Book/film review
I read the book years ago and really liked it. The book is extremely well written and highly original. The movie is okay, but overall pretty disappointing. Since it's been awhile since I read the book, I might have some details wrong, but here are my overall reactions:
* The book makes it clear that Daniel is kind of famous, or at least well known to people who are into dance. This is a major point in why the three women kidnap him. In the movie, it seemed like he was just another dancer - one with talent, but not especially important. It also seemed like he was kidnapped simply because the women found him attractive. To add onto this, he's a cocky guy in the book, kind of a flirt and a womanizer. He marches to his own beat. It's not THAT strange when he goes missing. The movie didn't do a good job of making him charming or selfish. He briefly flirts with an Asian girl, but you don't get the feeling that he's a bad boyfried to Jeanette.
* He's way too anguished in the movie. Again, I may not remember the book 100% accurately, but I'm pretty sure he hides his anguish fairly well after he's raped. He acts like nothing happened, and even tries to convince himself that it's not a big deal. This is why his girlfriend and everyone else just think he went off on some kind of joyride or something. Since he asks like nothing happened, they take it as another example of his selfish behavior. In the movie, everyone knows something happened to him, but nobody tries very hard to find out what. They all stare at him with concern in their eyes. He needs to be able to seperate so that it makes some sense when he starts having sex with all the women he meets. If he can seperate, it's more believable that he can get girls into bed. Here, he's always brooding and moody, and it seems odd.
* Since the book is told first person, it's way more clear that he's sleeping with so many women because he's out for revenge. He's obsessed with finding his abductors. In the movie, I can see how people think he's simply having a lot of sex to feel empowered or to hide his pain.
* I will say that the movie does a good job with the rape scenes. Appropriately graphic (although the book goes further, even having him chained up by the penis at one point).
* No one in the movie gives a very good performance. The actress who plays Jeanette is downright horrible. Gretta Scacchi seems too affected. Tom Long, in the lead, tries very hard and has some excellent moments. However, he is miscast to begin with. He's not believeable in the dance sequences, and sometimes seems laughable with his over-the-top interpretive dancing. Nor is he good looking enough to be so irresistable.
* The Julie character is rushed and not well developed. Maybe I thought this because I was highly disappointed that a particular scene in the book is not in the film. I vividly remember a scene where Julie helps him walk across a lake or something that's frozen over. It's a very well written scene, and does an excellent job of showing how Daniel's beginning to trust people again. I wish the director would've filmed this scene, because none of the scenes with Julie, in the film, are memorable or particularly strong.
* The book is actually quite funny. The movie is so serious it hurts itself (someone in another thread talked about the ridiculous pregnant pauses, and I couldn't agree more).
* Lastly, I think having a female writer/director might have taken away some of the impact of this story. The movie plays too much like a conventional rape drama - it's not that different from a story about a female who gets raped and what she might go through. The book, at times, seemed to be an exaggeration of the shift in sexual power in a more feminized modern culture, and how men have trouble dealing with and understanding it. The character's feelings of shame and embarrassment are not just because he's raped, but because he's raped by WOMEN - and good looking ones too (at least body wise). It's about control, trust, etc. The movie puts such a focus on the plot and the character, that, in the end, it seems like rubbish. Just a rape drama, with the novelty of having a male rape victim. Lots of brooding and anguish, very little cultural context. Kind of like how AMERICAN PSYCHO was watered down ridiculously by its female director, or how THE COLOR PURPLE was turned into a weepy dramedy by its white, male, jewish director. Sometimes the themes and emotions of a work are lost when in the hands of someone else.
Whew! That's it - wanted to post because no one really seemed to write anything comparing the book and the movie. Hope this is somewhat helpful or interesting.
Great book.
Average movie.