07-30-2008, 05:49 PM
Quote:Novels may be altered significantly in adaptation to film without making a bad film. ... That's the art of film adaptation.True, but in good movies the essence of the book is maintained. Visconti's movies are a case in point. I am not convinced that Manfredi is up to the job.
His Alexander trilogy gave me the shivers; this man is uncapable of understanding -let alone rendering- the subtleties and contradictions of hellenism, which is probably the main issue you have to tackle if you want to understand Yourcenar's Hadrian. The man is a self-appointed Greek.
The second issue is the aspect that Tertullian so famously summarized: Hadrian was omnium curiositatum explorator. Manfredi's treatment of the exotic in his Alexander books suggests that he will explore the sensational aspect, again missing the core of Yourcenar's Hadrian.
Manfredi simply has no "sense" for the aristocratic nature of Hadrian. I fear he will present us with a Hadrian that is a homosexual lover, instead of the Hadrian of Yourcenar - a melancholic, serene, and cruel philhellene.
Visconti could have done it; perhaps Scorsese; but not Boorman/Manfredi. Given Boorman's singularly bad taste for music (Carmina Burana in Excalibur), I expect we will see Antinous drowning and will hear the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth. Music for the masses.
