MovieChat Forums > Cracks (2011) Discussion > Better than the novel? (possible spoiler...

Better than the novel? (possible spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by Spark-Plug
1 reply | jump to latest

I enjoyed this film, and think it might even be better than the book (personal opinion!). It was certainly less ambiguous than the novel, perhaps because it was shown from the point of view of Di, because it showed Miss G in situations the girls could not have seen.

It certainly deviated from the novel - I got the impression from the book that Miss G was actually quite butch in appearance, and Eva green is a strong lady but definitely feminine; and there was no scene in the novel that showed her going to pieces in public. Er, and it was set in England in the 1930s!

Nevertheless, the film picked up suspicions in the novel and made them explicit (Miss G being a former pupil etc) that I thought really worked in the film.

What do you think?

[–] AngelSHEBAMRomanov 14 years ago

Hmm, I half agree, half disagree.

What I liked about the book was how all the girls on the swim team seemed to be joined into one (using the forms "we" and "us")- it was as if, even though they were all individuals, they were also melded into one due to their devotion to Miss G and their dislike for Fiamma. It almost made them inseparable in a way- no one girl was telling the story from her point of view.

In the movie, however, I felt like most of the focus was on Di Radfield- which isn't bad, per say, but I guess I would have liked more of a viewpoint like that of the book (although that must likely be hard to capture on film).

I actually enjoyed the time placement they put it into, but I kind of wish they had left it in South Africa as opposed to England.

The little breakdown scene was kind of random since it wasn't in the book, but it sure did a good job of displaying how fake Miss G really was!

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