The Fault in Our Stars

Movie Poster

You have all probably been in this position on numerous occasions, when with friends or relatives. This position, is not a decision between life and death but quite shallow to be honest. This decision is what film do I see at the cinema? My Sister and I were in a dilemma, do we see “The Fault in our Stars” or “Maleficent”. Based on friend’s inputs and the media we chose The Fault in our Stars” (TFS).

Directed by Josh Boone, who is new to the film making world having only 3 credits to his name including TFS and Stuck in Love. The 2.5 hour romantic, drama tells the story of Hazel and Augustus who are two teenagers sharing sharp wit, a disdain for the conventional, and love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. The main focus of this movie, is how two terminally ill teenagers can fall madly in love. At the beginning of the movie, we see Hazel as this quite reclusive teen who is being diagnosed with depression having read her favourite book “An Imperial Affliction” more than once each week, so her doctors and her parents believe she is clinically depressed. To be fair to her, this could be expected of her a teenager seeing as she has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. To cope with depression, her doctor insists that she visits a teenager cancer support group which will help her deal with the diagnosis. At the group she meets Augustus, a cancer survivor who whilst battling the disease lost his leg. The pair begin sharing thoughts, feelings and basically everything about each other.

Positives

Boone uses Green’s novel which the film is based on, is on point exactly. This means that for the readers of the book, they can connect immediately. I however hadn’t read the book previously but still was able to connect just the same as readers of the book. Similarly, he doesn’t focus too heavily upon the negatives surrounding terminal illness but creates hopeful tones throughout but this film does provide everyone with a good cry, due there being constant areas of the film which tug your heart strings. Another area which I particularly liked was the constant witty comments throughout the movie which made it even more heart-felt and prevented viewers from coming up with patronising remarks about the characters illnesses.

Negatives                                               

Similar to other movies containing themes of terminal illness such as My Sisters Keepers, I’m still unsure whether the movie can be worth the cinema trip, I feel that it is more suited for an afternoon sat in your living room with lots of your own treats; just because you spend so much time crying which results in you coming out of the flicks with panda eyes and having to run to the nearest loos, rather than being in your own environment having a good cry. Nevertheless, fans of the book will probably be more likely to want to see it on the big screen, perhaps because I hadn’t read the book that is the reason for why I wouldn’t enjoy it as much at the cinema. Another point that I would criticise is the characters themselves, as a teenager I don’t think how they would have reacted to cancer would be my reaction, so my biggest critique is perhaps both Green and Boone’s take on teenager cancer battles, it doesn’t provide realistic approaches to such a taboo subject. I honestly can say that nobody in Gus and Hazel’s perspectives would be reacting to such a hard disease with such witty and conventional quotes and lines.

Despite the negative points, I still felt the adaptation from book to film was remarkable because as a bookworm I could imagine all of the features being read. My overall advice, is for all people intending to view the film is to take lots of tissues.

Guidance

12A rating

Terminal illness theme+ strong language

John Green: The Fault in our Stars: available in our book stores costing £3.95 or £2.50 on e-readers.

John Green: The Fault in Our Stars- The Novel: Amazon Synopsis:

Novel

At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives. What happens when they meet him must be left to readers to discover. Suffice it to say, it is significant. Writing about kids with cancer is an invitation to sentimentality and pathos—or worse, in unskilled hands, bathos. Happily, Green is able to transcend such pitfalls in his best and most ambitious novel to date. Beautifully conceived and executed, this story artfully examines the largest possible considerations—life, love, and death—with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. In the process, Green shows his readers what it is like to live with cancer, sometimes no more than a breath or a heartbeat away from death. But it is life that Green spiritedly celebrates here, even while acknowledging its pain. In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph.