Although the main plot was similar between the book, House of Spirits by Isabel Allende and the movie, House of Spirits directed by Billie August, there were many differences between the two stories. At the beginning of the movie when Clara first sees Esteban she claims that right then she fell in love with him, while in the book it says that Clara never even loved Esteban at all, even after they were married. After Rosa dies, Esteban says that he saved up from mining in order to buy his hacienda, while in the book the hacienda was inherited through his family. In the novel, once Esteban makes the ranch successful he becomes a powerful casique who does whatever he wants, including raping a beautiful native, but in the book Esteban rapes multiple natives even after the marriage.
Another big difference was how in the novel, Clara had twins boys Jaime and Nicolas but in the movie this does not happen. Jaime and Nicolas fued over a love for a woman named Amanda, but this is completely left out of the movie, most likely to shorten the film so it is not too long. Another scene that was left out of the movie in order to meet the time constraint of a film was the huge earthquake the killed many people in Tres Marias. The only mention of an earthquake in the film is when Ferula is caught in Clara’s bed and claims that Clara was, “afraid of the earthquake and asked me to lay with her.”
After Ferula’s death, things are not going very well between Esteban and Clara, and he ends up hitting her after she tries to defend Blanca’s actions. This is the last straw for Clara and she & Blanca move away. In the novel, Clara and Blanca move to the capital, not their parent’s house like in the film.
Once Blanca and Clara move away, Blanca becomes pregnant and has a child named Alba. Alba’s lover in the novel Miguel, is the brother of Amanda. Miguel is the reason for Alba’s involvement in the revolutionary Coup, so because he is left out of the movie, Alba never shows much interest in the revolution. The final difference that was important was Clara’s powers. In the novel, Clara speaks to ghosts but in the movie, Clara only has visions of the future.
Besides main plot of the book, House of Spirits by Isabel Allende and the movie, House of Spirits directed by Billie August, there were many differences between the two stories. At the beginning of the movie when Clara first sees Esteban she claims that right then she fell in love with him. Yet in the novel Clara never loved Esteban at all, even after they were married; she only married Esteban because she had no choice. Once Rosa dies, Esteban says that he saved up money from long days of coal mining in order to buy his hacienda. But in the book the hacienda was inherited through his family, he never had to purchase it. He was simply working in the coal mine in order to make money to provide a better life for Rosa, not to buy the hacienda.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, once Esteban rises to power as the casique of his now successful ranch, he begins to abuse his power and does whatever he pleases. Unfortunately this includes raping a beautiful native who eventually becomes pregnant with his child. In the book Esteban does still impregnate the native, but he also rapes multiple other natives even after he is married.
Another big difference was how Clara has twin boys, Jaime and Nicolas, in the novel but in the movie this does not happen. Jaime and Nicolas feud over a love for a woman named Amanda, but this is completely left out of the movie, most likely to shorten the film so it is not too long.
Another scene that was left out of the movie was the huge earthquake the killed many people in Tres Marias. The only mention of an earthquake in the film is when Ferula is caught in Clara’s bed and claims that Clara was, “afraid of the earthquake and asked me to lay with her.”
After Ferula’s death, things are not going very well between Esteban and Clara, and he ends up hitting her after she tries to defend Blanca’s actions. This is the last straw for Clara and she & Blanca move away. In the novel, after Clara is hit, she and Blanca move to the capital, not their parent’s house like in the film.
Once Blanca and Clara move away, Blanca becomes pregnant and has a child named Alba. Alba’s lover in the novel Miguel, is the brother of Amanda. Miguel is the reason for Alba’s involvement in the revolutionary Coup, so because he is left out of the movie, Alba never shows much interest in the revolution. The final difference that was important was Clara’s powers. In the novel, Clara speaks to ghosts but in the movie, Clara only has visions of the future.