Emerald Fennell explains why Wuthering Heights has no nude scenes
The film's marketing campaign has presented it as a racy X-Rated movie, but it isn't actually that explicit
Wuthering Heights is set to release in cinemas today, February 13, and has had some of the most racy and high-profile marketing of any film in years.
This is fairly typical of director Emerald Fennell whose last film Saltburn made headlines for its shocking X-Rated bathtub hijinks and viral nude final scene featuring Barry Keoghan.
The Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie-led Wuthering Heights however has been promised as an even racier affair, however fans have been left slightly shocked after reviews revealed that there are no nude scenes in the film.
Whilst the film has been marketed as if it will essentially be a two hour nude sex scene, the movie itself is a bit more reserved.
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Fennell appeared on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast where she spoke about crafting the film’s soon-to-be-viral sex scenes, and explained the surprising reason Wuthering Heights didn’t need nude scenes.
The actor-turned-director said that she sees sex scenes ‘the same as any other’, adding: “Sex scenes are just romantic scenes, or they’re scenes about power, or they’re scenes about rage… they’re no different, it’s a power dynamic you’re looking at, it’s never about the thing that it’s about.”
She went on to point out that, whilst Saltburn was widely talked about for its X-Rated pushing of the envelope, it wasn’t itself that explicit a film.
Fennell stated that all nude scenes in that film are when a character is alone and that in sex scenes you never see any nudity.
The director also said: “The most erotic scene in [Saltburn] is between a man and a bathtub. So, when we talk about explicitness it’s sort of interesting because it’s explicit because of what we’re thinking.
“But the movies I grew up with and the ways they used bodies and particularly the way they used female bodies, those were really explicit because often there was nudity and sex for absolutely no reason.
“I think that the trick for me is always about making people think that they’ve seen more than they have.”
The film is set to debut as a massive financial success, with a predicted $50,000,000 box office opening weekend in the United States.
Critical reviews have been a tad more mixed however, with the 2026 version of the movie sitting at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes after 178 reviews.
Amongst the positive reviews is one five-star appraisal of the film that has been going viral online.
The Australian’s Nikki Gemmell gave the film a perfect score, saying she ‘inhaled Wuthering Heights with [her] groin’.
She went on to add: “A film of such gleeful power it may well liquify your innards just watching it.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian however slammed the film, giving it a two star review and saying it was ‘quasi-erotic, pseudo-romantic’, and adding that it was ‘a club night of mock emotion’.
Wuthering Heights is available to watch in cinemas now.
Topics: Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, TV and Film, Film, Cinema
Michael Slavin