Books vs. Movies
In this podcast we set out to answer the age old question: is the book really always better than the movie?
Books vs. Movies
Ep. 26 Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough vs. Behind Her Eyes (2021)
What would you do if the ending of a story you've been following left you utterly perplexed and frustrated? In this episode, I, Lluvia, take you on a journey through personal milestones and literary intrigue. Transitioning from celebrating my new role as godmother to Dahlia Rose and watching my partner Orlando's play "Burritos Pa Morir" shine at the South Texas New Latinx Play Festival, we shift gears to dissect Sarah Pinborough's psychological thriller "Behind Her Eyes" and its 2021 Netflix adaptation. We’ll tackle the intricate plot and its shocking twist ending that took the UK by storm, exploring whether it left you satisfied or scratching your head.
Join me as we unpack the controversial ending involving unexpected astral projection twists and body swaps that dramatically alter the story's trajectory. Despite the initial promise of a gripping resolution, the outcome stirred mixed emotions. Our character analysis will spotlight the noteworthy performances of Simona Brown as Louise and Eve Hewson as Adele, whose portrayals added layers to the narrative. We’ll also discuss the remarkable acting of Tyler Howitt as Louise's son, Adam, particularly in his heart-wrenching final scene. This episode promises a thoughtful critique of both the book and its screen adaptation, examining their successes and shortcomings in bringing this psychological thriller to life. Tune in for a compelling conversation that bridges the worlds of literature and television.
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Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set out to answer the age-old question is the book really always better than the movie? I'm Yuvia, an actress and book lover based out of New York City, and today I will be talking about Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough, and its 2021 TV miniseries adaptation of Behind Her Eyes. Hi everyone, I'm so happy to be back. I was gone for three weeks. Orlando was gone for two. We were in Texas for a variety of different reasons, so unfortunately, orlando had an event at work, so he had to leave a week after I did. But the reason I had to leave before him was because I am officially my goddaughter Dahlia Rose's godmother. We baptized her on June 15th, so whatever Saturday that was, and that's why I had to leave before Orlando. And, uh, she's so cute. When I last saw her she was three months old. Now she's nine months old. So, yeah, but she's so adorable, she's got the biggest cheeks you ever saw and I just love her so much.
Speaker 1:And then Orlando joined because later in June the last week of June actually was the South Texas New Latinx Play Festival in McAllen, texas, and Orlando's Play Burritos Pa Morir got an official workshop production there, and it was incredible to see a play that he wrote up on its feet and in a full production, and I'm so incredibly proud of him. And thank you to everyone from South Texas College who brought his play to life, because you did an incredible job and the play is so good. Like someone out there is going to be like you're just saying that because you're biased, maybe, but it is legitimately a damn good play and I need someone in New York to fund it so we can bring it here or any of the regional theaters. Please produce this play, because it is just that good. I truly, truly believe that it is one of the best plays currently in existence. Now, I'm a fan of all his work don't get me wrong but there's something about this one that it feels ready. I heap praise upon praise about the other two plays he's written, but there's just something really, really special about this one that I feel needs to be seen by the world. So, anyway, that's where I've been, so straight back into it.
Speaker 1:I uploaded the podcast while I was gone, but now I got behind on editing my other episodes, so there's a lot to catch up on, but anyway, just wanted to share that little update. Love you Dahlia Rose and love you Orlando, and we will see this play being produced in lots of places. I can just feel it. Anyway, today, as I said, we will be talking about Behind Her Eyes and I'll say what I was going to say after I've given the description.
Speaker 1:So Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinbrough was first published in 2017. And apparently this received some really viral marketing in the UK in which there were like posters in the underground and the tube just saying things like what the heck is that ending? Just like really really hyping up this, like incredible twist ending, and it went like pretty viral, from what I looked into, like it got people really pumped, like it was a really good marketing campaign to get people to read this book. So there was the marketing campaign, but the book itself has a very interesting premise. So the book follows Louise.
