Review of 'Oscar and Lucinda'

Beautiful film, nice acting. Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett are great at conveying how odd the two main characters are, and I can't begin to describe all the meaning that is held in that thing that Fiennes does with his eyes.

I didn't mind that it simplified the plot - I think it still managed to convey, for example, the extent to which the 'benevolent' act of sending the glass church overland causes such death and destruction in its wake. 

But though I enjoyed it, I was cross that it messed about with the ending. The book's ending is much more poignant - the film has softened the edges of the personal tragedies involved, removed a key plot development (and invented a scene to make this possible - I'll avoid writing a spoiler, but it was painful to have this crowbarred in to the narrative), and also weakened the anti-clerical dimension - in the book Oscar ends up cursing the glass church, though not in the film. 

Watched at home via informal distribution, Chromestream and Chromecast.