Friday, September 7, 2007

Tear Mix-up

I found it very interesting that the movie changed the roles of Clarissa and Lewis when they reunite at Clarissa’s apartment. In the book, Lewis is very upset; he isn’t really excited about his “young love”, but rather broken up about it. The movie shows a pretty well put-together version of Lewis. The book shows Clarissa keeping everything together when Lewis falls into hysterics, but in the movie, she falls apart. In the movie, references between Clarissa and Richard are very dramatic and direct. Clarissa in the book, however, mostly keeps her feelings and doubts inside her head.
I think the main reason why Clarissa had a breakdown instead of Richard has a lot to do with the limitations of what you can cram into a film. In the book, Richard is referred to often, his arrival is dramatic in that the reader feels as if they already know Richard by the time he arrives. This relationship between Clarissa, Richard and Lewis is far too complex to cover on screen, especially while covering two other stories.
For an audience member watching the movie without having read the book, I think it was effective to switch the character’s actions in the scene. For me on the other hand, I feel like this display of emotion does not match up with the Clarissa I met in the book. I think the fact the Lewis is overly dramatic and sensitive was important to the story of the three lovers.

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