The Lover Book vs. Film
Mayra Perez
ENG 201
July 2, 2013
The Lover Book vs. Film Marguerite Duras publishes The Lover in 1884. A book that becomes one of the best sellers she had written. Almost a decade later it was adapted to film (1992). Both the book and the film are set in French Indochina and tell the love story of a French young girl and a Chinese man in 1929. In both versions, the love affair between a white and Chinese people is a taboo. Thus, their romance starts with an economic interest because the French girl is poor and the china man is milliner. They know that their relationship has to end when the time come. This won’t impede them from falling in love deeply. In fact, they relish their prohibited love. However, the film is different from the book because it leaves out some characters, is told mostly through dialogue instead of narration, and the family of the young lady is not as important as it is in the book. The novel The Lover has many characters that play a very important role in the life of the young lady, unlike the movie. Specifically, Marie-Claude Carpenter and Betty Fernandez are not seen in the movie. The young girl does not even mention them. Ms. Carpenter is a role model to the young girl. She was the representation the way a woman should look and behave. To prove my point; “Marie-Claude Carpenter used to listen a lot, ask a lot of questions, but didn’t say much…straightway after the meal she’d apologize for having to leave so soon, but she had things to do…she never say what.” Therefore, nobody talks about her because no one knows much about her life. She is very discrete. On the other hand, Betty Fernandez is very beautiful. The young girl she admires her physical appearance. “Her kind of beauty, tattered, chilly, plaintive and in exile, nothing suits her, everything too big and yet it looks marvelous.” The narrator is indirectly comparing Ms. Carpenter and Ms. Fernandez to her Mother. To add more, the characters that are included in the film
ENG 201
July 2, 2013
The Lover Book vs. Film Marguerite Duras publishes The Lover in 1884. A book that becomes one of the best sellers she had written. Almost a decade later it was adapted to film (1992). Both the book and the film are set in French Indochina and tell the love story of a French young girl and a Chinese man in 1929. In both versions, the love affair between a white and Chinese people is a taboo. Thus, their romance starts with an economic interest because the French girl is poor and the china man is milliner. They know that their relationship has to end when the time come. This won’t impede them from falling in love deeply. In fact, they relish their prohibited love. However, the film is different from the book because it leaves out some characters, is told mostly through dialogue instead of narration, and the family of the young lady is not as important as it is in the book. The novel The Lover has many characters that play a very important role in the life of the young lady, unlike the movie. Specifically, Marie-Claude Carpenter and Betty Fernandez are not seen in the movie. The young girl does not even mention them. Ms. Carpenter is a role model to the young girl. She was the representation the way a woman should look and behave. To prove my point; “Marie-Claude Carpenter used to listen a lot, ask a lot of questions, but didn’t say much…straightway after the meal she’d apologize for having to leave so soon, but she had things to do…she never say what.” Therefore, nobody talks about her because no one knows much about her life. She is very discrete. On the other hand, Betty Fernandez is very beautiful. The young girl she admires her physical appearance. “Her kind of beauty, tattered, chilly, plaintive and in exile, nothing suits her, everything too big and yet it looks marvelous.” The narrator is indirectly comparing Ms. Carpenter and Ms. Fernandez to her Mother. To add more, the characters that are included in the film