This post spoils All the Light We Cannot See. Adapting Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See proved difficult. A two-hour film couldn’t convey the vast, best-selling novel’s lyrical tone and decades-spanning plot. Instead, director Shawn Levy and writer Steven Knight offered Netflix a four-part limited series. “The story is so sweeping, and it’s an interesting combination of intimate storytelling and epic backdrop,” Levy told Vanity Fair. “I had a feeling that two hours would never serve such a beautiful, dense novel.”
Read More: Actor Alan Ruck crashes into a Hollywood pizza parlour.
Even with additional space to convey the story, cutbacks and alterations were needed. On Netflix on November 2, Marie-Laure LeBlanc (newcomer Aria Mia Loberti), a blind girl hiding in Saint-Malo, France, and Werner Pfennig (dark actor Louis Hofmann), a young German soldier tasked with tracing Nazi broadcasts, remain the main characters. After hearing a young woman’s voice on an illegal radio broadcast, Werner falls in love with her, and their stories collide in Saint-Malo.
Marie-Laure’s loving father, Daniel LeBlanc (Mark Ruffalo), and great-uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie) star in the series, as does Nazi gem hunter Reinhold von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger), who wants to find the precious—and perhaps magical—Sea of Flames diamond. However, the series introduced new characters and updated supporting character stories. Five key movie series changes, including the ending, are below.
Short Background Series:
The series’ second and third episodes alternate between Marie-Laure’s Paris upbringing with her father and their escape to Saint-Malo with Etienne. The Nazis recruited Werner as an orphan for his radio skills, but the story is condensed. Despite his training at the Nazi institute, the series has a big storyline with Fredrick, a fellow recruit. Werner befriends Fredrick, a sensitive and intelligent boy who invites him to stay with his wealthy family for the weekend in Doerr’s novel. Later, recruiters physically abused Fredrick.
Supporting Characters:
Other than Fredrick, the series features additional minor characters. In the story, Werner’s institute classmate Frank “the Giant” Volkheimer led his anti-radio task force. Saint-Malo’s siege traps him and Werner underground. The mysterious stranger saved Werner against Nazi orders while seeming like a muscled thug.
Early in the episode, Werner’s younger sister, Jutta, worries about him attending the Nazi institute. The orphanage raised her with him. He writes her letters like a novel. The story follows Jutta’s travels and reveals a violent occurrence omitted from the broadcast. Jutta meets Marie-Laure late in the book, unlike the series.
According to Levy, the new Nazis in the series were meant to represent the wickedness of the Nazi party. Captain Mueller (Jakob Diehl) and Schmidt (Felix Kammerer) challenge Werner’s desire to protect Marie-Laure. Mueller arrives at Schmidt to assist Werner in tracking radio broadcasts, and Werner hides Marie-Laure’s broadcast. He must kill both men to save Marie-Laure. Reinhold von Rumpel’s mistress appears.
Madame Manec:
Marion Bailey plays Madame Manec in the novel and series. The book calls her Etienne’s housekeeper, whereas the series calls her his sister. She secretly interacts with the Allies as part of the French resistance in both. She urges her brother to fight in the book, but he does in the series. In the book, she dies of pneumonia, inspiring Etienne to join the resistance, but in the series, she dies of a heart attack. Madam Manec’s death wasn’t the only series change. Survivor of the novel and reunited with Marie-Laure, Ettienne dies in the series and asks Werner to watch over her.
The End of the Series:
Reinhold von Rumpel would do anything to find the Sea of Flames, which would heal him. The book and show led him to Marie-Laure’s hiding. Story: Werner kills him to protect Marie-Laure. In episode four, Marie kills von Rumpel after Werner fights him. In the series and novel, Marie-Laure and Werner break up after the Allies liberate Saint-Malo and Werner surrenders. Marie-Laure throws the Sea of Flames into the water, concluding the show and supposedly breaking its curse.
After Saint-Malo, Werner grows ill and dies in a minefield in Doerr’s story. Despite its variations from the novel, Levy ended the series “with a promise of hope” by removing harsh epilogue storylines.
Share this content:
