Characters on Film

There's been a distinct cinematic connection to much of my reading over the past few weeks. What's more is that the films in question have actually enhanced the reading experience for me, breaking with the notion that the book is always superior to the movie.

First, I finally got around to watching last year's film adaptation of Julia Strachey's Cheerful Weather for the Wedding. After watching the beautifully shot film, I immediately picked up the novella to reread the story of moody young bride Dolly as she prepares for her wedding day by brooding upstairs over a hidden bottle of rum while her wedding guests gather downstairs. On its own, the book is amusing but somewhat difficult to wholeheartedly like since none of its characters are particularly likable. The movie tries to elicit more sympathy for Dolly through flashbacks to an earlier romance. I felt neutral about these not entirely necessary additional scenes, but what I really loved was the way the movie brought to life the cast of minor characters that make up Dolly's eccentric family and friends. With a newly vivid picture of them in my mind, it was these characters who stood out for me during my second reading of Strachey's book.

Another novel that was enhanced by a film counterpart was Helen Fielding's latest installment in the Bridget Jones saga, Mad About the Boy. I could actually be a bit harsher here and say that the memory of the earlier films was the only thing that saved the current book. There were spoilers all over the internet when Mad About the Boy was first released, so I won't repeat them here other than to say that the book picks up with Bridget as a fifty-year-old mother of two. In the first Bridget Jones novel, her diary cheekily tracked her smoking and dieting habits, among other things. This time around, two of its major focuses are Bridget's Twitter followers and texting habits. What might have been a cute joke if left at one or two mentions is tediously drawn out through the entire book. When she's not texting or tweeting, Bridget's up to some of her same old antics, only they don't translate as well as they used to. For much of this book, I could only find Bridget's character remotely appealing if I pictured Renee Zellweger's charming portrayal. On the whole, I think I'd say that the Bridget Jones films have definitely eclipsed the books.

And finally, proving that good things come to those who leave half-written blog posts sitting in the draft folder for a week, on Sunday night I stumbled onto The Making of a Lady on PBS, the film version of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Making of a Marchioness. The novel was the very first Persephone classic that I read and while I enjoyed it, it was subsequently eclipsed in my mind by other Persephone novels. Seeing the movie version reminded me of how much I enjoyed the story. It was a perfect blend of the romance and the creepiness that make up the two halves of Burnett's work. I know what I'll be picking up to reread next.

Do you have any favorite film adaptations that you think are as good as, or even better than, the books they're based on?

The Heiress

Over the weekend I saw The Heiress on Broadway.

The play was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz in 1947 and is based on the Henry James novel Washington Square. The current Broadway version stars Jessica Chastain as Katherine Sloper, a shy and awkward young woman, David Straithairn as her wealthy doctor father, and Dan Stevens as a potential suitor for Katherine. Although all of the action takes place in the confines of the Sloper's drawing room, it's actually quite a suspenseful story, filled with layers of questionable motives.



It was a treat to see a group of such well known actors, especially Jessica Chastain (now I'll be rooting for her during the Golden Globes and Oscars, even though I haven't seen the movie she's up for).  While all of the performances seemed equally strong, it was Dan Stevens and his Matthew Crawley aura that drew audible gasps and swoons when he made his first entrance!

And the next time you're in the mood to watch a classic movie, I'd highly recommend the 1949 film version starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift, which I think remains the gold standard adaptation.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Since I watch more movies through Netflix than I see in theaters these days, it's rare for me to have a movie recommendation that's not a year or two past due. That's why, when I have an actual current movie to recommend, like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I have to jump at the chance.

The ensemble cast of heavyweight actors portrays a group of British retirees who, for various reasons, decide to spend their retirement in India at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a luxurious retreat for older adults. Of course, when they arrive they find that things aren't quite as luxurious as advertised. Although some funny moments ensue as each character adapts to the new culture in his or her own way, the story as a whole is weightier than the commercials portray, and ultimately very uplifting. The crowd in the theater where I saw it was definitely skewed toward older generations, but I'd say this is a must see for any age. Or a must-Netflix, if your habits run more towards mine.

Berkeley Square

If, like me, you were obsessed with Masterpiece's Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, then you may enjoy Berkeley Square, a ten-part BBC miniseries from the late 90's that I found on Netflix.

It's the story of three nannies and the families they work for in Victorian London. It wasn't quite as good as Downton was. Sometimes it got a little too melodramatic (think babies with swapped identities). At other times, it felt like it was trying a little too hard to be heartwarming. That being said, I still really, really enjoyed it, to the point that I was so surprised that it ended the way that it did, I had to do some extensive online searching to make sure that there wasn't a second season I was missing out on.

