The Cider House Rules

So now to the film version of the book¹. This won a couple of Oscars, one for Michael Caine and one for best adapted screenplay - which is noteworthy because it was adapted by the book’s author.

He’s cut so much out of the story and made so many changes, it’s almost unrecognisable. Whole generations are gone, Homer doesn’t have a child with Candy, Wally doesn’t come home from the war until the very end so they don’t live in an awkward situationship and the whole thing happens seemingly over one summer rather than 15 years.

In the book, Homer justifies his relationship with Candy because her husband is presumed dead. It all takes a huge twist when he’s found alive but wheelchair-bound. In the film, he’s fine and comes home as planned. This is probably one of the weirder changes to make given that it completely alters the dynamic between the couple. It’s not complicated true love any more, it’s just a sleazy affair now.

The rape and incest gets to stay though - possibly the laziest plot device in the book let alone the film, where such a serious thing gets little attention.

It’s death by a thousand cuts I suppose. Something has changed about every character and every story line, and now it makes the film a wafer thin slightly disjointed mess. For a 2-hour run time something had to give for sure, but what got lost was the core tone of it, the moral ambiguities and the Dickens-like charm of the characters and setting.

A well cast (Michael Caine, Charlize Theron, Tobey Maguire, JK Simmons, Kieran Culkin etc), glossy but gutless film that feels like the Weinsteins fishing for awards rather than a heartfelt and complex coming-of-age story.