Speaker 1:Louise is a single mom. She works as a receptionist at a psychiatrist's office. She's a divorce premise. So the book follows Louise. Louise is a single mom. She works as a receptionist at a psychiatrist's office. She's a divorcee, so she kind of has her routines and it's just very. You know, her life is just not very exciting at the moment. She's just living her day-to-day life and there's nothing exciting or new or anything special about it. But that all changes when she goes out one night and meets David. There are immediate sparks, they kiss. It's incredible and she's so happy that she has this connection with someone. However, upon returning to work on Monday, she discovers that David is her new boss. And not only that, but he's married. So this puts Louise obviously in a bit of a pickle. Louise ends up meeting Adele. She's new in town. She really, really wants a new friend. She makes this instant connection with Louise as well, but it turns out that Adele is actually David's wife. So Louise has feelings for her new friend's husband, but she doesn't want to break off this friendship. But she also doesn't want to break off this affair that she has going on with David. And then, as she gets to know Adele, she discovers that David is maybe not as nice as he seems. Adele seems really, really scared of him. What is going on? Louise is determined to find out. The 2021 TV miniseries adaptation Behind Her Eyes is streaming on Netflix and it follows Louise, a single mom who is a psychiatrist. Who is a receptionist at a psychiatrist's office. Psychiatrist at a who is a receptionist at a psychiatrist's office, she begins an affair with her boss and ends up befriending her boss's wife. So this is actually a really, really faithful adaptation.
Speaker 1:So I saw the miniseries first and then I read the book. And then, as I'm reading the book, I'm kind of just like I don't know what I'm going to talk about, because it's just so faithful and there wasn't really anything that I could really compare in contrast or anything like that. So, to quote the marketing found on the tube, what the freak is that ending? So yeah, I saw the ending of the miniseries and I was a little like that's the twist we're going with. Okay, all right. And then I read the book. At this point I had had enough time to like sit with the twist, so I knew what was coming. And then I realized this episode is going to focus exclusively on the twist, because what the freak is that twist? So I'm letting you know now this episode it's going to be spoiled.
Speaker 1:If you do not want to know what happens in this book, if it's on your TBR, if that premise intrigued, you read the book, watch the miniseries and then come back. Because, like I said, I am exclusively going to talk about the ending of this book because there's nothing else I can talk about. And, as I was saying, originally, when I was reading this book I was like, well, it'll be a really short episode because I have nothing to add. I have nothing to say other than it's a faithful adaptation. I'll say which one I preferred and that'll be that, and it'll be a really short episode. But then I read that ending. It just really did not sit right with me and I really have to talk about it, because what is that ending? Like, seriously, what is that ending? So the marketing went viral and it really got people to read the book. But don't be fooled by me talking about this ending and the viral marketing of this book. It's what the heck is that ending? In all the wrong ways, not in the mind blown. Oh my gosh, you got me kind of ways. So let's get into it. As I said, this is a pretty faithful adaptation. I actually have nothing to add. So there were some minor things, like some events happened a little bit sooner in the book than they ended up happening in the miniseries, but nothing major, nothing that I feel compelled to bring onto the podcast. So you had plenty of time to leave and if you're still here, I don't know what to tell you. I am now about to spoil this ending. So this book is definitely a psychological thriller.
Speaker 1:We see Louise trying to figure out why Adele is so afraid of David. The David she's met is very kind and wonderful and just a great guy, but Adele seems really, really terrified and scared of David. So what is going on? What is wrong with David? Well, it's actually what is wrong with Adele. And what is wrong with Adele is that she is not Adele.
Speaker 1:It turns out that Adele is Robert. Who is Robert? Robert is Adele's friend that she met while they were at a rehab center together and they became best friends. And after Robert meets David, he becomes infatuated with him and wants to be with him. Adele knows how to astral project and one day she teaches Robert how to astral project, and one day Adele says no. One day Robert convinces Adele to switch bodies and they switch bodies, and Robert just never gives Adele her body back. Heces Adele to switch bodies and they switch bodies, and Robert just never gives Adele her body back. He kills Adele, who is inside his body, and disposes of his body, and he has now taken ownership of Adele's body. So it is Adele physically, but mentally it's Robert living inside Adele's body. So that's part of the twist.
