Hi! Today I'd like to suggest watching an episode from a TV series Tales of the Unexpected. The episode features a woman, Betsy, who is devastated when her long-time partner Jack tells her that he is moving to Australia to marry another woman and begins to pack chests of his belongings - some of them shared items - to send ahead. Enraged Betsy lashes out at him. As a result, thanks to Betsy's efforts, Jack's new girlfriend will have an extra surprise when she opens his luggage.
Does it ring a bell?.. Right. It's the screen adaptation of The Glowing Future by Ruth Rendell.
So, watch the film and answer the following questions:
Which appeals to you more - the story or the film? Why?
What do you think of the cast? Do the actors correspond to what you imagined the characters to look like?
Is there any divergence between the plots?
I think a book is always better than a movie. A book develops our brain as we may draw a picture of the events in our mind, while a movie doesn`t leave us an opportunity to imagine.
ReplyDeleteAs for the actors, I supposed Betsy to be more depressed and miserable, while here she looks like a woman with a strong spirit. I expected her to be a skinny woman with greasy hair who is wearing baggy clothes. Jack is the other way about. Actually he is an exact image of my picture in the mind which has formed after having read the story.
At the beginning of the film I could hear the same phrases which are used in the book and the dialogues are almost the same. The producers have changed a bit the ending of the story. They have added a part in which Betsy tries to persuade Jack she can change. Also, in the movie we find out that she used to have lots of money and her ex-boyfriend wasted them all. As for the ending itself, unless I had read the book, I wouldn`t have understood that Jack was in that trunk. I wonder, whether someone else understand it or not.
One more thing, a picture of Lowry is terrible. I thought it was a landscape, a real masterpiece. Even a schoolboy can paint rectangles like these.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I liked the book more. If I at first watched the film, I would not pay attention to many details. Nevertheless, generally I like the movie. Honestly, during the film I was waiting when the suitcase for Patricia appeared. It is a pity that there was no continuation of the film, where Patricia received it.
ReplyDeleteThe actors fully correspond to what I imagined the characters to look like. The only detail that had not converged was that I thought that the main characters would be a little bit younger. By the way, I noticed that one episode in which Betty promised to change herself for John was added.
In any case, after watching this film, I again made sure that an offended woman is the most evil enemy for a man.
??? This time I would agree with Katya's words almost with no doubt. She expressed exactly what I consider this short movie to be. I'd love to emphasize that Betsy's image in my mind was more of a woman that was featured here, but much more so-called glueing-to-words... My impression of her as a suspicious and guileful lady has been broken! I supposed her to act more madly but gently simultaneously. Generally the movie is good but worth editing to make it a little bit more enigmatic)
ReplyDeleteP.S. Frankly, expected a more bloody scene of killing the bastard husband) Where are the blood itself, the corpse in a pool of it, Betsy wiping away the scarlet spots? Moreover, where's the smash in the face locution before the act of murdering
As for me, I like the book more because when I read it I had the opportunity to check all the words that I did not know. So I understood the plot well. Unfortunately when I was watching the film I could not understand any of the dialogues because I could not check the words immediately. And if I had not read the book, I would not understand the story. As I am not interested in detective stories by the reason that I am afraid of murder and crime I was tense during the film because I waited for a moment of killing, and when it finally happened I closed my eyes. I was quite happy that producers did not include all the details of the crime.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned I expected Betsy to be heartbroken, helpless and weak despite the sharp words that she told, but I did not see such woman in the film. Also I imagined Betsy had long dark hair. And Jack's behavior was the same as I imagined. I think that the actor get in to his role perfectly.
I noticed some differences between plots. Betsy did not play the piano in the book, but in the film she did. I think it was done in the film by the reason to show Betsy’s emotions, it was her way to express her feelings.