The Fault in Our Stars: Film Review

John Green is breaking hearts everywhere with the release of The Fault in Our Stars.

The tragic love story of Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) came to life on screen with fantastic chemistry between the two young actors. Their little infinity captured the hearts of audiences and filled those hearts with both love and sorrow as the story unfolded.

The film opened with a voice-over from narrator Hazel Grace Lancaster. This opening monologue was one that I felt was extremely raw and important for the film:

“I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories. On one hand, you can sugarcoat it. When nothing is too messed up can’t be fixed with a Peter Gabriel song. I like that version as much as the next girl. It’s just not the truth. This is the truth. I’m sorry.“

Hazel addressed the idea that people tell happy stories because those are the stories people like to hear. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl. It’s all very cliché. This story isn’t like that, because that’s not how life is. Life is pain.

I was thoroughly impressed with not only the story itself, but the execution of the film. The film was based on the best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and followed along with the novel phenomenally. As I was listening to the dialogue within the film, I found that there were almost more direct quotes from the scenes within the book than not. I’ve never seen a film adaptation from a book that followed so closely to the dialogue from the novel itself.

I could hear sobs throughout the theater during key parts of the film, sniffles and cries echoing. No one was judging anyone else for the tears shed, because there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, not even mine. It’s a supremely real story about love and loss, and that pain inside all of us that demands to be felt. But don’t be confused; this isn’t just a love story, and it isn’t just a cancer story. It’s raw and painful, but it’s also touching. It’s about strength and bravery as well as love and loss. The Fault in Our Stars has a wide range of emotions and dives into many raw subjects, there is a way for every person to relate to it in some way, shape, or form.

I highly recommend this film to all.

The Fault in Our Stars is in theaters now.