Speaker 1:The other part of the twist comes that once it's obvious that David and Louise obviously does not figure out the astral projection thing, but she just figures out that you know what? David has been telling the truth this whole time and Adele is the one that's been lying. So she teams up with David to put Adele in jail for the death of Robert and obviously to put Adele in jail for the death of Robert. And obviously Robert, as Adele, is not going to let that happen. So he tricks Louise into switching bodies. So, essentially like, he sets the house on fire and locks all the doors so Louise can't get into the house. So she astral projects into the house to see what's going on with Adele and as she does that, robert himself, as a national projection, swoops in and steals Louise's body from her. Louise ends up in Adele's body and again he repeats the cycle of killing Louise while she's in Adele's body and he has now taken over Louise's body so that he can continue to be with David and that is the ending.
Speaker 1:So yeah, what the heck is that ending? I don't even the more that I've sat with it and I've been able to think about it, the more upset I get, because that's okay. So I will say, even though I knew the twist, the miniseries I was very, very into it. It had me. I thought it was very engaging, the actors were incredible and it was very like like I love psychological thrillers, so this is my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1:I was very much on board with this miniseries and then that ending happened and I was like okay. And so, yeah, despite me knowing the twist ending of the book, I will say the book still grabbed my attention. Okay, it's very well written and even though I knew the twist, like it still had a way of keeping me engaged and very much into the story. So I think that's why I'm so frustrated by that ending, because it grabbed me, the miniseries grabbed me and the book managed to still grab me and keep my attention despite the fact that I already knew the twist. So it's very well written. It finds a way to keep you on your toes and then for that to be the twist and the ending.
Speaker 1:There was just so much that could have been done. Like this is a psychological thriller, like there's so many ways to keep the psychological thriller aspect of it, without all of a sudden it being an astral projection twist Like what even is this? So yeah, that is my frustration with the ending and why the marketing was very, very smart in saying what the heck is that ending? But I just yeah, I don't even know what to? It's just so frustrating. Okay, so that is the ending. So there's that, that's the ending. That's why it's so frustrating what the heck is that ending? So the marketing knew what it was doing. It really wanted to focus on that ending and it got people reading and then people read it and were what the heck is that ending? But not in a what did I just watch? That was incredible. More like a what kind of way?
Speaker 1:So anyway, so there's a variety of reasons why this twist kind of bugged me, the first one being there are just so many stereotypes already surrounding the LGBTQ plus community that they're predators, just essentially along those lines, that they are predators and all these awful things and stuff like this doesn't help. So this guy meets Robert. I mean, robert meets David, is instantly in lust with him, decides his best friend is worth killing to be with this man because he just absolutely has to have this man. That just doesn't sit right with me, so that just really really bugs me. In the book, louise is white. She is described as having blonde hair and everything.
Speaker 1:The miniseries cast a Black actress by the name of Simona Brown to play Louise and she was great. But there's already something icky about a white man taking over the body of a woman to again be with this man that he's fallen in lust with. So there's already like icky implications there to then possess the body of a Black woman. This is the one instance in which I didn't necessarily agree with colorblind casting, just because it follows the book faithfully. But since this isn't an issue in the book, you know he's taking over the body of a white woman, taking over the body of another white woman, which is again it's already icky and creepy and gross in its own way. I don't know. There's just something that feels even ickier, even worse, about having him possess the body of a black woman. And obviously, since this is such a faithful adaptation, there's no racial implications in this. It's not the point of this story, and not that it necessarily has to be, but I don't know. There's like a deeper conversation that needed to be had because of this and I'm not really sure what that conversation would be, but it just I don't know. I'm all for colorblind casting and Simona Brown was great as Louise. I will talk about her a little bit more when I talk about the miniseries. But in this instance I don't know that it feels right, considering what the twist is, but yeah, so there's those implications that are just wrong all around. So, yeah, that is the twist and those are my issues with the twist.
