According to Christy's brothers, Christy was being tortured and abused by his wife Carr, who was not faithful, slept around with both man and woman, and injured Christy with many bruises on his body.
Show me the holes!
I read about that as well. This movie is fantastic but plays very loose with Christy's adult life.
It makes no mention of his trip to Lourdes at 19 where he meets others far worse off than he is: This is what lifts him out of his depression and makes him start writing and painting again.
Nor does it mention Dr Collis who first spotted Christy's writing talent and helped get his first book published.
Most important of all, the movie makes no mention at all about Christy's trip to USA and his subsequent affair with the married Beth Moore - an affair that went on for several years. Moore played a huge part in his life, helping him write what's viewed as his best novel, "Down all the Days". She was in the process of leaving her husband when Christy met Carr (in reality at a party in London, not as a nurse assigned to him at a benefit do) then married her; in effect Carr 'stole' Christy away from Moore, which doesn't paint her in a very favourable light (unlike this movie version which has her a shy retiring woman who Christy pesters into accepting a date).
And then there is, as you point out, his very unhappy married life when he became a recluse and was, according to those who knew him, used, neglected, unloved and abused by his wife up until his death. So not the happy ending we all wished he could have had and felt he deserved.
As to why so much importance was left out and why Carr is shown so favourably (along with the implication through the uplifting end to the movie that the marriage was a happy one) is a bit of a mystery. I wonder if it was because Carr, being his widow, had all the rights to his story and demanded these alterations. Perhaps they were only allowed to make this film if they removed all mention to Beth Moore and portrayed Carr in a favourable light.
There is also the possibility that the makers just wanted a happy ending so left it at the two getting married, rather than the slow sordid decline of their married life. People want a happy, triumph-despite-all-odds, triumph-of-the-human-spirit ending, not a bleak depressing, 'he had a crap life punctuated by brief moments of happiness but his last few years was more miserable than ever' movie. Though this doesn't really explain why they'd remove all mention of Beth Moore.
Hopefully someone with a bit insider knowledge of the making of this movie will read this and tell us why.
sickening if true.
shareI believe it had a "Hollywood ending" more for viewers though I imagine the widow might have had some say. When a movie, especially one based on real people takes you on a rollercoaster of such intense feelings that ending with truth of abuse and unhappiness is too much for many viewers.
Stories about people's lives should, imho be mini-series so we can see a more faithful telling of their life story. Not excluding important people or combining a few people into one character. Stories such as this need proper time to devote to their retelling of a human's life.
This movie is fantastic but plays very loose with Christy's adult life.
Most important of all, the movie makes no mention at all about Christy's trip to USA and his subsequent affair with the married Beth Moore - an affair that went on for several years.