Over the weekend, I went to see The Time Traveler’s Wife with my book club. As someone who liked Niffenegger’s novel but wasn’t enthralled with it, I expected to the enjoy film version—especially since it starred one of my favorite actresses. Unfortunately even Rachel McAdams couldn’t save the clunky script. (The guys from “Mystery Science Theater 3000” would have had a ball with this one.) There’s a lot going on–jumping through time, marriage, miscarriage, childbirth–but the film never pauses to take a breath and allow the characters to contemplate the questions that loving someone who travels through time (or being the person who travels through time) raises. The few and far-between scenes that do explore Henry and Clare’s feelings about their strange lives feel heavy-handed, forced and out of place, especially when supported by the cheesy score.
It didn’t help that the darker edges of Niffenegger’s novel, like Henry’s alcoholism and the real dangers he faces during time-travel, Gomez’s politics and Clare’s family issues, are all absent. This, I presume, was so that a good 30 minutes of the film could be used to establish that time-travel 1.) is real and 2.) freaks people out, as Henry spends them explaining his impairment to one character after the other in gravelly tones (“I’m a time-traveler”) and then deals with their disbelief by slowly dissolving into a puddle of clothing.
My book club also pointed out that while the book tries to be more evenhanded and tell Clare’s story as well (it is called The Time Traveler’s Wife after all) the film is most definitely all about the time-traveler. Also, Gomez is supposed to be blond.
Have you seen the film? How did you think it compared to the novel?
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book. I must get on it.
Like you, I’ve read the book but didn’t love it very much at all, so I’ve not been so interested in seeing the movie. I know I will, but this is one I think I’ll wait to see on DVD.
I liked the book, but didn’t love it, which I thought meant I wouldn’t be too picky about the adaptation. Wrong!
Ti, you should definitely check out one of the versions.
Trisha,
My book club saw this movie after it had been out about 1 week or so. While we liked the film, most of us were not happy with the fact that some aspects of the book were not addressed. For example, in the book Gomez’s character is much different than it was portrayed in the movie. Most of us felt that Gomez (in the book) was a much darker/less valiant person than he was in the movie.
We felt another example of omission was the scene at the end of the book, when Clare is in her 80′s and Henry visits.
Finally, some of us thought that the family scenes with Clare’s family (particularly the mother-sister-brother) dynamics were completely left out, even though they were a big part of the book.
While overall we liked the movie, we didn’t feel it was as true to the book as it could have been. So while I’m not sure we were disappointed with it, in many ways it was not the movie we were hoping to see.
Yes, I missed those things too. Good to know I’m not the only one!
I’ve heard a lot about this movie, and most of it bad! I’m still going to see it but I think I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD. Thanks for the review.
I just blogged over at http://marinifamily.wordpress.com about my disappointments with the movie. I hadn’t read the novel, but I still found myself a little unsatisfied with how it all “ended”. Go, check it out! Here’s the direct link: http://wp.me/p4EgU-j9
-Timmy
I’ve heard negative reviews all around. A disappointment, as I wanted to watch it since I loved the book. But as soon as I heard Eric Bana was cast as the lead, I figured I would not like it.