I Capture the Castle

I loved this book. Do you know more about the film? I hadn't heard they were filming it.

I guess I qualify as an expert here, since I also love the book and have seen the movie. I thought the movie was about as good an adaptation of the book as could be hoped for, bearing in mind that any movie version of a book inevitably lacks the depth of the book, and that the lack is even more noticeable when it's a book one knows well.

For example, in the book, the sympathy between Cassandra and Simon is beautifully established on their walk into the village (where they find Rose and Neil sitting on a bench in front of the inn), when they recite Elizabethan poetry together, and make a game out of counting all the different noises they hear, and all the different things they smell as they walk through the countryside. The passage ends with Cassandra thinking to herself, "Oh, it is amicable being with someone who knows the poems you know! I do hope I get Simon for a brother-in-law."

In the movie, they take the same walk, but they don't recite any poetry (Elizabethan or otherwise), and the conversation, as best I can remember it (I saw the movie three months ago) is pretty superficial: the scene is just about two pretty young people discovering their mutual attraction while walking through a pretty countryside. I missed the conversation in that scene, but I understand why the filmmakers chose to concentrate instead on its visual aspects in what is, after all, a visual medium.

If you think that kind of loss would taint the book for you, then you should probably avoid the movie. If not, by all means see the movie, which I found very enjoyable on its own terms.

Thank you Bree!

I have a friend who loved the film - but she has never read the book, so was unable to comment.

Ceili - here are the Google search results on the film.

Broken up to avoid stretching the thread!!!

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22I+Capture+the+Castle%22+AND+film&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

It seems we may have the book lovers come out of the woodwork here! And a damn fine thing too -

Thanks, I was so unaware...
I will definately go and see it. I hate seeing a movie before I've read the book, it taints my vision.

Let us know what you think?

For anyone who missed I Capture the Castle in theaters, it's now out on DVD. Today's New York Times has a capsule review of the DVD edition that's available in the U.S. The Times review doesn't say anything about whether a DVD edition that's playable by the rest of the world is also available, but one certainly hopes so.

Thanks Bree. A friend - who had never read the book - saw it and liked it, so I guess I will be borrowing it from the video library some day soon.