European Adaptations

European/Art Adaptations

It could be argued that when it comes to adaptations of Latin American narratives the difference between art and Hollywood film becomes blurred. Just from the list above one can see that, even if these films are funded by Hollywood, the director's are of international origin and, in some cases, careers. Polanski, of course, is Polish has made most of his films in Europe, several of which are full-blown art films: Repulsion (1965), The Tenant (1976), etc. Likewise Billie August is Danish, Newell and Amiel, British, Puenzo, Argentinean, and Schnabel, while a New Yorker, was first a modern painter, and you can't get much more European than that.

However, the blurring also can be seen in the sources chosen by both US-based and European-based filmmakers. The new Latin American literature of the 1960s--plus some older writers who were somehow assimilated to to this so-called Boom, such as Jorge Luis Borges--remain the principal source for adaptation. Michelangelo Antonioni, for instance, adapts, significantly without fully crediting, Julio Cortazar's "Las babas del diablo" ("The Devil's Drool") in his Blow-up and, in an incredible instance of an adaptation modifying its source, leads to the renaming of the Argentine writer's story in English and even a few other languages. In fact, Cortazar's work lies behind Jean Luc Godard's Weekend and, perhaps, Betrand Tavernier's Round Midnight. And Borges, Cortazar's mentor, is adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci in A Spider's Stratagem.


Be that as it may, the fact is that despite this "blurring," European art adaptations tend to favor the more experimental members of the Boom. Both Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llosa, despite their differences, are primarily concerned with telling stories. Even if Garcia Marquez's stories frequently, though not always, include supernatural elements, and Vargas Llosa plays with fractured narrative structures, both are also "storytellers" whose works present clearly discernable plots. Cortazar's work, on the other hand, experiments at the level of plot. For instance, in "The Devil's Drool," one is never sure what is actually being told.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Latin American film adaptations of its narrative, while still privileging the Boom writers, who are frequently seen as cultural heroes in the region, has shown a much greater variety in its choices. (Garcia Marquez himself has promoted the making of a large number of films loosely based on his work). As we will see in our class, contemporary authors such as Jorge Franco (Rosario Tijeras) or Alberto Fuguet (Red Ink), who has himself become a filmmaker, or even hoary 19th century classics, such Jorge Isaacs's Maria, remade for the nth time this year.

Screening the Latin American Novel (2010)

Hollywood Adaptations

There have been a few mainstream (or near mainstream) Hollywood adaptations of Latin American texts:
--- Old Gringo (1989, directed by Luis Puenzo) from Carlos Fuentes' 1985 novel of the same name.
--- Tune in Tomorrow (1990, directed by Jon Amiel) from Vargas Llosa's 1977 novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.
--- The House of the Spirits (1993, directed by Billie August) from Isabel Allende's 1982 novel of the same name.
--- Death and the Maiden (1994, directed by Roman Polanski) from his Ariel Dorfman's 1991 play of the same name. (The play may have originally been originally written in English-it was premiered in London in 1991).
--- Before Night Falls (2001, directed by Julian Schnabel) from Reinaldo Arenas' memoirs
--- Love in the Times of Cholera (2007, directed by Mike Newell) from Gabriel García Márquez's 1985 novel of the same name.
The most successful critically of these is Before Night Falls, which, however is not based on fiction. The rest are generally considered failures, though, it must be pointed out, high toned ones. (Polanski is, of course, a major director; August had collaborated with Ingmar Bergman; Puenzo had won an Oscar in 1986 for the masterful Argentine film The Official Story).
The only film that aimed strictly for mainstream commercial success is Tune in Tomorrow. It changed the setting of Vargas Llosa's novel from Lima, Peru to New Orleans-I guess it's the most "Latin" city in the US-and, as the change of title indicates, downplayed its links with the Vargas Llosa novel.
While the freedom in adapting Aunt Julia and the Screenwriter could have been inspired by strictly filmic needs--when your main actors are Barbara Hershey and Keanu Reeves, it makes sense to set the movie in the US--it can also be seen as a direct reflection on the relative lack of cultural capital embodied in Vargas Llosa's novel. Loeve in the Time of Cholera, a novel beloved by many, required from the filmmakers a much higher level of fidelity. The international reputation of Garcia Marquez is, therefore, also represented in the fidelity of the adaptation of one of his most beloved novels.