THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE 3.0 *** It is not often that I have read the book before seeing the movie. This is one of those times. I loved the book… an excellent blend of an intriguing Sci-Fi concept with a dramatic love story. So how was the movie ?? There are many, many readers of the best-selling novel who will compare the two, as did I. Well, I thought the book was better although I liked the movie too. The reason for favoring the book…when you’re reading a story with such a fascinating concept as time traveling overlaid with a sweet love story, a free ranging mind-generated imagination has less restraints and more freedom to explore the story and, thus the feelings. Trying to achieve this through the visual/audio of a film is quite difficult, if not impossible. So it comes down to a difference in the artistic mediums of how to present the story and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The movie does strive mightily to capture the feel of the book and comes close. It is a beautiful film with excellent performances…you quickly become involved with the characters, their love, their dilemma and you feel their joy, their pain and especially their love.

The story is about a twisty, time-bending romance of Henry (Eric Bana ) a Chicago librarian, and Clare (Rachel McAdams) an artist. Clare is six years old the first time she meets Henry, although he is 30something. And Henry is in his mid20s the first time he meets Clare, when she’s around 20. This weirdness of this is because Henry is an unintended time traveler: he suffers from a genetic aberration that causes him to become displaced in time, at random moments, and he has no control over it. He melts away, leaving his clothes behind, and journeys back to moments in his own past, or ahead to moments in his own future. Henry and Clare fall in love, but that’s not so unusual. People fall in and out of love every day. No, what makes this one unique is Henry’s predicament and Clare’s unwavering willingness to accept it. Her husband is frequently floating through time like a ghost unsure of where – or when – he’ll end up while she goes on with her linear life patiently hoping someday his odd condition can be cured and come to an end.

The early stages of their adult relationship are particularly stunning and more so on the screen... each step, a testing of feelings and commitment as they come to love each other .There is an ease to the pair, a familiarity that is smooth and intoxicating. It is almost like watching two old friends waltz their way to the type of lasting love we like to dream everyone gets to experience…and then celebrating in the happiness of seeing them achieve it ... while, at the same time, being troubled by our concerns about Henry’s unpredictable condition.

You can enjoy “The Time Traveler's Wife” for what it is: an endearing love story with an unusual sci-fi premise. It may not be exactly like the book but even so, the premise of the story and the excellent performances by the leads make this movie well-worth the “travel”….and even after the “travel is over, you will find your imagination continuing to linger.

Clark