“A Clean, Well Lighted Place” is a short story rich in
symbolism. It focused mainly on the differences in emotions, which are affected
by light and dark. Dark is a disturbing time, when depression and thoughts or
attempts of suicide happen. Light, however, is an escape from the anxiety,
depression, and self-consciousness. This and a few other details are very
important and needed to be portrayed in the film adaptation of the story.
For one, in the story, the old man sits by the window.
Although this doesn’t seem incredibly important, the glass acts as a barrier
between the light of the cafe and the darkness of the outside world. In the
film adaptation, the old man sits a booth, which isn’t even beside the window.
Also, some of the dialogue between the
two waiters gives clues to the old man’s life and why the darkness may bother
him. In the film adaptation, the two waiters are Irish and incredibly difficult
to understand. This causes some of the dialogue to be missed, therefore making
the symbolism less clear.
Although there are several other differences, besides these
two main points, the director did a fairly good job of portraying the short
story. He also captured the essence of the cafe lifestyle very well. I believe
that the actors were cast well, and they accurately portrayed the inner
feelings of their characters, although they were hard to understand. Overall,
there are only a few major differences that affect the story in the film
adaptation.