Yikes, this outrageous Wuthering Heights scene was actually meant to be SO much more NSFW

Wuthering Heights has finally hit cinemas, and, predictably for Emerald Fennell’s gothic take on the novel, people are coming out shaken, tearful and very divided, right from the outrageous opening scene.

Even die-hard Brontë readers couldn’t have anticipated the shock awaiting them as the lights dim. After the opening credits fade up on darkness, the silence fills with guttural moans and the sound of heavy thuds. You might expect something overtly erotic, especially after the trailer’s BDSM-tinged imagery and a pulsing soundtrack by Charli XCX stirred online backlash from purists.

Instead, the source of the sounds is revealed to be far grimmer: A man hanging from a gallows, legs kicking as he dies, his thin robe doing little to hide the unmistakable outline of an erection. Technically a ‘death erection’ is a normal thing, as they are occasionally found in the corpses of men who have died by hanging. It occurs after excessive pressure is placed on the cerebellum, a subsection of the brain, by the noose.

The moment is both grotesque and darkly comic. People crowd around the execution, among them young Heathcliff, Cathy and Nelly. Cathy, notably, squeals and laughs along with the mob. A stern-faced nun stands nearby, seemingly scandalised, until a flicker of pleasure crosses her face.

Some people have argued the film isn’t nearly as explicit as early reactions feared. But, according to reports from The Telegraph on early test screenings, the opening was originally far more extreme.

The nun’s reaction, now confined to a suggestive smile, allegedly went much further: People claimed she openly pleasured herself while watching the hanged man, even touching his exposed arousal. The scene apparently caused walkouts, outrage, and ultimately a much more toned-down final cut.

For director Emerald Fennell, the provocation was deliberate. Speaking to USA Today, she explained that the opening needed to declare the film’s intentions instantly.

“With the first moments of a film, you need to set the tone and say what it is,” she said. “This is a deeply felt romance. But I also wanted people to understand that it would be surprising and darkly funny and perhaps stranger than they would expect.”

She added that the scene’s collision of arousal and danger was key to both Cathy’s character and Brontë’s world. “It was important to acknowledge early that arousal and danger are kind of the same thing,” Fennell said. “The first thing we see is Cathy, this young girl, seemingly frightened but then actually delighted. It tells us so much about who she is, but so much about Brontë, too.”

The director also pushed back against the pastel-washed idea of period drama. “We have this idea that the world of period dramas was fragrant and beautiful and lovely. It wasn’t at all. It was a dangerous place to live in, so it was crucial for me to show that right at the beginning.”

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Featured image credit: Warner Bros