Give it a try if you're looking for something to get you through to January 8th, when the second season of Downton airs. (Their website already has a countdown clock- only 88 days, 23 hours, and 43 minutes to go.)

Chocolate and Chocolat

I've probably watched the movie Chocolat about half a dozen times. I never had any real intention of reading the book it's based on, but figured I'd give it a try when I picked up a copy for a few pennies at a library book sale.

I was surprised to find that the book is actually much darker than the movie is. The magical elements that give the movie a fairy tale feel come across as sinister on the page. Certain characters play different roles in the book, and the ending is much more ambiguous, to the point of being a let down. I may be influenced by the fact that I saw the movie before reading the book, but I have to say that this is rare case where I think the screenplay improved upon the original story.

The book did share one thing with the movie- the ability to induce chocolate cravings. The movie has been known to send me scrounging in my cabinets for a packet of hot chocolate. I was more prepared this time around and got my sweet fix by making some quick and easy Nutella cookies that were making the blog rounds last week.

Have you ever cooked along with the theme of a book?

Costumed Brits

Who watched Downton Abbey on PBS last night? It's a British import shown on Masterpiece Theater, so obviously I did. Set just prior to WWI, it opens with the sinking of the Titanic and follows the family and the servants living in an English country estate. It's basically Gosford Park redux, but stretched out into a six hour miniseries. I have my Sunday nights scheduled for it for the next few weeks. The story is interesting and the costumes are gorgeous, plus it's fun to play the game of spotting the British actors who've been in other BBC imports (so far I have Sense and Sensibility, North and South, and the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice on my list).

It ended up being a big weekend for period pieces, since I also saw The King's Speech, which I would recommend. It's actually kind of a feel-good movie, which is kind of surprising for something that's getting awards buzz (or really for anything not animated by Pixar or starring Sandra Bullock).

And guess what else- There's a new remake of Jane Eyre coming out soon. It looks promising from the trailer.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Last night I saw the Banksy movie Exit Through the Gift Shop. It was really good- funny, perplexing, and interesting all at the same time. Definitely a must see, which might seem surprising for a documentary about a documentarian (documentarist?).

It's kind of tricky to explain the movie (this review will probably do a better job that I will), but on the surface it's a documentary about Thierry Giuetta, a compulsive French filmer (though not necessarily a filmmaker) who follows and videotapes artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey, ostensibly making a documentary about street art. Then the film takes a turn when Giuetta decides to become a street artist (of sorts) himself.

There are all sorts of layers you can read into it. Is it a commentary about how people are gullible when it comes to what's considered art? Is the entire thing just a joke that Banksy's playing? All of this is mixed in with really interesting scenes of street artists putting up their work. I can't really be sure what the full meaning of the whole thing is, but I do know that I really enjoyed it.

Purple Violets

I'd be willing to be that almost nobody has heard of the movie Purple Violets, starring Selma Blair, Patrick Wilson, Debra Messing, and Edward Burns, who also directed it. I hadn't until it popped up on Netflix as a recommended movie for me. After looking it up, I found out that it was originally a movie released solely on itunes by Apple, and then was later released on DVD.

Unlike what I imagine most straight to DVD releases to be like, this was actually really good. It's about the relationships of a foursome of college friends, including two writers, now in their early thirties. Although it's a pretty quiet film- no crazy, dramatic plot twists or anything- it's really well done and makes good use of it's New York setting. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Grey Gardens

I finally got around to seeing the HBO movie version of Grey Gardens and it's amazing! Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange perfectly capture every little thing about Big and Little Edie. They truly deserve every award that they've won for this. There are some scenes where you would literally be hard pressed to tell the difference between this version and the original documentary.

The film isn't just one big impersonation, though. They show flash backs to when Big Edie was still married and Little Edie was just a young woman, and it really gives a new perspective on the state that they ended up in. It's really interesting to see the origins of some of their crazier traits in their younger selves. I highly, highly recommend Netlflixing this. (But see the original first if you really want to appreciate it.)

Emma

One of the few things to look forward to during post-holiday January is the return of Masterpiece Theatre to PBS. Sunday night was the premiere of a new BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. (If you missed it, you can watch it online. The series continues for the next two Sundays.)

I really loved it! So far, it's pretty high up there among my favorite Jane Austen movie adaptations. I still think that Gwyneth Paltrow set the standard in her version of Emma, but this Emma isn't far behind. All of the other characters are perfectly cast and the times when the movie veers away from the book, like when it shows the characters as children, actually seem to improve upon the original story.

