The Fault In Our Stars / TFIOS Film Review

OH MY GOD. Having read The Fault In Our Stars earlier this year (a little late to the party, but it took me ages to build up the courage to open the book and allow my emotions to be shattered), I was in two minds about going to see the movie. Part of me thought there was absolutely no way they could do it justice, and part of me was worried it might be even better than the book, I guess.

I was wrong on both parts. The film was amazing - true to the story most of the time, incorporating my favourite quotes from the book, having the characters played by such brilliant actors etc etc. But it wasn't quite as good as the book; it almost was, but they were both so good in such different ways.

I will try my best not to include spoilers in this review but like SORRY IF I DO I'M JUST EXCITED.

The story of TFIOS follows two teenagers, one of whom is in remission from cancer and one of whom has been given a terminal diagnosis - Hazel and Augustus. As somebody who has lived through the loss of a family member to cancer and also lived through various other relatives and friends suffering from the disease, I was grateful to see that they portrayed the illness with both dignity and truth. However, due to how true it was it brought back a lot of memories and I literally got through a whole packet of tissues. Anyway, these two teenagers meet at a support group and quickly fall in love blah blah typical love story with a twist - but played so delicately and so beautifully by two actors who are clearly so comfortable with each other (the pair played Tris and Caleb in Divergent earlier this year), that it was a pleasure to watch their romance unfold.

Throughout the film we see how cancer takes over Hazel's life, and while some people have criticised both the book and the movie for not giving us the chance to see past Hazel's illness and see who she really is, I firmly believe that the way in which her character is portrayed is entirely accurate. I completely connected with her, and I've never been that ill - it's about having empathy. Shailene Woodley acted with such grace and in my opinion did allow us to see past Hazel's cancer: her laughter, the sparkle in her eyes and the passion in her voice when talking about her favourite book, An Imperial Affliction.

Events unfold that take our two protagonists to Amsterdam to meet the author of Hazel's aforementioned favourite book. *desperately tries not to include spoilers* And anyway, there they are in Amsterdam and I wish I could say they had a fantastic time and there was a completely happy ending but that's not real life and I think that's one of the joys of TFIOS. It's real; yeah maybe some bits of it are "far fetched" but crazy things do happen sometimes, and the way this craziness is blended with reality in both the book and the film are what makes it so special.

My favourite character (in the film) is Hazel's mother; having personally known teenage friends who are suffering from cancer I can safely say that Laura Dern plays the part so well. All the actors play their individual characters so well, but manage to gel with each other perfectly.

Sorry this is such a long review and probably not a very typical one, nor is it probably any good but I don't want to include spoilers and I don't want to sounds like I'm just obsessed (I am). But yeaaaahhhh thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it okay bye.