Comparing The Novel to the Film

I read Rupert Thomson's novel 'The Book Of Revelation' before seeing Ana Kokkinos' film. I thought it might be interesting to discuss what similarities and differences the two had.

One major difference is the setting. The book takes place in Amsterdam, while the film takes place in Melbourne. I think this goes to the show that the societal values, where sex and power are concerned, are similar in both places; as the stories are not very different and work well in both settings.

In the book, Daniel is captured for 18 days, while in the film it is only 12.

The book uses a linear style of storytelling. The reader follows Daniel's story from start to finish, the entire thing in a flashback fashion. In the film, when Daniel dissappears, the viewer is not shown what has happened to him until his return, through various flashbacks.

While captured, Daniel has to undergo a strange experience in the book. The women invite a few people over to eat a meal off Daniels naked body. This did not take place in the film.

The other major difference during his captivity is his dance. In the book he does the dance with his penis chained to the wall, and the dance ends with him wrapping the chain around his body. In the film only his hands are chained. I suppose that filming the dance as it appears in the book would not only have been very hard to orchestrate, but probably would have been tough to actually get passed by censors.

For some reason, the spelling of Bridget's name in the book is Brigitte, while in the film credits it is Bridget. Also, actor Anna Torv plays Daniel's girlfriend Bridget and one of his captors, Gertrude (hence the name of this site). Kokkinos says that this is not supposed to mean that the character Bridget was one of his captors. It was just that Anna Torv was the best available actor for both roles. I think it adds another layer to the ideas presented in the film. Perhaps women are all the same to Daniel, until he finds Julie and falls in love. Perhaps it adds to the anonymity of women in the story.

In the film, when Daniel goes away and gets a job at a pub, he is still in the same country. In the book he travels the world. He only returns after having sex with the first three women he suspects are his captors, in order to search for them in the area he was first captured.

There are also some main characters and parts of the story in the novel that are not in the film. If they had been in the film, it probably would have a much longer running time.