5 Best Movies To Watch After 2026's Wuthering Heights

Emerald Fennell's adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" is finally hitting theaters, and thanks in large part to Fennell's reputation, it's going to cause quite a bit of controversy. By way of explanation, I'll simply quote one of our greatest philosophers, Tina Fey, during her now infamous appearances on "Las Culturistas" with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang as she explained to the two hosts that they can't be authentic and super famous. "You have a problem with 'Saltburn?' [...] Keep it to yourself," Fey advised. "Because what are you going to do when Emerald Fennell calls you about her next project, where you play Carey Mulligan's co-worker in the bridal section of Harrods and then act 3 takes a sexually violent turn and you have to pretend to be surprised by that turn?"

I included that quote because, first of all, it's awesome; Fey is so funny. Second, though, it sums up the whole deal with Fennell's body of work, so to speak ... so it shouldn't surprise anybody that her adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff is making waves. (Still, it's important to note that my brilliant colleague BJ Colangelo praised "Wuthering Heights" in her review right here for /Film and suggested that everyone weirded out by it needs to get "freakier fast." You heard her!)

With that in mind, whether you went to see "Wuthering Heights" and loved it or think Brontë is rolling over in her grave, here are five other movies you might want to consider adding to your watchlist after watching "Wuthering Heights" ... and, yes, we will get to the "Saltburn" of it all.

After his adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" won over audiences in 2005 (note: that film only narrowly missed out on making this list), director Joe Wright kept adapting literary classics — and in 2012, he teamed up again with his Lizzie Bennett, Keira Knightley, for "Anna Karenina." Based on Leo Tolstoy's hefty tome of the same name and using a screenplay written by the late, great Tom Stoppard, this version casts Knightley as the titular Anna, a wealthy high-society woman trapped in a largely loveless marriage to the powerful Alexei Karenin (Jude Law). 

After meeting the young, handsome Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Anna falls in love with him, and the two begin an affair ... but because of the way Russian society is structured, there's no way for Anna to leave her husband and begin a life with Vronsky. Plus, there's another issue: Anna's niece, Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (Alicia Vikander), initially has her eye on Vronsky as well, only to lose out to her older, married aunt.

Incredibly, Emerald Fennell is in this movie (in case you didn't know, she's also an accomplished on-screen performer who showed up in "The Crown" as a young Camilla Parker-Bowles and plays the minor character Princess Merkalova in "Anna Karenina"), but the lavish costumes, theme of forbidden love, and literary connection further tie this film to "Wuthering Heights." Besides Fennell, this movie boasts an absolutely wild supporting cast to boot, including Wright's other "Pride and Prejudice" co-star and future "Succession" standout Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Olivia Williams, Kelly Macdonald, and Ruth Wilson, just to name a few. If you don't mind your romance with a side of darkness, definitely give "Anna Karenina" a try.

Remember Tina Fey specifically mentioning Oscar-nominated actor Carey Mulligan in her Emerald Fennell joke? Well, let's turn our attention to a movie starring Mulligan — who headlined Fennell's first feature film "Promising Young Woman" and appeared in a supporting role in "Saltburn" — that's also based on a work of classic literature. There have been a few adaptations of the 1874 novel "Far from the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy, including one in 1967 starring Julie Christie and another made for the British channel ITV in 1998. That said, let's turn our attention to the film adaptation directed by Thomas Vinterberg (best known for "Another Round"), which released in 2015 and stars Mulligan as the story's heroine Bathsheba Everdene.

Unlike Margot Robbie's Catherine, Mulligan's Bathsheba isn't a highborn woman ... but while working the fields at her country home, she does meet a local farmer named Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) and the two begin to fall in love. Even though Bathsheba initially turns down Gabriel's proposal, the narrative of "Far from the Madding Crowd" takes place over a number of years, and the two find themselves repeatedly drawn back together after Bathsheba inherits her late uncle's farm and Gabriel starts working for her. Still, a potential new suitor named William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) threatens to derail their romance. 

Vinterberg's take on "Far from the Madding Crowd" is atmospheric, lovely, and features phenomenal central performances from Mulligan, Schoenaerts, and Sheen alike — and even though it's not based on a Brontë novel, it pairs quite well with "Wuthering Heights." Once you've finished watching that, give this sweeping romance a try next.