The movie's website also has a cute little Bachelor's of Highbury quiz to find out which male character you're most compatible with. Although I'm not sure how cute it actually is....my most compatible bachelor is Mr. Woodhouse?!?! Emma's elderly, hypochondriac father?!?! I'm horrified! Aren't these things supposed to be rigged so that everyone gets Mr. Knightly?

Let the Great World Spin

I tend to inwardly roll my eyes when I see a blurb that describes a book as "leaving you breathless", but I've finally found an instance where the blurb was true. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann tells the interweaving stories of several characters set against the backdrop of 1970's New York on the day that Phillipe Petit walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers. The descriptions of the crowds on the street watching the tightrope walker create such a buildup of tension that you really do feel a little breathless after reading them.

At the risk of gushing, I loved everything about this book.- the writing itself, the way the author connects the lives of characters that are worlds apart, the way its pre-9/11 setting takes on a post-9/11 meaning. I'm still thinking about it after finishing it. So many characters come in and out of the story, and some of the most fleeting moments between minor characters are the ones that have stuck with me the most.


I liked this book so much that I watched the documentary Man on Wire about Phillipe Petit's tightrope walk. It's a really interesting movie, and it's amazing how crazy his entire stunt was- beyond the actual craziness of tightrope walking in general. They actually strung the wire by using a bow and arrow to shoot fishing line between the two buildings in the middle of the night, then ran the steel cable across little by little. Crazy!

Netflix Worthy: ShakespeaRE-Told

The Netflix instant movies that you can watch online are great for when you're in between returning one disc and getting another. Or when, say, the lock on your mailbox is broken, leaving Season 2 of Mad Men trapped inside for a few days while the building tries to fix it. Just hypothetical situations like that. Anyway, one of the instant movies that I recently watched is ShakespeaRE-Told, a BBC miniseries starring famous British actors, like James McAvoy, that translates Shakespeare's plays into modern settings. It was one of Netflix's recommendations for me "based on my interest in Flight of the Conchords". I'm not really sure what the connection is there- maybe Brett's and Jemaine's lyrics are as beautiful as a Shakespeare sonnet? In any case, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. There are four in the series- Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I've watched two of the comedies so far and both were really entertaining. Not exactly high culture, but fun and clever enough, and the British accents trick you into thinking they're very highbrow.


I may have to start an offshoot blog called Miss Anglophile

Recommendation of the Week

Classic Movie

I recently re-watched Arsenic and Old Lace, and realized that not only is it on my short list of favorite movies ever, but it's also a top contender for the prize of the funniest movie I've ever seen. Cary grant is funny and charming, and the plot twists are set of by amazingly witty lines- I discover more each time I watch it. And because it takes place on Halloween and filled with some hilariously creepy characters, it's a perfect movie for this time of year.

Coco Avant Chanel

Saw Coco Avant Chanel starring Audrey Tatou last night. Besides being an interesting biopic and a gorgeous film to look at, this movie made me obsessed with the simple yet chic clothes that Chanel wore, particularly this striped, boatneck t-shirt.

In another scene in the movie, she wore a slightly oversized, black and white version cinched with a black ribbon around the waist. I've been searching for a version I can get to recreate the look.

This one from Anthropologie could be a good approximation, although some of the online reviews complained about the saggy pocket.

Urban Outfitters has a shorter sleeve version that also comes in navy that might work too.

Both of these may be worth some investigating.

Biographies and Biopics

I recently read Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life and then, in keeping with the theme of American icons, followed that up by seeing Julie & Julia.

The Jackie Kennedy biography was interesting and I'm glad I read it, although aside from a few random facts, it wasn't that earth-shattering in terms of things I didn't already know about her. I did think the author was stretching some of the biographical facts a bit. Jackie liked to read as a girl...does that necessarily lead to the assumption that she read Jane Eyre and imagined that her school's headmistress was secretly insane like Rochester's wife in the attic? I'd like to see the documentation behind that fact.


Julie & Julia was such a cute movie. Nothing overly dramatic happens to either of the characters, but it's just so charming watching them go through all of the little things in their lives. I walked away wanting to a) read My Life in France by Julia Child and b) wear my pearls more often!

A Blah Book and a Good Movie

I spent the past week slogging through The Jasmine Isle by Greek author Ioanna Karystiani. Oddly, I decided to read this book based in its publisher, Europa, which is known for translating international fiction titles and publishing them in the U.S. They published The Elegance of the Hedgehog, so I thought I've give The Jasmine Isle a try.

