“Wuthering Heights” hits like a fever dream — I mean this in the best possible way. The film’s writer-director, Emerald Fennell, fuses Saltburn’s lurid sexuality with Dali-esque visual flourishes to produce a Victorian-era romance tailored for the TikTok generation. Fennell throws a lot at the wall throughout the film’s 136-minute runtime, and not all of it sticks, resulting in a film that’s bold, strange, provocative, disturbing, shocking, tragic, and often messy, but never dull.

Fans of Emily Brontë ’s classic novel Wuthering Heights should be aware that this isn’t a faithful retelling. Visually, tonally, and narratively, this adaptation plays by its own set of rules — it ditches key characters and intergenerational subplots. Fennell’s take on the material focuses squarely on the complicated relationship between the film’s two leads, Cathy (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi).

When Heathcliff was a child, he was taken in by Mr. Earnshaw (Martin Clunes), the owner of Wuthering Heights, who took pity on the boy after seeing him abused while living on the streets. Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter Cathy, an only child, treats Heathcliff as an object of fascination. Somedays he’s her playmate; other days he’s her plaything. Despite her domineering streak, Heathcliff grows fond of Cathy, even taking the blame for her actions to protect her from her alcoholic father’s violent beatings.

As they enter young adulthood, they develop an unspoken attraction for one another, complicated by Heathcliff’s role as the family’s low-class servant. But just before they finally express their feelings, a wealthy (and dashing) new neighbour, Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), moves into the estate next door. It’s not long before Edgar proposes to Cathy, putting her in a difficult position. Should she marry Edgar for wealth and status and uplift her family from financial ruin, or go with her heart and live a life of struggle with Heathcliff?

Three movies into her filmography, and Fennell has established an unmistakable cinematic voice. In terms of aesthetic and tone, “Wuthering Heights”  feels closer to Saltburn  than Promising Young Woman . It’s racy and joyfully seductive with a winking trashiness. The film opens with people gawking at a corpse’s erect “junk,” and it only amps the WTF-factor from there. I could go on and on about floors made to resemble spilled blood and bedroom walls designed to mimic human skin (with veins and freckles).

Beyond the dreamlogic visuals, “ Wuthering Heights”  also carries Fennell’s thematic sensibilities too. It’s a story about money, status, and people navigating the politics of class structures. There’s a particular emphasis on gender roles, and the struggle of women to claim their self-agency in a world of domineering (and often daft) men.

Fennell packs plenty to chew on into every scene. But you can also sit back, turn off your analytical brain and just soak up the sumptuous costumes and production design while Anthony Willis’s catchy score washes over you.

“Wuthering Heights”  will be released in time for Valentine’s Day weekend, and some of the promotional material describes it as “The greatest love story ever told.” And I must admit, the grown women seated around me at my screening were literally swooning over the movie like teenage girls sitting front row at a Harry Styles concert . Although that has more to do with the chemistry of the film’s smouldering leads than the substance of any grand romantic gestures.

“Wuthering Heights”  is a love story, true, but not in the traditional sense. Think of it as a story about love, our ability to give and receive it, and the impractical nature of our carnal desires.

Loving someone should be the easiest thing in the world. We spend our lives pursuing love, and if we’re fortunate enough to find that special someone who loves us back, then it seems like the hard part is out of the way. But while that may be true in fairytales, real life has a way of complicating things.

“Wuthering Heights ” is about the obstacles we face in making it to our “Happily ever after.” The family values we’re raised with, societal norms, and our own neuroses can each stand in the way of committing to what our hearts want.

For Cathy and Heathcliff, wealth and status are only the first of many barriers keeping them from committing to each other. They’re also stubborn, petty, selfish, and insecure. So when the going gets tough, a lifetime of emotional wounds has conditioned them to build walls around themselves rather than let their guards down.

Audiences will no doubt watch this film and melt over the steamy sex scenes, and by all means, do your thing. But “Wuthering Heights”  also reads as a cautionary tale, celebrating the miracle of love by exposing how fragile and fleeting it truly is. Some romances aren’t doomed by fate; they are murdered by pride.

“Wuthering Heights”  opens in theatres on Friday, February 13.