I think the movie adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway didn't do as good of a job as the book did at creating a sense of realism. Because of this one of the central themes of the book, the importance and beauty of everyday life, was sacrificed. The book demonstrates this theme by taking ordinary events and people, and making them extraordinary through language. The natural extension of this is to take ordinary events and people, and use cinematography to make them extraordinary when adapting this theme for the screen. However this simply does not work as well. The movie changes the nature of the events in a way writing does not. Because of things like the intense soundtrack and the artful framing of shots, the movie feels less like a slice of life and more like a director's grand vision. The theme of everyday life's importance, while still present, is less clear and the impact of this idea is greatly diminished. I felt that the writing and acting contributed to this problem as well. The scenes felt intense and dramatic, whereas in the book interactions tended to be mundane on the surface level, yet full of hidden meaning.
Despite my complaints , I am not saying the movie should have been more like the book. This is a common argument, and it is almost never correct. Books and film are different mediums and the qualities that make a book great are not the same ones that are important for movies. I appreciate that in this case the movie strayed far from the book, as a straight adaption certainly wouldn't have worked well. My point is that because of the nature of film, and the nature of the complex themes in the book Mrs. Dalloway, perhaps the movie could never have been as strong.
Allow me to play you out...
(A song about jumping out a window)
