I haven't actually seen the film, but I just finished reading the last of Pat Barker's trilogy and was wondering if anyone could tell me if the film is just an adaptation of Regeneration, or of all three? For anyone who hasn't read the books, I would highly recommend them. I read the trilogy after a friend refused to stop raving on about them, and was thoroughly engrossed.
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The film's decent, though it cuts out quite a bit. Some of the casting is inspired though... Jonny Lee Miller is PERFECT as Prior.
shareJonny Lee Miller isn't the only one who was perfectly cast. I am absolutely in awe of how Jonathan Pryce brings dr. Rivers to life on the screen. Together they deliver one of the greatest performances I have ever seen.
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Of interest is Robert Grave's Memoir, Goodbye To All That. See also Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory
What does everyone think of the books..? Personally, I think "Regeneration" is a truly exceptional novel... However, while "The Eye in the Door" and "The Ghost Road" are certainly miles better than your average novel and a fascinating insight into life during WW1, I thought they were a bit of a let-down after "Regeneration".
By the way, the film of "Regeneration" is very good... Though, I much preferred the novel, which I read some time afterwards.
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For sure, any film of any book usually -out of necessity- will leave out a certain amount of details. This is the inevitable outcome which accentuates the limitations of the inferior medium.
This film was excellent though, with the casting spot-on for every character. Perhaps it was because of the level of the casting, it's difficult, IMHO, to name one actor's performance as superior to all others. Perhaps that's the ways things ought to be. Jonathan Pryce's evocation of Dr Rivers was empathetic and certainly deeply moving. Yet one could credit Stuart Bunce's performance as Wilfred Owen (perhaps the greatest loss to poetry from that war) as an equally stand-out contribution.
Eveerything about this film was right including the soundtrack, which utterly matched the sense of loss of the 'Flower of British manhood'.
I agree with what you say about Owen. Perhaps with Charles Hamilton Sorley as an equal loss, though. What a tragedy. A tragedy for us, too.
shareI agree that some of the casting was near on perfect, but James Wilby as Sassoon just puzzled me
shareI haven't seen much of Wilby's work, but I thought his performance was suitably vigorous and impassioned.
shareIt's not so much a problem with his acting (he's a very good actor), it's just the fact that he looks NOTHING like Seigfried Sasoon when everyone else in the film bears at least a vague resemblance to the character they are portraying
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I thought Stuart Bunce made an amazing Wilfred Owen. And Jonathan Pryce was perfect (although I love him in anything) - I've read the book and he was exactly how I imagined Rivers would be.
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I liked Regeneration but found it quite hard to get into. I haven't read the last of the trilogy but "The Eye in the Door" was fantastic, it really captured me. The plot, in my opinion, was more interesting, and I liked the deeper insight into Prior's life.
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i believe that most of the film is an adaptation of the first book actually entitled 'Regeneration'. However the final scene when the Armistice is announced and you see Owen dead, that is a scene from the final book in the trilogy 'The Ghost Road'. Owen was killed at the crossing of the Sambre-Oise Canal just a week (almost to the hour) before the armistice was signed which does not really tie in with the flim because in Sassoon's letter to Rivers he says Owen was killed 2 days before the armistice.
But anyhoo, i believe that the film is an adaptation of just the 'Regeneration' book, not the whole trilogy.
I have an A-Level on the war literature tomorrow and i'm using this book so here's hoping i've got my facts right otherwise i'm screwed!!!
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wow goodluck! I'm doing War Literature for my A2 and I'm already dreading it. It seems you have to read so much!
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