated colours and trippy Peter Greenaway-esque visuals – could suggest some kind of brain fever.

The obsessive love is clearly signposted, so it stands to reason that things will get unhinged.

Does the gift that keeps on giving have any more to give?

There have been more than a dozen screen adaptations of Wuthering Heights, the first appearing in 1920; the most famous – with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon – in 1939; the most recent made-for-TV 2015 movie set in an American high school (called, imaginatively, Wuthering High).

It’s been adapted in Spanish (by Luis Buñuel) and in Japanese (by Yoshishige Yoshida).

There’s also the rather good 2022 biopic Emily, the debut feature of Australian actor-turned-director Frances O’Connor, which starred English actor Emma Mackey – who bears a striking resemblance to Margot Robbie – as Emily Brontë. Make of that what you will.

And, of course, there are other adaptations, too, from graphic novels to plays – with the most famous undoubtedly being Kate Bush’s 1978 song.

Each re-telling has tried to put its own spin on the tale, making it relevant to a new generation. With this teaser’s emphasis on kink – and a pumping soundtrack from Charli XCX – Fennell is clearly aiming to do the same.

Whether it hits the mark or makes a total hash of it by trying too hard: we’ll have to wait until February 2026 to find out.

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