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after everyone left friday night, i settled down and watched Possession, because i had damn well rented it and really wanted to see it. and it was... good. of course, a lot of the story had to be lost, but overall gwyneth paltrow was a pretty good maud, and of course jeremy northam & jennifer ehle were perfect as randolph and christabel. and the ending was perfect, perfect, perfect, made me cry, even better than i'd pictured it in the book (because, of course, the randolph i was picturing wasn't jeremy northam, and he did an exquisite job with it). all the flashback-to-the-1800s scenes were perfect, but that one was just wonderful.
the only problem i really had with the movie was their treatment of Roland. first of all, they made him ruggedly american and hot. which he wasn't in the book. he was a rumpled brit whose whole life was randolph ash, and he wasn't particularly hot, but i guess he had to be for the movie. but roland was the hero because over the course of the novel he grew into himself and reconciled his love for this poet with his individuality, shown by the scene near the end of the novel where he begins writing poetry of his own for the first time. he was a quiet awkward guy who gradually gains confidence as he uncovers this secret affair, and that didn't come through in the movie at all. i didn't care about Roland's character in the movie because he was *already* confident and sexy and a writer; there was nowhere for him to *go*. true, he was dissatisfied with his career, but we didn't get to see any of the love and obsession Roland had for randolph that drew him to academia. i was wondering why movie-Roland wasn't out wrangling cows somewhere, because he didn't seem like a academic kind of guy at all, and there was no link to connect him intimately to randolph. and the allure of the letters: in the movie, Roland is drawn to the letters because of the mystery, because he wants to find something and do something that no one's done before. it was that in the book, but there was *more*: Roland wanted to track down the secret of the letters because of the man who wrote the letters, because here was a side of randolph he hadn't seen before, that no one had seen before, and he wanted to uncover it, even if no one else ever knew.
god, i didn't realize how attached i was to Roland. i mean, when i read the book i loved Christabel best, and Maud, and even Val, but Roland? i guess because Christabel was so spectacular and Maud was done quite well, and Val was cut completely, it made me realize how central Roland is to the story.
so. overall, good movie. but someone shoot whoever cast that guy as Roland. David Henry Hwang co-wrote the screenplay, which kind of impressed me (he of M. Butterfly fame--what an amazing play), so i'm surprised that Roland's character was so downplayed and transformed. he so should not have been american. who would ever believe in an *american* named "Roland"? particularly a hot twenty-something american named Roland? hello? completely unbelievable. but everyone else, though, was great.
the only problem i really had with the movie was their treatment of Roland. first of all, they made him ruggedly american and hot. which he wasn't in the book. he was a rumpled brit whose whole life was randolph ash, and he wasn't particularly hot, but i guess he had to be for the movie. but roland was the hero because over the course of the novel he grew into himself and reconciled his love for this poet with his individuality, shown by the scene near the end of the novel where he begins writing poetry of his own for the first time. he was a quiet awkward guy who gradually gains confidence as he uncovers this secret affair, and that didn't come through in the movie at all. i didn't care about Roland's character in the movie because he was *already* confident and sexy and a writer; there was nowhere for him to *go*. true, he was dissatisfied with his career, but we didn't get to see any of the love and obsession Roland had for randolph that drew him to academia. i was wondering why movie-Roland wasn't out wrangling cows somewhere, because he didn't seem like a academic kind of guy at all, and there was no link to connect him intimately to randolph. and the allure of the letters: in the movie, Roland is drawn to the letters because of the mystery, because he wants to find something and do something that no one's done before. it was that in the book, but there was *more*: Roland wanted to track down the secret of the letters because of the man who wrote the letters, because here was a side of randolph he hadn't seen before, that no one had seen before, and he wanted to uncover it, even if no one else ever knew.
god, i didn't realize how attached i was to Roland. i mean, when i read the book i loved Christabel best, and Maud, and even Val, but Roland? i guess because Christabel was so spectacular and Maud was done quite well, and Val was cut completely, it made me realize how central Roland is to the story.
so. overall, good movie. but someone shoot whoever cast that guy as Roland. David Henry Hwang co-wrote the screenplay, which kind of impressed me (he of M. Butterfly fame--what an amazing play), so i'm surprised that Roland's character was so downplayed and transformed. he so should not have been american. who would ever believe in an *american* named "Roland"? particularly a hot twenty-something american named Roland? hello? completely unbelievable. but everyone else, though, was great.
