Synopsis and Review

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2015)

In the 2013 film rendition of the 1999 novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming of age story narrated by main character Charlie, a fifteen year old, introverted teenager nervous about making new friends when entering his first year of high school. With a lot to overcome in his past, Charlie has reservations towards building trustworthy relationships with new people. On his first day of school once sent off by his older sister, Charlie shortly becomes overwhelmed with the new experience that is high school. After a not so pleasant morning, he settles down at lunch with two senior step siblings, Sam and Patrick. Hanging around an older crowd, Charlie begins to experiment with the party scene causing him to start to lose control of his depression. As the three begin to grow closer, Patrick shares that he is gay, Sam admits to being sexually assaulted as a young girl, while Charlie bluntly blurts out the story of his best friend's suicide at a party one night when they were all high. The night before Sam is to leave for college Charlie proclaims his love for her, while Sam regrets why he didn't mention anything sooner. That same night Charlie becomes very aggressive with his sister due to his distraught state finally reaching its boiling point. Charlie is taken to a psych ward where through treatment his parents discover that Charlie's aunt sexually abused him as a child. Two months later, Sam and Patrick return from college to visit Charlie in the hospital. The movie ends with the three friends riding through a lit tunnel with empowering music playing loudly as the audience begins to see Charlie finally overcome his fears.
Many novel to film combinations have the possibility of going horribly wrong. While trying to translate from off screen to on, plot structure can be rearranged or completely lost, relationships may come across as lackluster, or themes can be skewed. With many of the former disappointments an audience of readers is left feeling much left to be desired from their favorite book turned movie portrayal. It is extremely easy for direction of a film to quickly fall to the wrath of poor execution. All confusion regarding structure could be avoided though, if miscommunication between screen director and novelist was unapparent leading to a more cohesive plan for overall development. Although there are plenty of books that are excellently implemented into record breaking money making movies due to the phenomenal amount of fans, no movie, in my opinion, has ever come close to perfected development from paper to screen like The Perks of Being a Wallflower did. Not only was the plot brilliantly executed, it was the realness of the film's cast that portrayed Chbosky's characters better on the screen than how most readers of the novel would have to agree the way they imagined them in their minds. The ultimate goal of a successful director is to recreate the world that readers have set in their minds of how the story takes place. Directors want those that have read the book prior to seeing the film to be satisfied with the cast's interactions and expand their feelings and inclusivity of the friendships built while sharing more aspects of the plot through dramatic irony which is more difficult and achieved differently in a book than it can be in the depiction of the movie. This was more than successfully accomplished in The Perks of Being a Wallflower since Chbosky, the author of the novel, was also the director of the film. No better way to match the portrayal of characters and plot structure from a novel to a film than to have the man himself who first created them expand and essentially recreate their representation in a different dimension. There's always an extra additive of emotion and realness when seeing what you've conjured in your mind from reading come to life on the screen. Personally after leaving the theater in awe of what I had just witnessed, I found myself still thinking about the movie weeks and weeks after I had seen it, which I would have to say in assumption that, that is a special rarity for most people when viewing cinematic events. After reading the novel, I felt accomplished and enjoyed getting to know the characters ultimately getting to watch them grow through their relationships and into their own persons. Although I didn't feel as personally engaged in the novel as I did while seeing the film. For most it seems easier to relate when you are seeing the actions literally unfold in front of you and not just having to imagine them in your head. When characters are not developed in their entirety in a movie interpretation, readers are left disappointed and essentially did not gain any new experience from seeing the movie than they did from reading the book. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower film, no disappointment is felt. The characters the Chbosky recreates for the screen increase the amount of vulnerability and unknown innocence that the author was trying to bring to life in the novel in the first place. To be able to see this coming of age story grow and flourish on the screen was a beautiful experience. I've heard the same coming of age story before with the childhood abuse, suicide, and abusive relationships, but Chbosky's telling completely reimaged my thoughts regarding those situations based solely on how well he was able to translate the relationships from just words on a piece of paper to a real time emotional encounter. A story both on screen and off has never felt so relatable and honest. I would highly recommend both the novel and the film to anyone interested in experiencing the beautiful gift of infinite friendship and love.