possession adaptation
Apr. 5th, 2011 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amelia_petkovaI've loved the book Possession by A.S. Byatt for years and I finally got around to watching the movie.
Overall, I liked it. Most of the acting was very good and I thought the switches between the present and past were done well, especially in Whitby. I wanted Christabel to be blonde and fiercer, but Jennifer Elhe is great anyways. Gwyneth Paltrow was the only one I didn't like. I've seen her in a few movies and I just can't warm to her. Roland's careless treatment of original manuscripts annoyed me but I like that they made it into a running gag (he hides a fax log in bouquet wrapping paper!). I love the bit in the beginning where he's zooming around the archives on his chair. Roland's solicitor friend is hilarious, even though we see him only twice.
There are some really good lines in this:
--"I want to buy seven minutes of attorney-client privilege."
--"You cut me, madam."
"I am sorry. I only meant to scratch."
--"I guess I'll just look shit up on the microfiche and suffer over you."
--Roland: I have a fellowship.
Lord Bailey: What does that mean?
Maud: He's on the Dole
I'm okay with Roland's character changing nationalities but all the American stereotype jokes got annoying after a while. It felt like the scriptwriter was trying too hard to be clever.
I was amazingly ticked off when I found out that Maud and Fergus are still romantically involved at the beginning of the movie. What the hell, Maud?
Things I wanted but didn't get: Maud's "turban"; Leonora Stern; longer scenes set in Christabel and Ash's time period; more Sabine de Kercouz; more Brittany; more about "Melusina"
I was also mad when Roland and Maud started making out and then getting angsty about it during the Whitby trip. One of the reasons why they make such a great pair in the book is because they start out as two people who don't really like each other, slowly become friends, and only after a long while start getting romantic because they're afraid of moving too fast. (That oversimplifies the issue a bit, but it's close enough.) I think their time spent in Brittany in the novel shows this really well. And then we have to sit through lovers' quarrels in the movie. Blech.
I'm glad I finally saw this movie, I really liked it, but I couldn't fall in love with it. I wonder if it would make a good miniseries?
Overall, I liked it. Most of the acting was very good and I thought the switches between the present and past were done well, especially in Whitby. I wanted Christabel to be blonde and fiercer, but Jennifer Elhe is great anyways. Gwyneth Paltrow was the only one I didn't like. I've seen her in a few movies and I just can't warm to her. Roland's careless treatment of original manuscripts annoyed me but I like that they made it into a running gag (he hides a fax log in bouquet wrapping paper!). I love the bit in the beginning where he's zooming around the archives on his chair. Roland's solicitor friend is hilarious, even though we see him only twice.
There are some really good lines in this:
--"I want to buy seven minutes of attorney-client privilege."
--"You cut me, madam."
"I am sorry. I only meant to scratch."
--"I guess I'll just look shit up on the microfiche and suffer over you."
--Roland: I have a fellowship.
Lord Bailey: What does that mean?
Maud: He's on the Dole
I'm okay with Roland's character changing nationalities but all the American stereotype jokes got annoying after a while. It felt like the scriptwriter was trying too hard to be clever.
I was amazingly ticked off when I found out that Maud and Fergus are still romantically involved at the beginning of the movie. What the hell, Maud?
Things I wanted but didn't get: Maud's "turban"; Leonora Stern; longer scenes set in Christabel and Ash's time period; more Sabine de Kercouz; more Brittany; more about "Melusina"
I was also mad when Roland and Maud started making out and then getting angsty about it during the Whitby trip. One of the reasons why they make such a great pair in the book is because they start out as two people who don't really like each other, slowly become friends, and only after a long while start getting romantic because they're afraid of moving too fast. (That oversimplifies the issue a bit, but it's close enough.) I think their time spent in Brittany in the novel shows this really well. And then we have to sit through lovers' quarrels in the movie. Blech.
I'm glad I finally saw this movie, I really liked it, but I couldn't fall in love with it. I wonder if it would make a good miniseries?
