Adult Movies

Sunday Scribblings wants to know about the word ‘Adult’. Movies for adults has become synonymous with porn and while that may be true, there are many movies still being made for an adult audience. One of those movies is ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’.

Diane and I went to see the movie today and this is my report.

The book by the same title was published in 2003 but I only read the book several months ago. That was before I even knew about the movie so the details were still fresh in my mind. Does the movie screenplay live up to the novel? Yes, it does… although… with many qualifiers. Is the movie Oscar worthy? No. Are the performances Oscar worthy? No. Both Diane and I agreed on the reason. It’s not because the movie isn’t excellent [because it is an excellent movie] but because the premise is beyond any ‘normal’ reality we can understand. In a way, and this I only understood as we were talking after, time traveling is very much like being a multiple.

Whether you’ve read the novel or not, the movie is about two people. One is living her life moving forward and the other is living his life in segments and when Claire’s and Henry’s time-lines finally synchronize at the same place and time, Henry has never met Claire but Claire has known Henry for nearly twenty years. She loves him and knows everything about his life – what he has chosen to share that is – and is fully committed to spending the rest of her life with him. But, she also feels that she never had any choice. After Henry meets Claire as an adult for the first time ever, then he travels back in time to meet Claire at age six. At only their second meeting when she is six, she has already decided that she will be the one married to Henry as an adult.

The screenplay follows the novel more or less, but leaves out large chunks of Claire’s life as a young girl and teen thus leaving the viewer without an emotional connection to her. It is as an adult when she realizes the true cost of their love. The medical drama is gripping, but missing almost all of the novel’s details. The ending is faithful except for the last scene which doesn’t occur in the novel at all. The novel’s actual ending is not mentioned. Overall though, an excellent movie, well-acted and choreographed but lacking in something. That something is what we adults call the real world and understand that fantasy life belongs in novels.