If you want to watch a very dark period piece that's based on an acclaimed novel, but you're not really looking for a sweeping romantic epic, may I suggest Sofia Coppola's 2017 drama "The Beguiled?" Based on the book released in 1966 by Thomas P. Cullinan (and the second adaptation after director Don Siegel took the reins in his 1971 film of the same name starring Clint Eastwood), "The Beguiled" casts Nicole Kidman as Martha Farnsworth, a woman who runs a solitary girls' school in Virginia amidst the backdrop of the U.S. Civil War. Martha and her only other teacher, Edwina Morrow (Coppola's regular collaborator Kirsten Dunst), don't get many visitors ... which is why it's so surprising when one of their students, Amy (Oona Lawrence), finds the injured Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) in the woods after he deserts the Union effort.

Instead of turning John over the Confederate Army, Martha and Edwina decide to "nurse" him back to health ... although to say their intentions are sinister is a massive understatement. Alongside their students, including Amy, Alicia (Elle Fanning), and Jane (Angourie Rice), Martha and Edwina all start quietly competing for John's affections, a situation that, predictably, ends in horror and disaster.

"The Beguiled" is a weird, creepy, and deeply unsettling film, and I mean all of that as a massive compliment, to be quite clear; Kidman, Dunst, and Fanning, in particular, really shine under Coppola's careful direction as a group of twisted and isolated women who wreak havoc on the life of a man unfortunate to end up in their care. If you watched "Wuthering Heights" and sort of wished Coppola had directed it, this one's for you.

Want to talk about truly great literary adaptations, specifically literary adaptations of books written by women that are then adapted by women? I've got you covered with my personal favorite version of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," written and directed by Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig. (I know the 1994 version by Gillian Armstrong is incredibly popular and beloved, but this is my article! Argue with the wall!) Released in 2019, this take stars Saoirse Ronan as the story's ostensible heroine Jo March, but right from the beginning, we get a little twist on Jo's usual trajectory. The first thing we see Jo do is sell one of her stories to New York editor Mr. Dashwood (Gerwig regular Tracy Letts), making it clear that the film will present Jo as a writer first and foremost.

Switching between teenage and adult timelines by using different color palettes for each one, Gerwig masterfully translates Alcott's classic work for the big screen, with Emma Watson playing Meg, Eliza Scanlon playing Beth, Florence Pugh playing the most dynamic Amy in the history of "Little Women" adaptations, Laura Dern playing the March matriarch Marmee, Timothée Chalamet playing Theodore "Laurie" Laurence, and Chris Cooper playing Mr. Laurence. (Chalamet might be a two-time Oscar nominee now, but he had me in a chokehold ever since his delivery of "It's no use, Jo!" in one of this movie's most pivotal scenes.) Beyond the movie's perfect casting, it follows the March girls lovingly throughout both their younger and older timelines, showing us Amy's doomed journey as a painting student in Paris, Beth's long and sustained illness, Meg's courtship and marriage to John Brooke (James Norton), and Jo's quest to become a writer. This version of "Little Women" is absolutely perfect, and it also pairs perfectly with "Wuthering Heights."

Okay, it's finally time to talk about "Saltburn." After winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Promising Young Woman," Emerald Fennell was given the keys to the Hollywood castle, so to speak ... but her 2023 sophomore writing/directing effort, "Saltburn," proved even more divisive than her debut (which is frankly wild when you consider what "Promising Young Woman" is about). When we first meet the movie's ostensible protagonist, Barry Keoghan's seemingly naïve but constantly scheming Oliver Quick, he develops an all-consuming obsession with his classmate at the University of Oxford, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). After Oliver feeds Felix a devastating story about a difficult childhood and the death of both of his parents, the wealthy and popular Felix takes Oliver under his wing, which culminates in Felix inviting Oliver to spend the holiday season at his family's massive country estate: Saltburn.

At Saltburn, Oliver meets Felix's glamorous but vapid mother Lady Elspeth Catton (a delightfully off-kilter Rosamund Pike), his powerful father Sir James (Richard E. Grant), Felix's ambitious cousin Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), and Felix's beautiful, troubled sister Venetia (Alison Oliver, who also appears in "Wuthering Heights"). As Oliver infiltrates the Catton family, Felix grows suspicious ... and I won't spoil the film's shocking conclusion here if you haven't seen it, but I assure you it'll leave you scratching your head. (I don't necessarily mean that in a good way, but hey — it's a big swing, and Fennell tried.) In any case, Elordi is expertly deployed in "Saltburn" (I, too, would act gonzo because of how hot he is, which is sort of what happens to Oliver), so you should check this one out if you want to see his inaugural collaboration with Fennell.

"Wuthering Heights" is in theaters now.