Wuthering Heights

What’s it about?

A passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Inspired by Emily Bronte’s classic novel of the same name.

The facts

• Directed by Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn)
• English language
• Runtime: 136 minutes
• Starring Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)

Why did it get this rating?

This film was cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body. You can find out more about cross-rating here.

Sex scenes

There are suggestive sexual references throughout the film, and several sex scenes but with very little nudity.

In one scene, a female character masturbates – we see only arm movement and can hear her pleasure. Another character accidentally interrupts her. He subsequently sniffs and licks her fingers against her consent.

A hidden character watches a couple have sex in a stable, where it is implied that they use leather straps for pleasure. We hear sounds and brief glimpses of restraints being put over a woman’s head.

There are several montages of characters having sex in different positions and locations. The costumes, rapid edits, and camera angles, don’t show much detail. However, we see brief glimpses of a man’s head between a woman’s legs, various thrusting movements, and sounds of mutual pleasure.

A couple are shown in an apparently consensual sado-masochistic relationship. The man tells her he is going to be cruel and mean and asks for her consent to continue at every stage. We subsequently see her being laid out on a dirty table, and being chained like a dog to the hearth and being fed scraps. We see the power dynamic between them can flip as she slaps him and commands him to treat her a certain way. This relationship and treatment may be confusing or upsetting for some viewers.

Content that may disturb

Early in the film we see a public hanging, where the crowd is cheering and mocking as the hooded victim slowly gasps for air. A child laughs and cries out ‘He’s got a stiffy!’ and the camera cuts to an extreme close-up of the hanging man’s groin. The crowd appears to become aroused once the death is declared and we see brief glimpses of passionate embraces and people moaning with pleasure, including a nun.

Domestic abuse is shown in different ways at the hands of an alcoholic father. We don’t see but hear a young boy being beaten by the father figure and we later see the scars on his back from being whipped. There is some discussion during the film that hints at the father having ‘bad’ nights from drinking too much and gambling away the family fortune.

Several characters slap one another in anger and frustration. In one scene, a character kicks a dead body in rage several times. The moment is shocking.

A character dies and we see a large volume of blood streaming from between her legs, symbolic of miscarriage. We then see a character hugging her clearly dead body.

Offensive language

There are brief moments of strong language use that could be easily missed in the dialogue. Strongest language used includes ‘f*ck’, ‘sh*t’, and ‘ars*hole’.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?