While reading the book Portrait of Jennie, having previously seen the movie, I was struck by two things. The first one was Eben’s behavior while painting Jennie’s portrait, which differed radically in the book and the movie. The second was the almost-romance (or at least sexual tension) between Spinney and Eben. In the scene(s) depicting Jennie’s portrait being painted, the Adams of the book was much more brusque and impatient to the point of insensitivity (case in point: he rationalizes making her cry because it makes the portrait turn out better) than the Adams of the film. In fact, what was one of my favorite scenes in the film turned out to be one of my least favorite scenes in the book, and the scene that cemented my dislike of Book Eben. For Movie Eben, on the other hand, the scene of painting Jennie was not so much a purely artistic endeavor in which Jennie was just a model and her feelings immaterial but a method of communicating with her on a deeper level, a way of being with her, an expression of his love for her. And, although he does chastise her for being too talkative and restless because it is disturbing the painting, he does it laughingly, and doesn’t seem to be truly angry at all. This makes the connection between Jennie and Eben appear deeper, even though at that point Jennie is still in the convent and the relationship between her and Eben has not yet deepened into romance (but is hinting at it about as subtly as taking a brick over the head).
The other aspect of the film that differed drastically in the book and the movie was the role of Spinney, played eloquently by Ethel Barrymore in the film and pretty much nothing and nobody in the book. Whether it be the visual medium or the astounding talent of one of the famous Barrymores (love them love them love them, especially Lionel), the Spinney of the film is a much more dynamic character, who truly aids Eben in his art career in a way that the Book Spinney is said to…but whether through the style of the narrative or just a lack of character development never does as convincingly as in the movie. However, aside from the more dynamic character portrayal, Movie Spinney is also involved in something mildly…subtly…barely romantic with Eben, to the point that it can only be labeled mildly sexual tension and not a romance of any kind. Nevertheless, it is there (at least I thought it was). I don’t why this is…perhaps because for a good portion of the film, Jennie is too young to be a viable love interest for Eben, and without some kind of romantic aspect, the film is basically kind of boring. The romance doesn’t have to be an above-board obvious-to-the-dumbest viewer sort of thing, but the subtle tension helps propel the film until it reaches the point where Eben and Jennie can actually be together for the, oh, five seconds they are together until it all falls apart again.
So, basically Book contains a lot less romance overall than Movie, and I think suffers for it. Knowing where his relationship with Jennie was going, his callousness towards her makes him appear unfeeling, and the book ends up being more about his search for a muse than his relationship with Jennie as a person. Now, there’s nothing WRONG with this, but the main appeal of the movie for me was the way in which Jennie and Eben’s love transcended time, not the way in which Jennie managed to keep crossing over to sit while Eben painted her. Thus I think I prefer the move, for being more honest about relationships despite age lines, and focusing on love despite obstacles.