Movie Recommendations According to Your Favorite Book

 

As more and more of us are getting into reading books again–or even better, have been avid readers since before the quarantine–we are starting to revisit the thrills of a good read like we never did before. But once we’ve fallen in love with the setting, plot and characters of a book, it can be tricky to let go of it or find something similar in any kind of content out there, including movies. This article will help you find these few films that precisely capture the beauty of our favorite books.

Pride and Prejudice, 1813

Starting with a literary classic, Pride and Prejudice is romance at its finest. By writing one of the most loved and popular books of all time, Jane Austen led the way for an infinite number of romantic novels, gracefully combining sharp wit and subtle sarcasm while delivering the plot through exquisite writing. But what makes the book resist time so well is its powerful and gut-wrenching portrayal of love, explaining its wide accessibility. The popularity of Romance among literary genres is not surprising: it is in our deepest instincts as humans to seek connection. Jane Austen not only understood the power of love, but was able to preserve all its pure, raw elements through the relationship of her book’s fictional characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. While cinema and literature have always been overflowed by romance since their creation, very few works have been able to portray love as Austen did. And from this select portion of films, period pieces occupy an important place, allowing viewers to transport across time and space through the universal vessel of love. Here are a few of these films: 

  • Jane Eyre, 2011

  • A Room With a View, 1985

  • Emma, 2020

  • Becoming Jane, 2007

1984, 1949

While George Orwell’s 1984 doesn’t share the passion and romanticism of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, it holds the same influence and importance in its place within society, even more so today than ever before. Both an essential political essay and an overwhelming piece of art, the book is essentially a big warning sign against totalitarianism and the manipulation of the truth. Set in a dystopian near futur –at least at the time it was published–the story centers around a powerful government and its corruption, manipulation, and suffocating surveillance. The power of the book lies in its very real foundations. Orwell meticulously examined major trends in the socio-political history of humans and saw what very few understood during his time: the subtle ways governments generate, alter and deliver information to their people to achieve their underlying intentions.  His concern for the loss of freedom is shared by many of us, today more than before as surveillance has become even more accessible and exercised by governmental forces.  Here are 4 movies that I would suggest giving a try if you liked 1984:

  • A Clockwork Orange, 1971

  • V for Vendetta, 2005

  • Alphaville, 1965

  • Snowpiercer, 2013

The Catcher in the Rye, 1951

Another classic of Literature, The Catcher in the Rye has been part of most high school curriculums for years now. Among the many reasons for his popularity, the book keeps attracting readers and non-readers because of its honesty and accessible style. Young students devour every page of this book with passion, consistently finding themselves in its relatable narrator and his coming-of-age story. One of the pioneers of depictions of adolescence in literature, J. D. Salinger, the author of the book, not only deals with relevant themes surrounding teenagehood such as self-alienation, appearance, and the phoniness of adulthood, but also uses a sincere voice to accurately convey the views of teenagers. Salinger expanded on a feeling familiar to many of us and progressively affecting people as society keeps developing: a feeling of alienation, confusion or even disbelief regarding general societal behaviors and values. In this exact sense, it continues to offer a greatly-needed validity to teenagers all over the world who are struggling to accept the rules and codes of the “adult world.” By writing The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger significantly not only changed social attitudes towards teenagers, but eventually allowed teenagers across time and space to feel seen, understood and less lonely. For this one, I selected the following four movies, most of them sharing a strong similarity with the tone of the Catcher in the Rye:

  •  Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986

  • The Graduate, 1967

  • Taxi Driver, 1976

  • Donnie Darko, 2001

 

Norwegian Wood, 1987

Moving away from English and American literature, the next book on this list is a benchmark in  contemporary Japanese literature. Writing and publishing bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, the book’s author, Haruki Murakami, redefined surrealism through his numerous novels, essays, and short stories exploring themes like love, loss, spirituality, as well as dreams and sexual identity. Murakami’s magical realism redefined our worldwide approach to fantasy by offering a much more realistic view of the fantasy genre and using fantastic elements to enhance reality rather than to escape it. Norwegian Wood is yet another coming of age story that follows the life of a young college student as he experiences his first love. But the themes of coming-of-age and love shouldn’t overshadow the important themes of pain and existentialism present throughout most of the story in the book’s characters. Murakami delivered these themes under a heavy blanket of emotional complexity and heartfelt writing, making it virtually impossible for readers not to be overwhelmed after reading the book.The four movies I chose for this book I believe all share the eerie, romantic and sad mood of Murakami’s books:

  • Drive My Car, 2021

  • Lost In Translation, 2003

  • Burning, 2018

  • Punch-Drunk Love, 2002

The Secret History, 1992

A personal favorite from this series, The Secret History is Donna Tartt's first book which she spent over a decade developing before its publication. The book’s painfully beautiful imagery is reinforced by Tartt’s gracious writing which never fails to honor the beauty of  places and atmospheres throughout the entire story. The universe of the book is what attracts many readers at first hand: a group of wealthy, prententious students studying Ancient Greek at an elite college in Vermont in the 1980s try to navigate between murder, affairs and drugs. Tartt understood society’s growing attraction to academic validation, social status and wealth and played with that to emphasize the book’s principal message; the glorification of beauty and grandeur. The idea of a select group of students, portrayed as misunderstood misfits yet supposedly superior to their peers speaks to our deepest, most secret elitist desires. And to top it off, just like in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Tartt made sure to have an incredibly relatable protagonist, carrying us with him on his journey throughout the story. My suggestions for films to watch after reading the Secret History are the following: 