Speaker 1:There was also something that wasn't very clear to me and I understood this when I was watching the miniseries. So initially we see Adele shoot up and then so, right before they switch bodies during the astral projection, robert as Adele. He, robert, himself is a heroin addict. That's why he was in rehab but obviously did not work for him. So right before he switches bodies he shoots up, so that when he and we switch bodies she gets kind of not used to it. But the thing that kind of thought about this is I was watching the play as I was watching the show because she gets in and she can't move because, like, the drugs in the system are working its way through the body and everything and so she can't move because there's just so much heroin in her system that she's just not used to that it just as someone who had never taken heroin like it just felt like Adele's body just felt very heavy, like she couldn't move it.
Speaker 1:And as I was watching this I was kind of like but isn't heroin like? Yes, it affects the whole body, but I don't know. To me that didn't really make sense because I was like the high you feel, you feel it in your brain. I guess you feel it in your mind. You want to chase that high because of how it makes you feel psychologically. So if a new person is going into the body, I don't know, I just feel like there's something there that's like well, if the person being affected psychologically by the heroin is no longer inside the body, I'm aware that it is still running through the system, but because of the psychological high of heroin, I feel like it wouldn't have taken as much of a toll on the new psychological system that's now taking over the body. I don't even know how to explain what I'm trying to say, but that was just something that I was like. But why would it affect Louise if it's a new psychological system entering a body and I'm aware that that body has heroin in it and psychologically she's not used to it, but the body itself by that point would be used to it, since the body had been getting shot up with heroin because Robert still did it to get high in Adele's body. So the body would be used to it but the person feeling the psychological high of it is no longer in the body. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:But that kind of bugged me and it was kind of addressed in the book, but then the explanation didn't really make sense and it was kind of just like touched upon very briefly. I don't even remember what it was, what the reasoning was in the book, but I remember being like that kind of explains it and then like I think it explains it when Robert takes over Adele's body initially, but then that explanation goes out the window when he takes over Louise's body. Yeah, like I said, I don't remember the explanation. I do apologize for that, but it is like very briefly brought up but then it gets thrown out the window when conveniently when Louise takes over Adele's body. So it was kind of just like thank you for explaining it and then completely forgetting about that explanation when you need this to work for the new body takeover. So, yeah, that was also really really irksome to me. So, anyway, that's all I have to say about the twist. What the heck is that ending in all the wrong ways? And I actually want to share.
Speaker 1:So several of my book club friends have read this book already, and so one of my book club friend really really liked it. She rated the book four stars. So this is book club friend Amy and she says I had the craziest dreams after reading this book. What comes around goes around. So I'm glad you enjoyed it, amy. But I also want to share the thoughts of book club friend Elena and book club friend Raymond. Shout out to Raymond. You met him during the Erasure episode.
Speaker 1:But this is what book club friend Elena had to say she rated it three stars and she said Very weird and not plausible at all, another mystery with a great, fast-paced story that all falls apart in the last three pages 3.5 stars. It'd be a four, maybe even a 5, if the ending didn't feel slapped together. And that is exactly my frustration, elena. I agree with you completely. All right. And then this is what book club friend Raymond had to say he rated it 2 stars, my short book of the month review. The book was very addicting to read, but the ending was disappointing. Yes, it was Raymond.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I knew the twist and the book still managed to hook me in and make me and keep me on my toes, even though I knew exactly what was coming. So I think that's what makes it even doubly disappointing, because this is I love psychological thrillers. This is my wheelhouse. There's so much that could have been said. I mean, this is kind of like a he said, she said situation. I feel like there's something that could have been said about I don't know like just the dangers, about lying, about abuse or believing I don't know. There's something that could have been done there that would have made the psychological aspect of it so engaging. And so, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about the miniseries, because I have nothing but good things to say about Simona Brown, I guess.
Speaker 1:Again, simona Brown played Louise and Eve Hewson, who played Adele. They are the two standouts. They are both incredible. The rest of the actors were fine as well, but they like performance wise. They don't stick out to me as much as Simona and Eve did. So Simona did a great job at playing Louise of like investigating and showing, hiding her fear very well. She hid her fear very, very well and yeah, she was great.
