Insult or adaptation? Why films still struggle to adapt novels

"Luis Bunuel used to say that, when it comes to adapting a book for the screen, it's better to choose a bad novel, given the creative burden that comes with respecting great literature. He applied this principle himself with Belle de Jour, Joseph Kessel's bestseller about a bourgeois woman who turns to prostitution to fulfill her sexual fantasies. Bunuel considered it little more than a spicy melodrama, but he transformed into a cinematic masterpiece."

"The fact that even Luis Bunuel drew on literary sources for his screenplays underlines how closely film and literature are intertwined. That relationship is also worth questioning: in a recent interview with EL PAIS, another Spanish director, Oliver Laxe, argued for the need to move beyond narrative frameworks inherited from literature structures he sees especially in the audiovisual output of Netflix-style platforms."

"Guillermo del Toro's recent Frankenstein demonstrated this again by reducing the philosophical and moral themes of Mary Shelley's novel while inflating the visual apparatus used to express them. A similar issue can be seen with The Bride!, a film by Maggie Gyllenhaal starring Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale and Penelope Cruz, which sets the action in 1930s Chicago."

Film and literature maintain a complex, intertwined relationship that has existed since cinema's inception. Directors like Luis Bunuel demonstrated that adapting lesser works sometimes yields better results than adapting masterpieces, as seen with Belle de Jour. However, even successful adaptations often sacrifice the psychological depth and thematic richness of their source material. Contemporary filmmakers increasingly question whether cinema should continue relying on literary narrative structures, particularly in streaming platforms. Recent adaptations like del Toro's Frankenstein and Gyllenhaal's The Bride exemplify this tension, prioritizing visual apparatus and cinematic innovation over the philosophical and moral dimensions present in original texts.

Read at english.elpais.com