  • Metropolitan, 1990

  • The Dreamers, 2003

  • The Goldfinch, 2019 

  • The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999

Call Me by Your Name, 2007

As many know, before becoming a movie, Call Me by Your Name was a book written by André Aciman. In his beautiful and delicate portrayal of the intense relationship between his protagonists, and eventual lovers, Elio and Oliver, the author wrote about infatuation, intimacy, and nostalgia like no other writer. Heartbreak and love can be very difficult feelings to describe for someone who hasn’t felt them; their complexity and invisible nuances make it virtually impossible for anyone to fully understand them. Yet in his book, Aciman captured their very essence, with each word accentuating the heaviness of the characters' experiences. Elio, the protagonist of the story, is a mirror for most of us: his struggle with self-confidence, his overthinking mind, and his wild emotional sensitivity. It would be an understatement to say that I related to him, and I know that most people did too. But Aciman didn’t limit himself to a relatable protagonist: his  powerful prose tinted the story with poetic grace, allowing the readers to immerse themselves in the atmospheric universe of the book, away in the sun-soaked shores of northern Italy. It is quite rare to find films that hold the same impact on us like Call me By Your Name, but I would suggest the following movies, which all share some qualities with the book and movie as well: 

  • Maurice, 1987

  • Blue is the Warmest Color, 2013

  • A Summer's Tale, 1996

  • Before Sunrise, 1995

The Song of Achilles, 2011

While the book was published not so long ago, its story is an ancient one. Taking place in the Greek Heroic Age period, Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is an adaptation of Homer's Iliad recounted from the perspective of Patroclus. But don’t be intimidated by all this ancient Greek influence: Miller was able to tell the story in a way that is easily understandable, keeping it engaging from the beginning while maintaining a poetic tone throughout the novel. Just like Call me By Your Name, The Song of Achilles offers a  raw depiction of love and passion between two men. Miller’s prose in the book is elegant, narrating graciously and conveying the story’s essence by writing in a simple way and avoiding losing herself in big words and complex language. Other than being a heartbreaking love story, the book follows its characters as they navigate between friendship, coming-of-age struggles and war, all while preserving key elements of Greek mythology. While the book, like many on this list, earned popularity and success through social media, Miller received critical acclaim since the book’s publication, adored by critics and other writers as well, namely for her courage in the face of classical backlash for writing a gay love story. This one was probably the most difficult in terms of movie suggestions because not a lot of lgbtq+ movies or romance movies take place in the Greek Heroic Age. Nonetheless, I found four movies that get more or less close to The Song of Achilles:

A Little Life, 2015 

Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life follows the lives of four young men who met in college and moved to New York in the hope of realizing their careers and dreams. Although it might not seem like it, A Little Life is not a light story. Similar to The Song of Achilles, the book gained massive attraction via TikTok, with people warning others about its damaging effects on readers. Claimed as a modern-day classic, the book sheds light on friendships, more specifically, people’s relationships in our anxious modern times. The consuming book has been called ‘upsetting’, ‘harrowing’ and ‘traumatic because of its poignant portrayal of trauma and suffering. While I will not spoil any part of the book, here’s what I can say: Yanagihara explores abuse, self-loathing and anxiety in a fresh light, asking questions that resonate with all of us. For this book, here are my suggestions:

  • The Hours, 2002

  • Reality Bites, 1994

  • Boyhood, 2014

  • The Souvenir, 2019

Conversation With Friends, 2017

Some of you might know Sally Rooney from her most popular book, Normal People, which was eventually adapted on-screen with Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones as the actors. Rooney gave us one of the most heartbreaking, complex and realistic portrayals of modern relationships. In her 2017 book Conversations with Friends, she dug even deeper into the nuances of such relationships through interesting, multifaceted and most of all, human characters. The book is one of the few that really portrays relationships in the age of technology, and Rooney did such an amazing job at transcribing this new form of communication. The book is a goldmine in terms of ideas shared through conversations, merging points of view, examinations of human behavior or even moral dilemmas. Rooney doesn’t shy away from criticizing society and denounced the evils of capitalism through her sarcastic protagonist Frances. But what I admire about Rooney is her ability to create three-dimensional people. People like you and me. People who mess up. People who sometimes we don’t understand, people who make us mad but with whom we can always empathize. And that’s the beauty of Conversations with Friends. A lot of movies have a sarcastic protagonist like the one in this book, but only a few share the depth of relationship and friendship dynamics that the book explores so deeply. Here are four of them: 

  • Frances Ha, 2012

  • Normal People, 2020

  • A Bigger Splash, 2015

  • The Worst Person in the World, 2021

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, 2018

My Year of Rest and Relaxation might be one of the most controversial books on this list. I was warned before reading it that I can fall into two distinct categories: the ones that love it, and the ones that hate it. It’s true: with her notoriously unlikeable personality and disturbing stories, the narrator and protagonist of the book is not necessarily a relatable one- or is the most relatable one, depending on which type of reader you are. The book follows a wealthy young woman living in New York City who is so extremely unhappy with her life that she decides to spend as many days sleeping or taking drugs, or both. While some see the book as another story about a privileged white girl whining and complaining about life, I believe the book has a much deeper purpose. Through her intelligent and witty book, Moshfegh did something quite similar to author Bret Easton Ellis and his book American Psycho, especially when looking at the way both authors choose to criticize society. Moshfegh wrote one of the most clever satires about our modern society in which the inevitable alienation and stress of everyday life push us to fantasize about the peace and nothingness of sleep. I think that My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a very cinematic book because it is full of slow passages and passivity as well as shock. Here are four films that fall into that same sort of category: 

  • The Virgin Suicides, 1999

  • Ghost World, 2001

  • The Man Who Sleeps, 1974

  • La double vie de véronique, 1991

 
Samsha Massonbatch 9