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Source novel

posted 19 years ago by pinback-3
6 replies | jump to latest

The problem with this movie is that Jeremy Leven's novel which provided the inspiration for the script, which he wrote himself, is so amazing and so unfilmable that the film ends up looking totally pathetic by comparison.

In the novel Boris is a fictional creation in a novel being written by Dr. Wolper... Or is Dr. Wolper, the author or Boris's life, a paranoid delusion of Boris's?

The novel is also emotionally devastating, being as powerfully tragic and disturbing as it is comic.

We only get up on our high horse when we haven't got a leg to stand on.

[–] trudylyn 18 years ago

I haven't seen a copy of the novel in a long time.
I had one twenty years ago, with the cover torn off.
It took me awhile to get through it.
When I was done, I wasn't sure I could imagine how it ever got published in the first place.
I'm not saying it was badly written. I'm not sure I'm qualified.
It was dense and confusing and the author wrote within a world
that I do not know.
That someone chose to option it, I am grateful for.
That the author got to write the screenplay, I am grateful for.
He changed many things, including the ending.
I grateful for that, also.

I don't recommend that fans of the movie seek out the book.
I wish I hadn't found it.

[–] cchaser-1 18 years ago

I hated the book. That's a rare statement for me, I am a bibleophile, but the movie worked for me and the book, just didn't.

[–] shawn-283 18 years ago

The interesting thing is that the book and the movie are totally different works of art by the same author. The book is a sophisticated intellectual exploration of the essence of life, and the movie is an emotional story on the same theme. But it's not "the novel of the movie," nor is the movie an adaptation of the novel.

Cheers to you, Jeremy Leven, wherever you are. Your work is magnificent! I also enjoyed your novel, Satan...JSPS. Wow!

[–] salome121 18 years ago

It took me forever to make it through the book. It was ... interesting. But I don't even think of it as the same story as the movie. The movie is brilliant. And I ADORE his other book, Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS. That is a brilliant novel.

I don't know how I'd feel if I'd read the book first, or if it wasn't already my favorite movie in the world. But I'm not fond of the book.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Justbooks 16 years ago

I did not read the book until I after I saw the movie several times. Having loved the movie I read the book eagerly. This book almost killed me. It is truly amazing and it took me to a place that made me really question myself and my place in the world. Isn't that what we want from our Art sometimes? I look at the movie and book as two different points of view with the same given characters and events; very separate indeed however.
I still love the movie. And I love the book even more.

Mike T.