The Time Traveler's Wife - Review
Review of the Adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's Best-selling Novel
Aug 14, 2009
The Time Traveler's Wife is a faithful, if extremely abridged, representation of Niffenegger's beloved novel. Eric Bana stars as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a peculiar genetic flaw that causes him to time travel, involuntarily and uncontrollably. He describes his movement through time as being similar to gravity, and is repeatedly pulled toward "big events." The biggest of these events is Clare Abshire, played by Rachel McAdams, the titular wife of Eric Bana's time traveler.
While the film details some of the mechanics and dangers of Henry's time travel - his clothes don't travel with him, he can't control how long he stays in the future or past before going back to his own time - the movie focuses mainly on the relationship between Clare and Henry, and the peculiarities of a time-traveling romance. For instance, Henry first meets Clare when she strolls into his library as a college student. However, Clare first met Henry when he appeared in a meadow outside her parent's house when she was a child.
Adaptation from the Novel
While it would be impossible to translate the novel in its entirety, The Time Traveler's Wife is the rare movie adaptation that feels too short. While the Henry/Clare relationship is the center of Niffenegger's novel, a major part of the book details how Henry learns to deal with his involuntary time travel, such as how he meets his younger self and teaches him how to pick pockets and steal clothes to survive. There is also extremely little backstory given to Clare.
All the film tells the viewer is that that Clare is an artist and that she comes from a wealthy family. She shows up already in love with Henry, and but for a few brief moments, never wavers from that. The irony is that by focusing on the romantic angle and leaving out almost every other detail, the film offers littler real reason for Clare and Henry's relationship to mean anything. Clare is Henry's center, his grounding force that his time travel revolves around. But without any of the details of Clare's life, there's no clear reason why.
Running Time
The film manages to avoid the headache-inducing contradictions inherent to time-travel plots, and it captures the emotions and humor of the novel, with few real changes. In fact, the movie seems more like an abridgment than an adaptation. Clocking in at 107 minutes, it feels both too long and too short.
Fans of the book will no doubt contend that the film could have included much more of the book, while viewers unfamiliar with the book may feel that the film drags a bit in its last act. While it is a mostly enjoyable adaptation of an interesting book, all viewers may walk away from The Time Traveler's Wife feeling that the film simply didn't take advantage of the time it had.
