Ian McEwan’s novel The Children Act, first published in 2014, is a heart-wrenching story of a judge determining the fate of a young patient refusing to get the life-saving treatment he needs based on his religious views, while also struggling with a marriage in crisis. His writing style, while occasionally taking unnecessary tangents, is extremely detailed and immerses the reader in the story with complex descriptions of setting, emotion, and connection. The dialogue is natural and conveys the raw emotions of the characters, causing the reader to fully understand the connections between characters.

The film of the same name, which was released on Amazon Prime on Sept. 14, is equally beautiful and touching in its own way. The moving performances from Emma Thompson as Mrs. Justice Fiona Maye and Stanley Tucci as Jack Maye give the same level of emotion and feeling as the writing of the novel. The film is directed beautifully with many very well designed shots drawing the viewer into the characters and the story.

The plot of the film is very true to that of the original novel, which is understandable given the fact that McEwan wrote the screenplay as well. Almost all of the dialogue, which was one of the strengths of the book, is taken word-for-word from the source material, and still sounds natural when spoken, unlike some book-to-film adaptations. Unfortunately, due to a shorter running time, not all of the dialogue from the book made the cut resulting in a few plot points being overlooked in the film.

Without the engaging descriptions from the book, the film needed to make some changes to the story. The few changes made to the plot make it stronger as a film, but would not have worked as well in the novel. The details in the writing style of the book are what make the reader feel for the characters, but without them the film needed to make small adjustments to the plot in order to make the viewer feel the same level of empathy. There are several small changes made, such as minor characters having different names, and Adam, the subject of Fiona’s case, playing guitar instead of violin, but they have no effect on the overall story, which remains largely unchanged.

Both the book and the film are incredible depictions of the story, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses. Between the two of them, the novel is more in depth and draws the reader into the story more, but the amazing performances in the film make the viewer more invested in the characters. They are both equally beautiful in their own way, and reading/watching either of them would be time well spent.

Rating for the book:

⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5

Rating for the film:

⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5