Explore the
      world through…Fiction to Film

A Clockwork Orange

By: Anthony Burgess, 1967

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick, 1971

Depicts a harrowing journey through a near-future world of decaying cities, murderous adolescents and nightmarish technologies of punishment and crime.

SF F Bur; DVD F Clo

An Angel at My Table: An Autobiography

By: Janet Frame, 1984

Directed by: Jane Campion, 1989

The true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand's most distinguished author. The film follows Frame along her inspiring journey, from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia and electroshock therapy to, finally, literary fame. B F8135; DVD F Ang

The Age of Innocence

By: Edith Wharton, 1920

Directed by: Martin Scorsese, 2001

A ravishing romance about three wealthy New Yorkers caught in a tragic love triangle, the ironically-titled story chronicles the grandeur and hypocrisy of high society in the 1870's. F Wha; PB F Wha; LP F Wha; Audio tape F Wha; DVD F Age

La bête humaine

By: Emile Zola, 1890

Directed by: Jean Renoir, 1938

Train engineer Jacques lusts after the wife of his co-worker Robaud. Robaud kills his boss and Jacques witnesses the murder. In order to keep Jacques quiet, Robaud allows Jacques to have an affair with his wife, creating a tragic love triangle. F Zol; DVD F Zol

Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo se è fermato a Eboli)

By: Primo Levi, 1963

Directed by:  Francesco Rossi, 1979

Levi, an intellectual exiled by the Fascist government during World War II to a mountain village in southern Italy, discovers the resilience and dignity of people who live close to the land.

Non-F 945.77 Lev; Italian 945.77 Lev; DVD F Chr

The Color Purple

By: Alice Walker, 1982

Directed by: Steven Spielberg, 1985

The heart-wrenching story of a young black girl in the early 20th century who's forced into a brutal marriage and separated from her sister. F Wal; DVD F Col

Death in Venice (Der Tod in Veneding)

By: Thomas Mann, 1912

Directed by: Luchino Visconti, 1971

In Venice on holiday, composer Gustav Aschenbach encounters a young Polish boy and becomes obsessed with him, a secret passion that will lead to his doom. F Man; German F Man; DVD F Dea

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini)

By: Giorgio Bassani, 1962

Directed by: Vittorio de Sica, 1970

This drama is set in Italy in 1938, when Mussolini's anti-Semitic edicts began to isolate the Jews from their communities. Among them were the Finzi-Continis, an aristocratic Jewish family forced for the first time to acknowledge the world beyond its fenced garden. F Bass; DVD F Gar

Gone with the Wind

By: Margaret Mitchell, 1936

Directed by: Victor Fleming, 1939

It was the sweeping story of tangled passions and the rare courage of a group of people in Atlanta during the time of Civil War.

F Mit; YA F Mit; DVD F Gon

The Grapes of Wrath

By John Steinbeck, 1939

Directed by: John Ford, 1940

The migration of the Joad family to California from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

The Leopard (Il gattopardo)

By: Giuseppe di Lampedusa, 1958

Directed by: Luchino Visconti, 1963

Recounting the years of Italy's Risorgimento-when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a democratic Italy. Contains the original Italian version with optional subtitles, the English-language version and special features. F Lam; DVD F Leo

Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua para Chocolate)

By: Laura Esquivel, 1989

Directed by: Alfonso Arau, 1992

Romantic fantasy set in the early 20th century about a young couple blocked from marrying by the demands of her cold and selfish mother. To be near his love the young man marries her sister, and she expresses her passion for him through her cooking.

F Esq; Audio tape F Esq; DVD F Lik; Video F Lik

Little Children

By: Tom Perrotta, 2003

Directed by: Todd Field, 2006

Sarah Pierce is a new stay at home mom struggling with the solitude of her new role. Emasculated by his wife, Kathy, Brad becomes slightly obsessed with finding ways to demonstrate he can still produce testosterone. Soon, Sarah and Brad start a passionate affair. At the same time, their quiet suburban community deals with Ronnie, a convicted pedophile who has just been released from prison. These lives intersect in surprising and potentially dangerous ways. F Per; CD F Per; DVD F Lit

Lolita

By Vladimir Nabakov, 1955

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick, 1962

The story of the passion of a middle aged man for a young teenager. F Nab; CD F Nab; DVD F Lol; Video F Lol

Lucía, Lucía (La hija del caníbal)

By: Rosa Montero, 1997

Directed by: Antonio Serrano, 2003

A woman's search for her missing husband ignites a dangerous and unexpectedly romantic adventure. It's a wild ride through the mysterious territory of identity, as Lucia finds herself in a triangle of love and friendship with a reawakened passion for life that's different from anything she ever imagined. Spanish F Mon; DVD F Luc

The Maltese Falcon

By: Dashiell Hammett, 1930

Directed by: John Huston, 1941

After the death of his partner, private eye Sam Spade is dragged into a quest for a priceless statuette. M F Ham; DVD Mal

Ossessione (based on The Postman Always Rings Twice)

By James M. Cain, 1934

Directed by: Luchino Visconti, 1942

The story of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter, who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant and filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. Gino leaves, only to return because he can't get her out of his blood. They kill her husband but his death haunts the guilt-ridden Gino. M F Cai; DVD F Oss

Prizzi’s Honor

By: Richard Condon, 1982

Directed by: John Huston, 1985

A hit man goes against his family ways when he falls in love with another hired killer.

F Con; DVD F Pri

Pantaléon y las Visitadoras (Captain Pantoja and the Special Service)

By: Mario Vargas Llosa, 1973

Directed by: Francisco J. Lombardi, 1999

A dedicated Peruvian army captain (and devoted husband) is put in charge of a top secret military operation--setting up a brothel in the Amazon jungle to satisfy the needs of his fellow soldiers.

F Var; Spanish F Var; DVD F Pan

A Room with a View

By E.M. Forster, 1923

Directed by: James Ivory, 1985

Set in the early 1900's. Tells the story of the coming of age of Lucy Honeychurch. Longing to burst free from the repression of British upper class manners and mores, she must wrestle with her inner romantic longings to choose between the passionate George and the priggish but socially suitable Cecil. F For; LP F For; Audio tape F For; CD F For; DVD F Roo

Trainspotting

By Irvine Welsh, 1976

Directed by: Danny Boyle, 1996

Four friends try to make it in the world on their own terms, turning to heroin to escape the banalities of modern-day existence.

F Wel; DVD F Tra

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

By Milan Kundera, 1984

Directed by: Philip Kaufman, 1988

A Czech doctor, dedicated to promiscuity, is forced to choose between his wife and his lover.

F Kun; DVD F Unb

Contact Romina Gutierrez

609.924.9529, ext. 318

rgutierrez@princetonlibrary.org