Movie Monday: Serena

Hello all! Welcome to Movie Monday; we will be comparing the book Serena (review of which you can find here) with the movie. This segment will be brought to you by our guest blogger, Jen (who did the book review for Serena). 

Book by: Ron Rash
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 4.3/10

The North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s - George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man's life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George's hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton's passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.

 

Did I say I was going to watch the movie “Serena”?  Well 2 minutes into the movie I realized I was watching “Subpoena” and the movie was going to end with Ron Rash in court suing 2929 productions or at least he should!  If I hadn’t read the book, maybe I could have slightly enjoyed the movie.  But even then, I was disappointed in the acting and accents that were difficult to understand.  There was NO character development.  The story line was almost entirely different.  Serena was completely one dimensional.  There is no love/hate relationship between the audience and the Pembertons.  That was one of the best parts of the book was not knowing if I should love or hate the main characters.  In the movie, they made the choice for you and you are forced to feel sorry for them and view them both as empathetic characters.

I stopped watching the movie half way through because my husband was sick of hearing me yell at the TV. (He also read the book and understood it was best for the both of us and the safety of our big screen TV to stop watching).  They changed so much of the story and the development of the characters that I knew I would throw a fit at the end of the movie.  Either they would change the end entirely OR I would be so disappointed in the lead up to the ending that I wouldn’t be able to sleep the rest of the night.  The search goes on to find a movie that does justice to the author.   Perhaps I need to wait a longer period of time in between reading the book and watching the movie to lessen the blow of disappointments?

The Court's Decision:

 (if I could do negative's I would)