Speaker 1:The only thing that bugged me about Louise in the miniseries is that she has this monologue at one point where her best friend not Adele, but her original best friend she confesses that she has continued to see David despite befriending his wife, because she still really likes him. And her friend is kind of like well, that's a bad idea and you're going to end up like getting screwed over, so you should break things off. And Louise goes on this rant of like no, I always do the right thing, I want to do this one selfish thing for myself and I don't understand how you cause her friend is like constantly having affairs with married men but she's not befriending their wife. So you know, tricky not condoning that, but anyway, yes, so she's's like and you have no right to judge me essentially and that kind of it doesn't end the friendship, but it definitely cools the friendship down and lo and behold, her friend is right. She ends up completely regretting not breaking things off with David and continuing her friendship with Adele, especially the more she discovers the secrets of their marriage and what's going on and this and that, yeah, so that really bugged me because she does not have this moment with her friend in the book and so that moment just made her really unlikable. And I still think Simona Brown did a great job as Louise, but it was a little bit hard to root for the character after that. In the book she does acknowledge that like you know, I should break things off, but I kind of want this for yourself but she doesn't say that to her friend. Like she's just this is like an internal battle that she's having with herself before she decides I'm going to do this selfish thing and keep seeing this guy. So at least she came to that decision by herself. And in the TV series, like her friend is offering her solid advice like, like this is dumb, don't do this. And she goes off on this tangent about how she always does the right thing. She wants to do the wrong thing, just this once and she ends up regretting it. So that was the only thing that I didn't like about Louise as the character. But Simona, in delivering that monologue, I mean she did a great job. I believed it.
Speaker 1:Eve Hewson as Adele she was so good. I've never seen Eve Hewson before, and she's actually the daughter of Bono from U2. So that was something I discovered during this. But anyway, oh my gosh, she was so good, like she had you on her side, like she played the part of, like the scared housewife. And then there'd be, like these glimpses of I'm perhaps the manipulator, but it wasn't like I've talked about before where it's like I'm evil, like you would see these glimpses of her being scared, and then these glimpses where she wasn't, but it was never. Like you were also thinking the same thing as Louise, as, like, what is going on? Should I be on her side? Should I not? Like she towed that line very, very well.
Speaker 1:And there's this one scene that really sticks out to me, in which Louise is asking her about David and she, before she answers, she's just like smiling, but then her lips start twitching in nervousness of like should I answer, should I? And she just has, like she killed that role. She did so so great, oh my gosh. And I also want to give a quick shout out to Tyler Howitt. He was the little boy who played Adam. Adam is Louise's son.
Speaker 1:So the final shot of the miniseries is Louise and David get married because Adele's dead and they can now be together. So David thinks and there's this shot where she's like you and I are going to have the best life together. And then David just says and Adam, and it just cuts to Tyler Howard is Adam in the backseat with the saddest face you've ever seen on a little kid, he's so good. Adam doesn't have that big of a role in the show. He does appear in almost every episode, but it's glimpses here and there. But yeah, like me and Orlando were like oh my gosh, that little boy, like you just feel for him and it was one of those things watching the miniseries that I was like I kind of wish the last thing that Louise does is she takes her son to his dad's house and she says like I'm sorry, like thank you for watching him. I have like this last minute unexpected thing that came up and the dad's like yeah, no worries, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1:And then, after rob has taken over adele's I mean rob has taken over louise's body she shows up the next day and I was like I'm here for the sun and that's another shout out to simona brown, because once robert has taken over, like the lou Louise that we've seen throughout the series is very warm and caring and loving, and instantly she's just this cold person. So she did that switch very, very well. And in this case the switch doesn't bug me because it is literally no longer Louise, it is Robert inside Louise's body. So it's a completely different person. Simona Brown is playing as Robert in Louise's body, so, yeah, so, although that one is a lot more obvious like villainous, that one doesn't bug me for that reason.
