The 2026 adaptation of Emily Brontë's seminal classic, Wuthering Heights, has a unique twist on its title. The movie is officially dubbed "Wuthering Heights", and the quotation marks around the title have been drawing questions. The film, by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell, is far from the first attempt to bring Brontë's romance novel to the screen, but this Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi-starring version takes a different approach, and its title reflects that.
Wuthering Heights follows the intense romance between Catherine Earnshaw (Robbie) and Heathcliff (Elordi). The first trailers for "Wuthering Heights" made it clear Fennell's film would be making some changes, with an upbeat soundtrack from Charli XCX and a highly stylized gothic setting. Fans were also quick to notice a break with tradition in the inverted commas on the film's title, which are completely intentional, according to Elordi.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Elordi said, "There are inverted commas for a reason," adding that "Wuthering Heights" is "Emerald's vision," and the title signals its "somebody else's interpretation of a great piece of art."
Jacob Elordi: "There are inverted commas for a reason. This is Emerald’s vision and these are the images that came to her head at 14 years old; somebody else’s interpretation of a great piece of art is what I’m interested in — new images, fresh images, original thoughts."
Fennell herself said that she "couldn't ever hope to make anything that could encompass the greatness" of the original Wuthering Heights novel. By adding quotation marks around the title, the director said it "felt right to say it's Wuthering Heights, and it isn't."
“Like many people who love this book, I’m kind of fanatical about it, so I knew right from the get-go I couldn’t ever hope to make anything that could even encompass the greatness of this book. All I could do was make a movie that made me feel the way the book made me feel, and therefore it just felt right to say it’s Wuthering Heights, and it isn’t.”
Fennell added in an interview with Fandango that she felt "any adaptation of a novel, especially a novel like this, should have quotation marks around it."
"Wuthering Heights" also stars Hong Chau, Owen Cooper, Shazad Latif, and Alison Oliver, alongside Robbie and Elordi. The movie releases in theatres on February 13.
“Wuthering Heights” Is a Brand New Interpretation
The quotation marks in "Wuthering Heights" do have a hidden meaning, and similar to the asterisk in Marvel's Thunderbolts*, they signal something deeper about the film.
The inverted commas in "Wuthering Heights" are an intentional stylistic choice in the movie, as are many other aspects of this new adaptation. By including the punctuation marks in the title, the film prepares audiences for a version of the classic tale that may not be the one they're used to.
Many fans had already clocked several differences with Fennell's adaptation. One of the main ones was Elordi's casting as Heathcliff, as the character was typically described as dark-skinned or ethnically ambiguous. Fennell defended her casting choices, telling Vogue she saw Elordi in the "Heathcliff on the cover of the book that I’ve had since I was a teenager."
Fennell's version of the story appears to focus more on capturing a visceral feeling than remaining faithful to every aspect of the novel. Early reactions to the film from critics have praised the adaptation for its bold style and performances, and noted its differences from the novel, but not necessarily as a bad thing.
