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Lady Of The Camellias Book Vs Movie

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The Camille- a beautiful flower, symbolizing the purest of love, the most passionate desire, the deepest devotion and a graceful death (). The novel The Lady of the Camellias exquisitely captured everything a camellia represents through the raw and tender love story of a kept woman named Marguerite Gautier and a young gentleman named Armand Duval. Based on a true story and published in 1848, the writer Alexander Dumas Fils did not compromise the lust and idolatry this couple had for each other. In contrast, the movie adaptation titled Camille directed by Gregor Cukor, produced by irving Thalberg and written by James Hilton, published in 1936, simply captured a diluted version of the love story. The movie never lacked in the extravagance and …show more content…

In the novel Marguerite is “tall and slender” with “black eyes [and] brows that are perfectly arched, (…) eyes with long lashes that cast a shadow on the rosy hue of her cheeks (…) [as well, she has a ] perfectly symmetrical mouth” (8,9), paralleling the beauty of her character in the movie and embodying the elegance of the camellia. However, her personality was very different when comparing the two medias. The movie made Marguerite seem dazed, timid and dull, contradictory to her personality in the novel. The book portrays her as a deep thinker, with her always saying things such as “the vanity of having fine gowns, carriages and diamonds pulls us in. We believe what we hear, because even prostitution has its faith and little by little they use up your heart, your body and your beauty” (82,83). The novel captured her as a more modernized woman, possessing her own opinions- she was a sarcastic, intellectual woman who truly believes that no matter what “life is charming; it just depends on how you look at it” (98). While the film shows her as a naïve prostitute that will let anyone who comes along sway her views; the film captures her more of a woman of her time, which was before the nineteenth amendment. Her lover Armand Duval however, was plainly the same in the book and the movie. He is a poor but genuine young …show more content…

The introduction of the book, consisting of Dumas Fils going to Marguerites auction and then later meeting Armand was completely taken out of the film. Although, that portion was unneeded in capturing the story it would have been a nice touch to see how Dumas Fils fell upon his muse. The movie then begins with Marguerite and Armand meeting at the theater, although, unlike the book the characters seem to have a splendid time together, with Armand acting anything but foolish and Marguerite saying nothing that was humorous, witty or charming. Although, this is how a romance in a movie usually starts, the book was more truthful and unrefined, making the characters more likeable and easier to relate to. After this scene it was evident that the characters were more sublime throughout the movie and less unrealistic. For example in the book when M. Duval told Marguerite that she had to leave Armand she fought for her love with every ounce of her emotion, crying phrases like “do you believe that I have made this love the hope, dream and redemption of my life” (191). However, the movie did not capture that same intensity of heart ache. In the film it did not take much effort for M. Duval to convince her that she was not worthy of Armand because of her past affairs. This consequenced in the film not having that same earnestness as the book, causing there to not

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