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David Williamson wrote the serious comedy, Brilliant Lies in 1993. Three years later the play was adapted into a film. The play was about how a young sexy party girl, Susy, was sexually harassed by her power-demeaning boss, Gary. Throughout the story we are kept in the dark about what the truth really is concerning the account in the office when both parties worked late alone.
The film introduces changes to both enhance and develop the plays main ideas and themes. When plays are made into film, or film into plays improvement s are made. Scenes are taken out, added and changed. The film of Brilliant Lies has significant improvements; a scene is added, some are deleted and overall the setting are far more exotic.
Overall the film improves on the ideas explored in the play. Many changes are displayed in the film adapted from the playwright. One of these main changes would be the ending of the story. The adapted film ending shapes our ideas of Gary and his wife, Stephanie. In the play we never meet Stephanie and only hear about her from what Gary says to Susy who explains it to Marion who is there to make sure the proceedings dont get out of hand. Susy says He screamed that his wife treated him like shit.
Consequently in the play we think of Stephanie as a bitch. In the film Stephanie is at the court hearing and has to hear the horrible degrading things her husband has told Susy about her. Stephanie eventually breaks down from hearing these things in court and leaves. We feel sorry for her because of the horrible things she had to hear in court and also because she is married to such a hostile man.
The audience in both film and play know that Gary treats Stephanie badly because of what he says to Susy, who repeats it in court in the film and in the conference room in the play he hated her so much that the only thing that made him feel god was that hed cheated on her four times since. Gary is presented in a hostile way towards women and we instantly hate him for saying and doing something like that in opposition to the women he should be devoted to. Therefore the film gives us an idea of what Stephanie would go through if she found out about the affair, harassment and what her husband has done behind her back. This gives us a very distinctive alternative ending, as in the play Stephanie never finds out about the whole incident, and Gary uses the company money to pay Susy the damages fees. The films ending gives depth to the story consequently making it a different but enhanced quality of viewing. When the film was adapted from the book the changes were made to make it have a more dramatic storyline.
One of the main reasons things are taken out of plays or movies when adapted to the other is because they are repetitious. A good example of lines taken out from the play because they are repetitious is on page 39. Where Susy and Katy, her sister, are talking. Katy doesnt believe Susy's story about how severe the harassment was, Susy has a go at her for not believing her.
This also happens on page 69, where Katy asks Susy if shes lying after a conference with Gary. This would have been ineffective in the film because we already know that Katy doesnt believe Susy by the tone she uses when she speaks to her and we dont need any more clarification of this. As a result of this scenes omission from the film, the story line is enhanced. Furthermore several of the settings in the film were more exotic, entrancing the films visual impact. In the play the story is based is Sydney, where as in the film it is filmed in Melbourne.
We see the characters in a lot more locations than those mentioned in the play. The main reason for this would be that the play was disadvantaged in that it couldnt suddenly cut to the golf course at exclusive Brighton or the magistrates court at BHP Steel House or Susy and Katy's small inexpensive apartment. The film was advantaged greatly by this, as they used it to improve by cutting from Gary's account of events to Susy's, bringing the contrast out. The contrasts were very strong in the film, with Gary in a relaxing, leisured surroundings being a wealthy man, while Susy was smoking heavily in her small-shared apartment, bringing out her poverty- stricken state.
In the play we dont get an idea of the contrast between how the men are rich and the women are poor, in the film the contrast is decidedly visible, with Gary and Vince being rich and Susy and Katy poor. This gives us a clearer view about what the story really is about, women wanting money and power off men. Eg. Susy and her dad, Susy and Gary. The final scene in the film was also more effective. The plays final scene seemed inconclusive in that we never actually find out how Susy got the money from Gary because in the last conference we see Gary storms out saying he wont pay.
Brian gets his operation but Susy doesnt seem happy about giving him the $ 30, 000 after he molester her when she and Katy were younger and brought there silence with gold American express cards and lavish holidays around Europe. The play gives a quick and easy ending for all parties while the film gives us more clarification about how Susy obtained the money from Gary. As a result of comparing the film and play / book , the film is superior. The film has the advantage of scene cutting and setting the right scene. As a result the film is bound to be better. By taking out the repetitious scenes and adding the court scene, Brilliant Lies the film is much more dramatic, therefore having a better storyline.
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Research essay sample on Brilliant Lies Comparison Between Film And Playwright
