What is your favourite book to movie adaptation?

By SARAH-JANE COLLINS.

There are a lot of films out at the moment that are based on books, Anna Karenina among them. Based on the classic Russian novel by Leo Tolstoy, the tragic love story between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky has been brought to the silver screen by director Joe Wright.  Wright is known for his spectacular period dramas, and Anna Karenina does not disappoint. Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the classic tale is supported by sumptuous cinematography and detailed period fashions – which make the film a must see this weekend.

Inspired by Anna Karenina, I’ve been thinking about what my favourite book-to-movie adaptations are, and I’ve narrowed it down to five.

Atonement

Ian McEwan’s tragic love story is set primarily in 1930s England, on the estate of a wealthy family with two daughters and a son.

The older daughter is in love with the son of the family’s housekeeper, a handsome, smart lad (well, it’s English after all) who is studying to be a doctor. But the events of one evening, and the subsequent false accusation of the younger daughter changes the lovers’ lives forever. I won’t spoil it, it’s a stunning book, and it’s written in McEwan’s refined, simple, beautiful way. The whole thing is a sumptuous slow-burn and the movie adaption has a similar tone. Atonement, the film, is directed by Joe Wright, who seems to love adapting significant works of fiction for the screen, and casting Keira Knightley in the lead. He did Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina as well. But Atonement is the best one. Brilliantly cast and shot, faithful to the story and the book’s surprise reveal at the end.

Brokeback Mountain

Annie Proulx is probably my favourite author. Her prose is wonderful, her stories just beautiful, and her evocative landscapes visible in your mind as you read. Brokeback Mountain is just one of a collection of shorts in her book Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Ang Lee’s adaption starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal is every bit as wonderful as the story Proulx weaves and carries with it the same heavy themes and beautiful imagery. The film also stars Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway as the wives desperate to understand their husbands. Four of my favourite actors in one film? Yes please! I loved the movie from start to finish, and the shortness of the original story allowed an incredible faithfulness to the text.

Bridget Jones’ Diary

When I first heard Helen Fielding’s classic single girl lament was being turned into a movie with an American star and Mr

Darcy playing Mr Darcy (how would they do those scenes where the girls drool over Pride and Prejudice?) I was horrified. But of course, as we all know, it was brilliant. Hugh Grant utterly excelled as Bridget’s womanising boss – was this the role he was born to play? – and Colin Firth really is the only man in the world who should ever be allowed to play Darcy. Austen’s or Fielding’s. Renee Zellweger was a lovely surprise and absolutely perfect for Bridget. The casting is this adaption’s greatest strength, but they also do an excellent job with the story.  Which is probably helped by the fact that Fielding herself was one of the writers. Where things needed to change to accommodate the format, they do and the spirit of Bridget is maintained. I wanted to love this film, but was so worried it wouldn’t hold a candle to the book. It exceeded all my hopes for it.

Sense and Sensibility

This is about movies, so the BBC miniseries adaption of Pride and Prejudice is out. Instead I have to put Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman on my list. I don’t mention Hugh Grant, because while he’s in the film, and stars as Elinor Dashwood’s love interest Edward Ferrars, this adaption succeeds in spite of him. Thompson is wonderful. Winslet is just beginning to build her long, stellar career (she is 19 in this film). Rickman is heartbreaking and delicate, so far from the villainous anti-hero he is usually cast as. Austen’s plot points are all here elegantly played and beautifully filmed with an exceptional cast (damn you Hugh Grant). In many ways this could be the finest Austen adaption there is, because it manages to achieve a richness and dedication to the source material that is usually only seen in miniseries, not movies that last just over two hours

To Kill a Mockingbird

How could I leave out one of the finest films ever made, based on one of the finest books ever written? Gregory Peck was

the perfect man to play the upright, just and fair Atticus Finch. He utterly dominates the role, and brings to life a wonderful story, meticulously told. Harper Lee’s book is wonderfully adapted here by Horton Foote (who years later adapted that other American classic, Of Mice and Men).  The kids cast to play Scout and Gem are perfect. The high drama of the courtroom scenes is captivating. This movie turned 50 last year, but it is still one of the best book to screen adaptions around, and the story continues to resonate with new readers and viewers. I think I can confidently say it’s unlikely to ever get knocked off my best of list.

Anna Karenina is acclaimed director Joe Wright’s bold, theatrical new vision of the epic story of love, stirringly

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What is your favourite book to movie adaptation?