Second time: first reading novel
I heard that the editor and director cut and adapted the ending of the original work, and I saw the novel by chance, so I bought it and read it. In general, the movie is mainly based on the first two chapters of the original book - Elio's secret love, and the two reveal new ideas. The trip before parting in the third chapter is extremely deleted and rewritten, while the reunion in the fourth chapter is basically deleted directly.
Here I mainly talk about the change of attitude towards the movie after reading the original book. Of course, I have to watch the movie again to fill in many details.
After first reading, the biggest feeling is the difficulty of script adaptation. The original book is completely Elio's first person, and the first two chapters are basically the young boy's swaying heart, no matter how small or small, and the sentimental psychological depiction, with very few dialogues and specific plots. Aciman's excellent psychological depiction brings readers into the role of Elio instantly, but when adapted into a film, especially the narration is abandoned, everything can only be achieved through the actor's physical performance. What's even more frightening is that the novel is a mixture of episodes, flashbacks, and sequences. In the form of stream of consciousness, with Elio's memories and thoughts, it is difficult to extract key scenes and figure out the timeline of the final movie sequence. This simply places extremely high demands on screenwriters, directors, and actors. Looking back now, for the role of Elio, a large part is lost from the novel to the adaptation, and another layer is lost from the performance to the audience's interpretation. Compared with the novel, the integrity and complexity of the character's heart are not the same, and it is no wonder that there are hazy feeling. But that's why, I appreciate Chalemet's performance more and make up for the limitations of the text. At first glance, I really don't feel that the characters are not full enough.
I very much agree with Anthony Lane's comment, "The book is a mature and thoughtful vintage; in the film, we're still picking the grapes." I just finished reading the original book and am disappointed with the adaptation. In fact, the sublimation of the novel depends entirely on the next two chapters, the third chapter is the elaboration of San Clemente syndrome, which abstracts the relationship between the two and even life, which is full of philosophical meaning; and the fourth chapter, Ghost Spots, extends through time and space. , to give the two people a deeper connotation of their love; except for these two chapters, the novel is at best an extraordinarily delicate and rich teenage erotic literature. In contrast, after the film adaptation, it falls on the coming of age and sexual awakening. Although Dad's enlightening teachings are retained, in the context of the film, it can be sublimated to the value of true love and the awakening of the true self, but In terms of ideological depth, it is far less than the original.
Also because of the deletion, it may be the character Oliver who loses its integrity and complexity. The treatment at the end of the movie not only reduces the character's play space, but also makes the audience's heart and motives elusive (after all, in the original book, Elio is in the At that time, there were also knots and misunderstandings.)
But then again, I understand such an adaptation. Focusing on the role of Elio, simplifying the characters and stories - after all, the video adaptation cannot give such a rich heart as the novel, and under the limited film length and funding, it is difficult to combine the depth of the text in the last two chapters. complete manifestation. Based on the film's foothold, the current adaptation is actually very reasonable. The blurring and de-labeling of gender, and the reduction of erotic scenes are all converging on the motif of coming of age. And there is the added mountain and forest drama, the retained father's preaching, in fact, it also vaguely points to the sacred and eternal sublimation of love at the end of the novel (and there is a reasonable interpretation without reading the original).
Now that I heard that the director is going to make a sequel, I think the ideal situation may be based on the before series, five or ten years later. Otherwise, unless the plot is drastically changed, the reunion after fifteen or twenty years, the credibility of the two young actors is really doubtful.
Part 1 : Novel to Script to Movie: Adaptation and Performance of CMBYN 1
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