Screen vs. Page—Five Times the Movie Adaptation Was Better Than the Book
From “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to “Bridgerton,” here are the screen adaptations we thought trumped the book.
It’s a widely held belief among avid readers, that the book is almost always better than the movie or TV adaptation. Sure, films can transport us with beautiful cinematography and masterful acting. But it’s hard to match the imagination, slow emotional burn, and deep character development of a well-written novel.
But there are exceptions to any rule, so for this week’s You Might Like we asked contributors to The Persistent to share the screen adaptations that captured their imagination even more than the book.
Let's take a look.
When Shonda Rhimes's version of "Bridgerton" came to Netflix, I didn't know what to do with myself. The costumes! The romance! The men! My only criticism of her adaptation, now halfway into its fourth season, was the lengthy gaps between the series. To quench my "Bridgerton" thirst, I turned to the novels, written by Julia Quinn. Mistake. I grew up in Bath, where much of "Bridgerton" is filmed.
The books gave me a few niggling doubts about supposedly Georgian characters called Colin and Simon. But then there came the point in the first novel where Quinn has Daphne sit on her "fanny:" a word so starkly American ("fanny" means something different over here in the U.K.) that the whole "Bridgerton" universe began to crumble. It ruined everything. The colorblind casting, bright costumes and baroque versions of pop songs are what make the TV version so brilliant. But the word "fanny"? I'm sorry, it's simply not believable.
— Emma Haslett, managing editor
I’m the type of person who tends to like the book better than the movie. It always feels disappointing when I see images on screen that don’t match what I’ve conjured in my imagination. Except when it comes to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker Prize-winning novel “The Remains of the Day,” about an old-school butler whose ideas about loyalty are shattered as he tries to reconcile his duties to his employer, and the fact that his employer is a Nazi sympathizer.
The 1993 film starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins captures the deceptively simple style of the novel, building in tension, just as the book did, right up to its shattering ending.
– Paula Derrow, features editor
I’m a reader through and through but "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" flips the script. Truman Capote’s novella is—of course—iconic, but Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly? That’s magic. She brings a charm the page will never convey.
— Josie Cox, founding editor
There have been countless retellings and adaptations of Charles Dickens's’ “A Christmas Carol” but with no apologies to Mr.Dickens I can assuredly say that "The Muppet Christmas Carol" is far superior to the original text. The language and story elements keep true to the original (even the opening line—"Marley was dead: to begin with"—delivered by Gonzo as Dickens, doesn't veer from the 1843 source text). But Dickens’s famously verbose writing is presented in a heart warming, visually fun manner that is just as engrossing for adults as it is for kids. Bonus: It has some beautiful Paul Williams songs.
— Kathleen Davis, executive editor
I used to be able to recite whole scenes of Baz Luhrmann's 1996 movie, "Romeo + Juliet," because I'd learned the original Shakespeare passages in a high school English class. I love that this adaptation didn't change much of the dialogue, and the modern setting helped this movie speak to me at 15.
–Han Goldstein, social media editor
And finally one movie that just can’t match the book…
When it comes to “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, the book trumps the movie many times over. I recall reading and re-reading the opener: "When I think of my wife, I always think of her head,” the novel begins. “The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw…” If that doesn’t send chills down your spine, I don’t know what will. Close watchers of the film will argue that the movie begins with the narration of these self-same lines, but to me the words floating over the page are more haunting than Ben Affleck directing them into my ear canal could ever be. Sorry, Ben, but true. Book wins.
– Francesca Donner, editor-in-chief
Did we miss any must see adaptions? Send your recommendations to hello@thepersistent.com. We’ll be back with more recommendations next Friday!
More You Might Like
The Persistent
The Persistent
The Persistent
