When the book goes north and the film goes south…
July 31, 2011
I’ve been re-watching the miniseries of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and thank it for leading me to a book I never would have read otherwise. Although the series took some very modern liberties with the text, it works and manages to capture the essence of the book with its similar themes to Pride and Prejudice – rich and poor, prejudice versus knowledge, love versus misunderstanding. Filmed adaptations of some of Mrs Gaskell’s books such as Wives and Daughters and the Cranford series have lifted her out of ill-deserved literary obscurity in the last few years.
Sometimes filmed adaptations are an excellent way in to classic novels, removing the intimidation factor of books written when we had fewer demands on our time. The TV version of George Eliot’s Middlemarch made me read a book I never would have attempted otherwise (888 pages), and Vanity Fair made me read Thackeray for the first time.
Not all adaptations from well loved books are so successful. The miniseries of Brideshead Revisited was one of my favourites, prompting a visit to Castle Howard and a reading of Evelyn Waugh’s novel. I didn’t hate the recent film version and it certainly looked epically beautiful but it lacked dramatic impact. The compression of events skewed the plot and made it a simpler story about love rather than a heady mix of faith, nostalgia and lost innocence. I don’t know whether it was the time restriction of a feature film over a mini series or the fact that it already had been beautifully rendered in my mind by the previous adaptation and Waugh’s text.
I’ll soon be seeing the latest film of Jane Eyre. Wish me luck…
Is it better to see films/series first before reading the book? What books can you suggest that have worked just as well on the big or small screen?
August 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm
For anyone else who wants to see Jane Eyre (starring Mia Wasikowska and Dame Judi Dench), it is screening at the Classic Cinema on Thursday 11 August as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival
For more information check out http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=1841&h=0
August 2, 2011 at 5:05 pm
I’m with Narelle here. Themes that can be explored to their potential should be.
I hope I’m not running off at a tangent here, but I have wonderful memories of seeing Nicholas Nickelby epically staged in two four hour parts back in 1985. Compress it to 30 minutes and you’re left with an episode of Friends.
August 3, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I loved Anne Tyler’s book ‘The Accidental Tourist’ when it was first published in 1985 and looked forward to the film version. Unfortunately the choice of actors in the main roles really spoiled the film for me – they were nothing like I had pictured them in my head. I haven’t been able to go back to the book either.
Films that I think have worked are ‘Fingersmith’ (Sarah Waters), ‘Atonement’ (Ian McEwan), ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ (John Boyne) and ‘The Color Purple’ (Alice Walker).
August 3, 2011 at 4:58 pm
I completely agree about “The Accidental Tourist” – Geena ruined it for me. Bad casting can ruin a film even if it sticks close to the book. I didn’t hate the adapation of A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” as much as I expected to in light of the casting of the main roles but it made the historical aspects better than the modern ones because of the actors, losing the balance of the book. I was equally reluctant to watch the film of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” but was won over by the opening dolphin song – very good dolphin casting.
August 3, 2011 at 5:18 pm
I was initially nervous about watching “Disgrace” as a film (the J.M. Coetzee novel), it’s always a bit nerve-racking watching a much loved book translated by someone else’s imagination! I loved the film fortunately- for me it hit the note of desolation, helplessness and impossible compromise perfectly without melodrama (much like Coetzee’s writing, really).
August 5, 2011 at 11:32 am
Sometimes the film and novel both work brilliantly because they are quite different. ‘Blade Runner’ is fairly loosely based on ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, but both are considered SF classics. Philip K Dick’s writing is so dense with ideas that the director was able to focus on (for example) the environmental, while downplaying the religious aspects. Also many of the author’s ideas are conveyed through visual symbols rather than narrative. A screenplay is not a film; a novel even less so.
August 7, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I agree with Paul, that a book, a screenplay and a film are all different mediums to convey a story and often can’t be compared. The very first film of I book I saw in the 70’s was “My brilliant career,” by Miles Franklin and brilliant it was, as far as I was concerned. It stayed true to the book and I became an instant fan of Judy Davis who subsequently became one of Australia’s most talented actresses.
I found the film “Elergy” about sexual passion and terminal illness gripping, with outstanding theatrical performances by Ben Kinsley and Penelope Cruz and discovered that it was an adaptation of Philip Roth’s book “A dying animal”. I was sadly disappointed by the book which I found sordid and depressing. It was powerful writing, but not to my taste. The stronger material had been left out of the film so that it would appeal to a wider audience. I can understand the controversy over Roth being awarded The Man Booker International Prize for 2011, one judge actually resigned in protest.
Other films of books that worked for me are-:
“Romulus my father” by Raimond Gaita
“Disgrace” by J M Coetzee (2009 Nobel Prize winner)
“The kite runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“To sir with love” by E R Braithwaite
I’m am really looking forward to seeing “Red Dog” by Louis De Bernieres, now showing at Village Cinemas, the shorts of which depict outback Australia in all its red glory. I’m also looking forward to Patrick White’s “Eye of the storm”, which opened to good reviews at the Melbourne film festival on 23rd July. The book was first published in 1973 when White won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In an interview with the screen writer Judy Morris on Radio National last week, she explained that she had to adapt the book considerably to make it work for film, as the whole story took place in one room, that of the dying woman, Elizabeth Hunter. It is a Fred Schepisi film starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis.
August 22, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Many years ago I enjoyed a television mini-series based on “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough. The series hosted a star studded cast including Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, as well as the handsome heartthrobs Christopher Plummer and Bryan Brown. I decided to read the novel after watching the mini-series. The television adaptation proved to be quite true to the novel. I read the book many years ago travelling to work each day on the train. The trip always ended too fast as I was forced to stop reading to disembark at my stop – a definite page turner.
August 31, 2011 at 2:50 pm
[...] Wuthering Heights rather than the more sheltered world of Charlotte’s Jane Eyre. In this case the film went north, following the book. Elemental and swirling, with heightened emotions and high drama [...]