I'm not sure if something got lost in the translation or what, but this book dragged and was just completely uninteresting to me. The author tried for a stream of conscious narrative like that of Virginia Woolf, but it just fell flat. I didn't care about or particularly like any of the characters. The main thing the story achieved for me was a sense of boredom that could be said to emulate the boredom, tiredness, and constant state of waiting felt by the female characters who live on a tiny Greek island where all of the men are sailors away at sea for months at a time. I feel like I wasted a week of reading on this one.

So as not to be too negative, I can recommend a really good movie I watched: Ira & Abby.

Set in New York, it's a sweet, quirky romantic comedy that follows a mismatched couple that spontaneously decides to get married on the day they meet. I thought it touched on a few of the same themes as the recent Away We Go (minus the pregnancy and the roadtrip), but in a much cuter, funnier way.

Watch and Read

The main reason why I think Netflix is one of the greatest inventions ever is that I end up seeing so many movies that I otherwise wouldn't if I had to go out and rent them. One such that I watched recently is Starter for Ten starring James McAvoy.


Set at a British university, it's a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of University Challenge, a College Bowl-like quiz show. Since I never get tired of coming-of-age school stories, I tracked down the book the movie was based on, A Question of Attraction by David Nicholls. (It was also re-released in conjunction with the film under the title Starter for Ten.)


I enjoyed the movie because it had many of the cliche elements you would expect to find in this type of story- lower class boy mingling with the upper class for the first time, falling in love with the inappropriate popular girl- yet the total effect of the film was very un-cliche. The book went even further in this than the film did. The beginning follows the film almost exactly, but some plot deviations in the latter half make the book even more unexpectedly less-cliche than the movie. The entire book is hilarious. I was laughing out loud for paragraphs at a time. The author also does a very clever thing by starting each chapter with a trivia question, the answer of which creates a theme for the subsequent chapter. Both the movie and the book are worth a watch and a read.

A brief weekend recap....

The weather was perfect for an outdoor fine arts and crafts festival held a few blocks from the beach. There was a lot of interesting art and jewelry for sale and I picked up two prints for myself.

This print by StudioManhattan is a Polaroid transfer of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. (It's actually matted and framed...the picture doesn't show that too well.) The artist explained that he takes a shot with a Polaroid camera and, before it has a chance to develop, peels away the negative and transfers it onto watercolor paper. The color saturation and effect comes out differently every time. The subject matter was mostly New York images, some very iconic and some more subtle. It was hard to choose which one to get.



I also got this bright, fun Boston print from artists specializing in what they describe as "Nostalgic Neighborhoods". It's kind of like a Where's Waldo painting of the major sites, landmarks, and stores for a given city.

On the cooking front, I baked a mushroom and spinach quiche with a potato crust, from this cookbook, which has a lot of interesting looking recipes. The quiche turned out well. It calls for just three eggs and a modest amount of cheese, so it doesn't taste like your traditional quiche, more like some kind of savory vegetable pie.


I also had the chance to watch a DVD that I would never have seen if it wasn't for the wonderful invention that is Netflix. This time it was the British film version of Cold Comfort Farm, starring Kate Beckinsale, Eileen Atkins, and Ian McKellan. So funny...It really captures the essence of the book, which I blogged about here. I thought that part of the reason why I liked it may have been because I had read and liked the book, but my co-watchers were also laughing by the end of the movie. Great clothes, hats, and bobbed haircuts to be seen as well.

And last, but not least, as a post-script to my last post, I would strongly recommend watching Charlie Rose's interview with Dave Matthews from last week. It offers some really interesting insights into the new CD.

Little Dorrit

Beginning last night and continuing through the end of April, I’ll be spending Sunday nights watching the Dickens miniseries Little Dorrit on PBS. It has all of the key Dickensian elements- a wide cast of characters from a variety of social classes, a mysterious family downfall, and a betrayal involving money (though no orphans in workhouses yet!). The film gives an interesting portrayal of what British debtor’s prison was like- inmates brought their entire families with them and were even able to receive guests in their homes within the prison. Like the Bleak House miniseries from a few years ago, Little Dorrit is a slow-paced and darkly shot movie. I had a bit of a hard time getting into the plot initially and I know that I’m still missing something, as I haven’t been able to understand a word that’s been said in several scenes between two Frenchmen! One of the male leads is played by Matthew Macfadyen a.k.a. Mr. Darcy from the most recent remake of Pride and Prejudice. Here he seems to have shed his Darcy-esque brooding and seems more like Jim from The Office dressed in period clothing. So far, Little Dorrit isn’t the best BBC miniseries I’ve seen, but it has me interested enough to keep watching…and possibly to start reading the book.