The Fault in Our Stars.

                 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings."Julius Caesar.

Cassius rejected the popular theory relating to astrology. The fault here is cancer and the film looks at how two teenagers, in particular, Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters deal with their afflictions and the effects it has on their relationships with their parents.

Directed by Josh Boone and produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. The film is based on the hugely successful book by American writer, John Green. Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager and The Descendants) stars as Hazel. Ansel Elgort (Carrie, Tommy Ross and Caleb Prior) plays Augustus.

Hazel is 16 and has battled cancer for the past 3 years. It is terminal and in order to breathe she needs to carry around with her an oxygen cylinder. She is encouraged to attend a support group held in the local church, run by Patrick, a cancer survivor. It is at one of these sessions that she meets Augustus, a cancer survivor who has suffered from osteosarcoma and lost a leg, who is there to support his best friend Isaac (Nat Wolff) who is about to go blind.

Gus, as he is affectionately known, takes a fancy to Hazel and the book charts their love affair amidst insurmountable obstacles. Hazel encourages Gus to read her favourite book about a girl called Anna who is dying of cancer and empathises with her. It's An Imperial Affliction by Peter van Houten (Willem Dafoe). Haxel wants assurance that at the end of the book the survivors will find happiness and not mourn for the rest of their days. It is important to her because it mirrors her state of dying and she wants to feel that her own parents will have a life without her once she has gone. Gus encourages contact with the writer and in spite of Hazel's illness the two of them with Mrs Lancaster in tow, fly to Amsterdam hoping for answers.



The experience proves a shock and disappointment for both of them. The writer is a drunkard, rude and callous man. His assistant resigns and she takes the couple to visit Anne Frank's house where the couple show their feelings openly by kissing in public, to the rapturous applause of the spectators. Reassuring to know that love can spring from the depths of despair.
Hazel is an interesting character and is devastated to learn that Gus's cancer has returned. He asks her to prepare an eulogy and invites her to a pre-funeral service with Isaac who eulogises:
"I don't want to see a world without Augustus Waters in it." By this stage, Gus is wheelchair bound and it seems obvious that she will outlive him.

The book tends to portray van Houten more sympathetically. In the film his rudeness and dependency on alcohol is apparent. He is a despicable man but he holds the key to the eulogy for Hazel which is Gus' last gift, moving and yet, sad.

Shailene Woodley as Hazel.

COPYRIGHT 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.

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