Speaker 1:But like night and day, the difference between Louise before Robert takes over her body and Louise after Robert takes over the body. And it's like she switches it and you believe it and it's just so cold and icky. And it was one of those things that, like, as soon as she picked up adam from his dad's house because even the dad is like okay, because she's like even though they're divorced, she's usually, you know, friendly with him, and this time it's just like I'm here for the kid, all right, bye. And so the dad's like okay. But as soon as she shows up and picks up the kid, I was was like I kind of wish he had just left him with the dad, because now he's gonna grow up with this mom that no longer loves him.
Speaker 1:So I was like I was trying to weigh it out in my brain. I was like what would be worse? This kid, because they're both awful, but would it be worse for this kid to grow up thinking his mother abandoned him, but growing up, but otherwise, growing up in a loving household with his father and stepmother and soon to be born sibling? Or is it worse to get picked up, return to his mother and now not having the loving maternal figure that he's known up until this point and she's just gonna treat him like garbage? So I was kind of trying to weigh it out. I was like both of them are awful and I don't even know which situation would be worse honestly, like both of them are gonna leave lasting scars on him. But I kind of want to lean towards him growing like just Louise abandoning him at his dad's house and having to deal with that trauma Because at least he's still growing up in a loving, supportive household, as opposed to growing up now with a stepfather who seems keen to take on the stepfather role and is going to be.
Speaker 1:It seems like he's going to be a loving, attentive stepfather and an absent, an emotionally absent parent, I don't know, especially because that, you know, she says like, oh, again, after we get the shot of the sad little boy in the car. She says like, like I can't wait to enjoy our honeymoon, we should go on a cruise. And then Adam says but you hate boats. And as soon as he says that, louise turns around and just she's smiling but her eyes just say like I'm going to kill you. And so that's the other thing.
Speaker 1:And the book ends the same way, kind of hinting that Robert is planning on killing Adam. So it's like at this point he's going to grow up with an emotionally absent parent who's going to try to find a way to kill him and make it look like an accident. So I don't know, I'm leaning towards the literal abandonment, but growing up in a loving household might be better. I'm not a psychologist, this is just. This is just a guess, guess. But obviously I understand why Robert is.
Speaker 1:Louise went to go pick Adam up because she has to. He's Louise and Louise the Louise that David knew would never abandon her son. So he has to pick Adam up and pretend that he's Louise and that he loves this kid, but he's secretly planning to kill his kid. So I don't know, wondering what is a better ending for Adam is a much more compelling psychological ending for me, because I'm still thinking about it in a way. That's like, oh my gosh, what's worse? As opposed to the ending, where I'm just like that's the twist. You know what I mean. So, anyway, that's all I have to say.
Speaker 1:I very much agree with Elena and Raymond, in which this is really good, and then you get to the ending and it just it's like wow, I wasted, however, many pages of good material on this ending. So, that being said, I rated the book three stars and I rated the miniseries 3.5 stars. So the winner is the miniseries and I think the main again, the main reason I liked the mini series more was not only because I watched it first, but because the ending wasn't so like. It was very what did I just watch? But it didn't make me as upset as the book did because, like I said, they're both very, very good at trapping you and keeping you engaged, and then that just gets thrown out the window by the ending. So by the time I got to the ending in the book, I was just angry. I was just so, so angry.
Speaker 1:And yeah, but what also gives the book I mean the miniseries more of an edge is just the acting. If anything, watch the miniseries for sure for Simona Brown and Eve Hewison's performances. That is a masterclass in acting right there. Both of them are just so, so good. So, yeah, the miniseries wins in my eyes mainly due to the performances. The performances are just that good. So thank you for tuning into this week's episode of Books vs Movies. This is a podcast that is a passion project that I absolutely love doing. Please help me spread the word by rating it, writing a review, sharing it with your friends, tell them to check it out, and that would really really help a lot. Next week, I will be talking about the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels by Brian Lee O'Malley and their 2010 adaptation, scott Pilgrim Versus the World, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera, mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kieran Culkin. See you next time.