Book vs. Movie

First, let me just say that I was actually very surprised at how well the movie turned out compared to the book. Before we watched it, I honestly thought that it would never be able to relay all of the emotions and feelings that were present throughout the book. I didn’t think the movie could hold up the standards that the book set. But everything about the movie seems almost perfect…the casting I think was very well done, and the music throughout the movie is exactly what I had imagined.

The only major difference I saw was the differences of Clarissa and Louis’s characters when he comes to her house. In the book, Louis is the one who ends up breaking down in tears over a student he says he loves, but he knows in his heart that he doesn’t actually love him. Clarissa is there to support him and comfort him in his time of need. However, in the movie, it is Clarissa who has an emotional breakdown over Richard and her lost love, and Louis does his best to help her. Even though Louis does mention that he has fallen in love with a student of his, his real emotions are never told. I actually think this was a good change to make because this helps the viewer see further into Clarissa’s mind and how she really feels about Richard. And because The Hours focuses on the lives of the three main women, the audience should be more concerned with the emotions of Clarissa, rather than Louis.