If there was a scene missing in the book or the film, what do you think it would be? I mean, do you think the story is missing an event that could have happened but didn't? Like, do you think Lucy should have really told people off more or something that should have happned?
"The illusion of effortlessness requires a great effort indeed."
They completely glossed over the whole liberation of women thing, including the darkness and the really terrible and POSSIBLE fear that Lucy will end up alone in the end. And the death of George's mother. Overall I loved the BOOK but this movie didn't do much for me. George wasn't brooding enough (he just seemed a little wacko here -- although there were times when I loved him, like their conversation after tennis).
Also the whole atmosphere of being abroad and on vacation: the petty arguments, the sightseeing, the awe of travel.. was captured beautifully by the book but not in the movie.
The one thing I really wish they had kept though was Lucy's full conversation with Mr. Emerson in "Lying to Mr Emerson". THAT was a fantastic scene, the slow build-up as she slipped and he realized she was no longer engaged - his insistence that she loves George - the pressure as her family calls her from outside - her tears and realization... It was amazing. And finally the subtle redemption of Miss Bartlett in the end. It was perfect in the book and I would have loved to see it acted out on screen.
At first, yes, I felt that. But upon comparing early Edwardian "mores" with those of the late 20th/early 21st Century, I realized that I could no more impart MY view about romance, love or sex onto Lucy (especially at her age!) than SHE could impart hers onto me.
That's the beauty of this film: not only do we get to see (not only through Forster's eyes, no doubt the closest, but those of the filmmakers'), just how distant our 21st Century views are from those of 100 yrs ago!
We can no more understand Lucy's motives for what she does, not even the "muddle" into which Mr Emerson says she has plunged herself, than she could understand OUR free-thinking, open exchange of ideas about love, sex or marriage.
That's the whole point...or most of it...that we are traveling back in time, and should accept it for what it is...or was.
She deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die.
It missed how lucy met cecil (in the book, rome)
It failed to explain why lucy and charlotte left after the kiss so immediately (in the book, lucy was toying with the idea of going to rome because she didn't want to be there anymore)
It failed to show how Lucy was confining herself to the ideals of Cecil (in the book, it was more better even though it kind of addressed itself in the film)
It failed to show how at the pensione, everyone disliked the emersons.
I liked the film (mostly because of the hot guys in it) but I felt that because I read the book,I felt disappointed. I think that if I hadn't read the book, I might have enjoyed the film more.
some originality, perhaps some actual characters instead of cardboard characters
so many movies, so little time