The Fault in Our Stars

(M) Fox HE DVD/BD & Digital Download

If the quality of a film was measured in the litres of tears its audience cried over it, then The Fault in Our Stars would be an instant classic. Though what else would you expect of a teen romance cancer tragedy?

Sixteen- year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster has cancer. What started as thyroid cancer has now spread to her lungs and as a result she requires constant oxygen and is forced to wheel around a tank with her. Her favourite novel is “An Imperial Affliction,” a book about a girl with cancer which vividly captures her own experience. At one of the support groups her parents insist she go to, she meets Augustus Waters. Charming and witty, Augustus is a cancer survivor, though has an artificial leg to show for his experience. Augustus falls for Hazel immediately, but Hazel resists becoming romantically attached, believing she is a ticking time bomb and only pain can come from getting involved with her. But Augustus is determined and pulls some strings to enable Hazel and him to travel to Amsterdam to meet the author of “An Imperial Affliction.”

Based on the best-selling 2012 novel of the same title by John Green, The Fault in Our Stars packs an emotional wallop. Its title is a reference to a line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.” But sometimes the fault is in our stars. Sometimes people just get dealt a bad hand and there is nothing they can do to change it. This is a story about two young people who have been dealt such a hand, and know that this could be their only chance at a great love. Yet despite the spectre hanging over the film, The Fault in Our Stars shows that a short life can still be a full one.

Shailene Woodley is very much the up and coming it-girl of the moment and even at this early stage in her career has shown impressive diversity in films like The Descendents, The Spectacular Now and the sci-fi-adventure movie Divergent. She is very good in this film, delivering a performance as Hazel which seems to authentically capture the emotional experience of a young woman who knows she is sick and unlikely to ever get better. Her co-star Ansel Elgort (who, interestingly, played her brother in Divergent) is sure to make many a teenage girl swoon as the impossibly charming Augustus. But the fact that he is impossibly charming is a bit of a problem. His character doesn’t ring as true as hers. Where there is an authenticity to Hazel’s character and experience, Augustus doesn’t feel real. He feels like a teenage girl’s fantasy.

While the film will naturally resonate more with a teenage girl audience who can put themselves in Hazel’s shoes, The Fault in Our Stars explores some universal themes and is accessible to anyone. Those who react against being overtly manipulated by a film will struggle with The Fault in Our Stars, but the many fans of the book and those who are willing to be swept up in this journey will find it a melancholy, touching, yet still surprisingly funny experience. Just don’t forget your tissues.

Duncan McLean