A poignant character study

Rating: 9/10 (21 June 2014)

Now the top grossing film in the U.S., The Fault in Our Stars, Josh Boone's drama of cancer-stricken teenagers can be overtly manipulative and traverses a thin line between honest sentiment and maudlin sentimentality, yet it succeeds where others have failed because of the authentic emotion generated by its lead actors, Shailene Woodley (The Descendants, The Spectacular Now) and newcomer Ansel Elgort, who display a rare chemistry together. Based on the best-selling novel by John Green and adapted for the screen by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, on the surface the film is about cancer but is, in reality, more a poignant character study of the thoughts, feelings, and connections that teenagers make with each other and the world.
Told from her point of view, 17-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster has had thyroid cancer since she was thirteen. Because her lungs are prone to filling with fluid and interfere with her ability to breathe, she has to carry an oxygen tank with her at all times. Hazel is mature for her age and, in Woodley's remarkably expressive performance, conveys a nuanced emotional range running from a resigned cynicism to a witty commentator on life but always with an innocence and intelligence. In a voice-over that begins the film, Hazel tells us that "this isn't just a movie, it is the truth, sorry."
It is a bold claim that, in spite of the filmmaker's sincere attempt, does not always live up to its promise and there are as many false notes and genre clichÃ©s as there are moments of lived-in reality. Concerned about their daughter's depression, Hazel's mom Frannie (Laura Dern) and dad Michael (Sam Trammell) encourage her to go to a cancer support group at the local church. When her mother tells her that she knows that depression is a side effect of cancer, Hazel jumps in and says her "depression is not a side effect of cancer. It's a side effect of dying." This oh, so clever remark might seem pretentiously literary coming from someone else, but when Woodley says it, it feels just right.
Hazel reluctantly attends the support group and shares her observations with other cancer survivors but one in particular catches her attention, a tall, good-looking boy of eighteen named Augustus (Elgort), whose battle with cancer has left him with a prosthetic leg. Gus radiates charm and sincerity and tells the group that he is there only to support his friend Isaac (Nat Wolff) who is in danger of losing both eyes to cancer. Both Hazel (he calls her Hazel Grace) and Gus relate to each other in a thoughtful way and even the most potentially awkward dialogue comes across as natural. When he tells her that she is beautiful and later when he looks in her eyes and tells her how much he loves her, it sounds deeply felt and authentic.
The two talk about their favorite books and what their life is about and the imminent spectre they face of an early death. He tells her that he plans for his life to have a meaning that will remembered through the ages to which she reminds him that there will come a time when none of us on the planet will be remembered. Hazel says that her favorite book is An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a young person with cancer which he agrees to read but is dismayed by the fact that the book ends in mid-sentence. They send each other text messages, and their affection for each other grows exponentially until Hazel decides they should be "just friends."
She tells Gus that she is keeping her distance because she is "a grenade likely to explode and wants to minimize the casualties," but Gus has fallen in love with her and is not about to let go, whatever the consequences. He invites her to go to Amsterdam with her to meet the author of the book, Peter van Houten (Willem DaFoe), to ask him what happens to the other characters after his book ends. Their trip to Amsterdam to meet van Houten, however, though beautifully photographed by cinematographer Ben Richardson, turns into a near disaster, though it ultimately serves to bring them closer together.
Unfortunately, the entire middle episode feels leaden, highly improbable, and incongruous with the tone of the rest of the film. Hazel and Gus' subsequent visit to Anne Frank's house, while well done, also does not ring true. If the ending is predictable, the tears it evokes are earned because we care deeply about the characters we have come to know and identify with. Author Washington Irving observed that "There is sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues." If that assessment is valid, then The Fault in Our Stars, for all its flaws, is the most eloquent film of the year.