The after Hours analysis

I was actually quite impressed with the depiction of the novel by the director of this movie. I found the film to be very accurate and appropriate for the novel. However, I was slightly disappointed with a few scenes as well as the overall character of Laura Brown. In the book, Laura Brown seems to be a very frustrated housewife who is always trying to escape from her life and everything in it. However, in the movie, she is portrayed as a character that seems to have it all together, except for a minor breakdown that lasts merely a few hours. Also, in the novel, she always wanted to smoke in order to overcome her problems. This habit was completely ignored in the movie. My theory for this exclusion would be to allow the audience to see how much Mrs. Brown relied on reading Mrs. Dalloway in order to prevail over her difficulties. Since cigarettes were not shown as her escape in the movie, the audience is forced to believe reading is her only way out.
Another exclusion I noticed from the movie was the complete elimination from Clarissa’s issue with feeling inferior to Sally. In the novel, one of Clarissa’s main struggles was her feelings of insignificance due to Sally’s relationship with Oliver St. Ives. Since the movie never even mentions Sally and Oliver’s lunch together, it allows the audience to understand the severity of Clarissa’s obstacles with Richard and his illness. Also, in my opinion, Clarissa seems to be emotionally stronger in the novel than she does in the movie. It seems very ironic to me how one main character seems so much weaker in the movie while another seems stronger. This could possibly be an attempt by the director to focus more attention on Clarissa and her story rather than Laura. Regardless of the reasoning, my opinion of these characters as I was reading the novel was slightly different than the director's. However, these are only a few minor differences between the movie and the novel. Only after a true analysis of both stories would the differences become obvious.