Almost entirely faithful to book, but the only change ruined it.

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2006)

This movie was one of the most faithful to a book I've ever seen. From the beginning it followed the book to a tee and I knew exactly what was coming next. For the first 2 hours I was impressed with seeing what I had pictured as I read the book on the screen before me.
**SPOILER ALERT** However when the movie finally departs from the book is when they portray that Aringarosa and condoned the killing that the teacher was doing, not that he was trying to stop it when he found out about it. No mention is ever mentioned that he wanted the Grail to force the Catholic Church to keep Opus Dei as a member. They portray it as if they were doing it in conjuction with the church to destroy the bloodline. That's okay I can live with that.
The other change though I could not and totally changed my opinion of the film. The ending with the revelation of Sofie's grandmother and brother are totally changed. In the film Jaques Suniere was not really her grandfather, and her brother is dead. When her grandmother is revealed, there's no emotion. She never thought her grandmother was dead in the film, she was never told that she was in the car. She never knew her.
That took away the whole powerful ending of the book, along with the scene I had looked forward to of the brother noticing the box.
Overall I gave it a 6 out of 10, during the first 2 hours I thought it would be the masterpiece I'd hoped for, unfortunately in the end they ruined it for me. Perhaps if I had not read the book I would not have minded this ending.