The Curator: book movies for the holidays
Why Eileen and Leave the World Behind are perfectly unfaithful adaptations
Happy holidays book friends!
We’re in the thick of it right now, aren’t we? This newsletter is a day late thanks to the general fuckery of wrapping up the semester and getting into the holiday season. If you are knee-deep in panic about presents or travel or family or whatever it is, just know I am holding space for you.
And by holding space I mean offering you what was once considered the greatest elementary school event ever (well, right after the Scholastic Book Fair): Class Movie Day.
Remember the joy of seeing the AV cart being wheeled into your classroom? Knowing your brain would get a break for at least 1 hour 40 minutes. Let’s have that feeling now again as adults!! (If you don’t remember just ignore us elder millennials).
I determined that this week, the movies were it. We were blessed with two film adaptations of two polarizing books - Eileen and Leave the World Behind - and I just happened to see them both, strangely at the prompting of my husband.
I’ve been anticipating Leave the World Behind for some time (I’ve written about it including here and here). But I have to admit that Me, a book person on the internet, was not prepared for the theatrical release of Eileen, the film adaption of Ottessa Moshfegh’s debut novel of the same name. I am ashamed but also glad I did not prepare for this movie. It made watching it a new experience rather than a rinse-and-repeat situation and it deserved that attention.
Because I saw them in the same week, I can’t help but compare and contrast. Both movies are adaptations of decently well-known books by decently well-known directors. Eileen released in theaters, while Leave the World Behind is a Netflix film. While Eileen is very faithful to the plot, it deviates in tone and expands on style. While Leave the World Behind differs greatly from the original plotline, the essence - the *vibes* are somehow still spot on. I would dare to suggest that these two pieces of art are so perfectly unfaithful to the original text, that they are worthy of their own artistic acclaim independent of their book creators (The Big Picture Podcast agrees with me, at least about Leave the World Behind).
What is the very most important part though? Both movies had me watching and not checking my phone every 15 minutes. It’s a movie miracle!
There will be one more issue of The Curator next week to close out the year. Until then, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and may the blessings of 31 million lost due to religious wars the season be upon you.
Cheers!
Eileen, directed by William Oldroyd, written by Ottessa Moshfegh
I read Eileen long ago in 2018. At this point, I still found books by blindly choosing at Barnes and Noble or honestly I don’t know how else. I say this because Eileen was an odd book choice for me - it’s heavy on the body “horror”, a genre I usually avoid. I can barely write the words clip toenails without a shudder.
Eileen the film has some of that - scenes that are uncomfortable because they show the unglamorous work of maintaining the female body. Gross because Eileen chews chocolate candy and then spits them back out. She shaves (!) and masturbates and vomits when she drinks too much.
Ok so what you’re saying is… female body horror is just the reality of being a woman, unvarnished and honest. Super glad none of y’all have access to my Ring cameras
The movie has that element, but it does SO much more for taking the story further, for making it a film worth watching. First, it’s a period piece (the 1960s) and the fahsun letmetell you. It’s 60s working girl to the max. The clothing says things about the characters at each stage - from Eileen’s buttoned-up-cardigan repressed desires to psychologist Rebecca’s perfectly chic power skirt suits, the clothing is a signal for more than just good taste.
And THE PERFORMANCES. Oh everybody loves to hate Anne Hathaway but why do we hate Anne Hathaway again? Because she was divine, and so was Thomasin McKenzie, Shea Whigham, and Marin Ireland.
The movie is dark and moody and true to the plot of the original text (I will not ruin it for you now), but it deviates enough in tone that we feel more connected to Eileen in a non-gross-out way (there is a pivotal moment where the camera stays on Eileen’s face and it’s mesmerizing), and also less depressed. Perhaps it’s that with the movie, we have to imagine what Eileen is suffering, rather than hear it in detail, and there is more poignancy in that. While Eileen may be somewhat mousy and tormented by her father, she isn’t completely hopeless and she isn’t evil. She can take things in stride, even if she might be one of the weirdest main characters ever.
