Book to film done well!

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2019)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a Romantic, Historical Fiction book set on the Isle of Guernsey within a year of the German occupation of the isle ending. The book is written in an epistolary style, letters written back and forth between characters, which would not directly transition well to cinema. The screen writers had to take the images and details from those letters and re-create the interactions described to interactions happening. It may sound straight forward enough, but they had their work cut out for them. There are multiple times in the text that the setting was not clearly, or distinctly, described and actual dialog between characters was not given. They had the bones to an enchanting movie, but they had to put in the work to flesh it out for the cinema. Ultimately, while the setting is not exactly what was described in the book, the screen writers did a good job bringing this book to cinema.
Whenever a book is adapted to a movie there is an existing fan base that is holding its breath while the film is in production. What parts will be kept? What will be missing? Will they stay true to the characters and plot? Will they twist, turn, prune, or add in so much that you barely recognize the original story once it hits the big screen? Let's face it though, anytime you take an eight-hour or more story and condense it into a film to be watched in less than two hours, you are going to lose parts of it. The best book to film adaptations keep their characters true to the way they behaved in the book, adapt the story to shorten it without loosing critical content, and can build the same emotional response for viewers that the readers also enjoyed. The movie adaptation of this book was able to do all three of these things, some better than others.
The characters from the book are represented moderately well in the movie. Juliet is an author from London who is just finishing a book tour and not sure what to write next. She is written, and portrayed on film, as an infectiously charming, kind young women who is still figuring out what she wants out of life. Mark, whom is courting Juliet, is written as wealthy and domineering, he is also portrayed as the same in the movie.
There are characters whose demeanor is mildly, or majorly, different though. Dorsey, Juliet's first contact from the Isle of Guernsey, is written as a quiet man who stutters and struggles to express himself. He is portrayed in film without the stutter and with a much more outgoing personality. Amelia, a resident of Guernsey, in the book is a sweet and guarded, but overall a welcoming and kind women. Amelia in the movie has a gruff persona and it isn't until nearly the end of the film that you see her kinder, softer side. The film sadly does these characters injustice by not staying true to their text origins.
Any time you adapt a book to a film you must cut out content. This is where The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society film truly shines. The story is based around one character, Elizabeth, whom is the thread that links all the other characters together in the story. Much of Elizabeth's story is cut out in the film; sweet and charming tales of good deeds done, or tales or daring resistance in a troubling time. The screen writers left just enough of these that the viewers become attached to Elizabeth and can still tell that she is one to stand up for the weak and do what's right even when it's hard. It's a fine line to walk and the screen writers chose which parts of her story to share very well, while saving time and cutting out what wasn't absolutely necessary.
This movie does an excellent job of still creating the emotional reaction that readers get from the book. You become attached to the characters. Even with the movie cutting out much of Elizabeth's' back story, as well as other characters, viewers are still able to grow very fond of her and become saddened when they find out she had been executed. Mark is easy to dislike; the actor, Glenn Powell, did a splendid job portraying the books arrogant aristocratic persona. Viewers can also see and feel the budding attraction between Juliet and Dorsey, and will ultimately end up rooting for Juliet to stay with Dorsey instead of returning to London with Mark.
The pickiest of book to movie adaptation critics could argue that this movie adaption is missing out on too many things. The movie cuts out meeting a character whom Elizabeth was imprisoned with at a concentration camp, and the extra character development Elizabeth is given because of that time. The movie also misses out on a variety of small characters throughout the Isle of Guernsey which help to develop the feeling of community the book creates. There are story lines which are changed to create more drama in the film as some dramatic parts of the book, that weren't key points in the story, were cut out. For example, Juliet believes that Kit might be Dorsey and Elizabeth's child in the movie, but in the book it is clearly explained from the moment Kit is introduced that her father was a German solider.
It is a fact of book to film adaptations that the story will change, and some readers will be left disappointed with the film. If you are to enter the theater expecting changes though, I believe you will more thoroughly enjoy these adaptations. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a good example of a book to movie adaptation done right.