Afterthoughts on the Movie Monkey Grip

I watched the movie 'Monkey Grip' last night, which based on the Helen Garner's book that I mentioned before.
The narrator was pretty much the same as what's in the book.
It was the main character Nora's monologue (or Helen Garner’s).

The movie was mildly disappointing, perhaps because I already knew the story. One of my friend commented on the book that it’s too shallow to her liking.
I wondered if she actually saw the movie first, because the movie didn’t quite do the justice to the novel. When the story was told on the screen, it sounded rather cheap.

After watching it I said, to my husband who was lying on the recliner next to mine that it was 'okay'. The actors were acting the characters in the book perfectly.
Probably it still is a great Australian film.
The only thing that changed was my perspective.

When I was reading the book, I was vicariously experiencing the main character’s life and emotional conflict, whereas I was just observing what she was doing in the film last night.

The story is mostly autobiographical.
With Helen Garner’s daughter Alice Garner playing the main character’s daughter, no wonder why the film looked so real and natural.
There was no over-play in it either.

My husband said that it was portraying the era so well and that reminded him of his teenage time, and also told me how big a deal it was when Monkey Grip came out.

It must have been very different if I had read the book after watching the film.

Some time after the film ended, I came to this conclusion.
When someone is going through emotional turmoil, it might not show as strong as it actually is or could even look like a cheap drama in public eyes.