What makes a good book-to-film adaptation? We have thoughts (and favorites)

""Wuthering Heights" is in theaters, so we're thinking about the best book to film adaptations of all time. What's your favorite movie that started life as a book and what makes for a great book-to-film adaptation, anyway? Do you want filmmakers to stay as rigorously true to the book as possible? Or are you okay with bold departures, big swings, out-of-left-field choices that evoke the essence of the book, if not every last detail? "Wuthering Heights," for example, takes a middle road."

"Writer/director Emerald Fennell's film keeps the familiar plot beats firmly in place, and casts actors who embody all the stuff that fans of the book need them to, but steeps them in the delirious hormones of a teenage fever-dream. Thus, Margot Robbie's Cathy is headstrong, impetuous and horny, while Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff is broody, Byronic and horny. The two spend most of the movie trading lusty looks in the soaking rain as peals of thunder roll over the moors. Every set, every costume is styled to the gods. It's a breathlessly over-the-top take that's divided critics and is about to do the same for audiences this weekend."

"Little Women (2019) This movie version of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 story about the March sisters is adapted and directed by Greta Gerwig. Gerwig does the impossible task of contemporizing the story while staying so faithful to the book. She does two things that haven't worked in any other Little Women adaptations: She makes me tolerate the love story between Laurie and Amy. (I still have PTSD from the 1994 version.) And Gerwig allows for Jo the protagonist, a liberated author who is writing her own story along the way to have her cake and eat it too."

A debate exists over whether filmmakers should remain rigorously true to source material or pursue bold departures that evoke the book's essence. Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights takes a middle road, keeping familiar plot beats and casting actors who embody needed traits while steeping them in a teenage fever-dream. Margot Robbie's Cathy is headstrong, impetuous, and horny; Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff is broody, Byronic, and horny. The film uses stylized sets and costumes and heightened sensuality, producing a divisive, over-the-top interpretation. Greta Gerwig's 2019 Little Women contemporizes the story while remaining faithful, reconciling Jo's authorship with modern sensibilities.

Read at www.npr.org