Chapter Three is the pivotal chapter which sets up the rest of The Twilight Saga. This is when Edward leaves Bella. Every Twi-Hard knows this scene, probably by heart, and the actors, producers,crew, and everyone else involves in making this movie, knew they had to get this scene right.
I would have preferred to have seen this scene lifted directly from the pages of the book and displayed on the screen. While the movie version is very close, it's not exactly the same.
Here are the differences I found between the book and the movie for chapter three.
1. In the book, chapter three begins with the morning after the birthday party. Edward had spent the night with Bella. She comments that his face was smooth and remote as he kissed her forehead before ducking out her window. In the movie, he goes home after driving her home from the birthday party and doesn't spend the night.
2. In the book, Edward stays for three days after the party, never skipping school. Bella grows more and more concerned as Edward becomes more remote with each passing day/hour. In the movie, Edward ditches school the day after the party, and leaves that day after school.
3. In the book, Bella has used an entire roll of film between the time she receives the camera and the day before Edward leaves. By his last day, she as developed the pictures, placed them in her scrap book and put the duplicates in an envelope to mail to Renee. In the movie, we see her print one picture of her and Edward (on the printer in her room - which doesn't exist in the book) from the party and put it in the scrap book.
4. In the book, Bella's camera has film that must be developed. In the movie, she has a digital camera.
5. In the book, Edward has, at some point, snuck into Bella's room and hidden everything that might remind her of him. In the movie, we see him in her room, while he's ditching school (again, not in the book), and looking at the photo in the scrap book. Later, if you look at the background in Bella's room, you can see that the pictures of Edward are missing.
6. During the days that Edward is brooding, he tells Bella - only when she asks - that Alice has left with Jasper. This is left out of the movie (again, three days shortened into one).
7. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I'll mention it again. In the book, Bella has a part time job at Newton's. In the movie, she doesn't.
8. The scene with Edward and Charlie watching SportsCenter and then Bella/Charlie/Edward taking pictures in the living room is missing from the movie.
9. The break-up scene is shortened. The movie does a good job of portraying this scene, but of course, the book is better. It's longer, and more heart-wrenching.
10. The scene where people are searching for Bella in the woods is shortened. In the book, she hears other's searching for her, but is too stunned to respond. In the movie, the first thing we see after she falls is Sam in wolf form.
11. The conversation between Sam and Charlie when Sam brings Bella to Charlie is left out of the movie.
12. In the book, Billy and Jacob Black are not present when Bella is found. Charlie calls Billy later to ask about the bonfires.
13. The bonfires, and the phone calls about the bonfires, are left out of the movie.
14. In the book, there is a scene in the Swan living room after Bella is found. Bella is awake, but mostly out of it for this. Paul and Jared are there with Sam. Dr. Gerandy is there, along with Mr. Newton and his son Mike Newton. Mr. Weber is also there. Dr. Gerandy looks Bella over, and ascertains that she is physically unharmed. There are conversations here about why she was in the woods.
15. There is a second scene that takes place in the Swan living room that is left out of the movie. In this scene, only Charlie and Bella are present. They discuss how Charlie knew to look for Bella in the woods, and where the Cullens had told everyone they were going. This is when Bella runs to her room to find that everything that might remind her of Edward appears to be gone. She believes that he took it all.
Of course, simply saying that scenes were shortened is an understatement. each scene was so well written in the book that leaving anything out alters the scene.
Watching the movie, you might not notice that scenes are missing. But anyone who's read the book will wonder why we jumped over them. As I have said before, many things were cut in order to get the movie to two hours. In my humble opinion, the movie was too short. When it ended, I was surprised that I had been sitting for 2 hours, and was not ready for the movie to be over. Most of the people I've talked to have felt the same way, though I don't know of anyone besides me who is willing to sit through a six hour New Moon movie. If you are out there, please let me know.
Until next time.......
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