Eileen was stylistic and thrilling in a quiet way until it wasn’t. The tension builds and then releases but not at all how you expect. IMDB describes it as a “film noir with two femme fatales” and I concur. I loved it ten times more than the book (please don’t tell the author).
GO SEE EILEEN.
🖤 For Fans Of: Sad girl literature, A24 films
⭐ Verdict: true to the book in plot, but different (better) in vibes and clothes
Leave the World Behind, directed by Sam Esmail, written by Rumaan Alam
The best part about this film adaptation is that so many people will hate it just like the book. And that brings me joy.
Joy because people hate it for a fun reason - it doesn’t give you all the answers. Both texts ask you to come along, to know only what the characters know, to consider what you might do without your iPhone or Google or any way to get out of a situation except by your wits. It’s like a mini Rorschach test to see who can handle ambiguity and I will do everything in my power to defend the book and now the film. So.
**Welcome to my defense!**
Argument #1: Life doesn't give you all the answers.
Do we know what started COVID? Do we know why some people who get cancer survive and others don’t? No. This is life and art reflects life so get on board.
Argument #2: Ambuiguity is more fun.
On The Big Picture podcast, director Sam Esmail asked, would it have been better if I had given you the answer? If I had said, say, it was Russia?
Again, no. Watch this movie and then ask yourself, would it really have been better if XYZ were resolved? If your answer is yes, then you were watching a different movie.
Argument #3: Vibes are more important than plot
Leave the World Behind is one of the eeriest, unsettlingest books I’ve ever read while still being deep and important. The movie captures that feeling so immaculately which is almost impossible when you think about it because it is the lack of things (action, knowledge, contact) in the book that makes it so effective. Esmail and the writers succeed because they focus on delivering this vibe rather than each plot point, and concocted some cinematic moments that will stick with me forever (the ship, oh man the ship and the deer and the TEETH don't even).
And my last lil argument #4, is that the performances were stellar - Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, and Kevin freaking Bacon. If nothing else, go to see Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali drunk dancing in a basement.
🖤 For Fans Of: Apocalyptic stories, open endings, Lydia Millett
⭐ Verdict: Book and movie vibes match impeccably, but the movie stands on its own plot and cinematic achievements
READING →
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton is THE audiobook I need in my life right now. Dolly reads to us in her soothing British accent, telling us all about her love and life mishaps. It’s so enchanting but real and makes me feel seen in a way I didn’t know I needed to be seen. This is also a show on Peacock now and the machine just can’t be stopped.
I’m thinking about what I want to commit to for my 12 days of reading during the work holiday. Someone (forgive me if this was you) in a stack comments section mentioned every year they select a big old chonker to bring in the new year with. It’s in strange antithesis to how everyone else seems to approach the new year, instead bringing something purposefully with you across that artificial boundary. I love this idea. My top contenders are The Stand, The Bee Sting, and The Luminaries. Let me know if you have opinions on this in the comments.
WATCHING →
Christmas movies. Every single one we can find. It’s our first holiday season as a married couple and we are trying to enjoy all the things so we can create new traditions. A perennial favorite? Just Friends. And neither gets mad when we both quote the entire thing start to finish.
RESTACK OF THE WEEK →
Luiza digs into the complexities of depression in a neoliberal world through a review of Lost Connections by Johann Hari. She nails exactly what it’s like to live with situational depression and I thank her for writing this piece!
AND CATS →
Because I think we all wish we could be sleeping this much and this comfortably.
LET’S CHAT
Your favorite movie you’ve seen this year, book-related or not.
What are you reading right now and should we read it too?
What thing are you most looking forward to about the holiday season? Or the thing you are most dreading either one.
In Case You Missed It
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Having the TV wheeled in during the 5th grade was epic!!! Never forget that! Plus what a great review on those books and movies I LOVED Eileen and LTWB as well!!
I saw a friend posted that Leave The World Behind was a waste of time because nothing was ever answered. But when I saw it (haven’t read it), I understood. The movie was about not knowing. Just like us in the early days of the pandemic.