Turtle Diary

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Turtle Diary
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Irvin
Produced by	Richard Johnson
Written by	Russell Hoban Harold Pinter
Starring	Glenda Jackson Ben Kingsley Michael Gambon Richard Johnson Rosemary Leach
Music by	Geoffrey Burgon
Cinematography	Peter Hannan
Editing by	Peter Tanner
Distributed by	The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release date(s)	September 10, 1985
Running time	97 min
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Turtle Diary is a 1985 romantic-drama film based on a novel of the same name by Russell Hoban. The film follows a man and woman who meet a the turtle tank at the London Zoo, as they plan to help two of the turtles escape to freedom. The film was directed by John Irvin, and stars Glenda Jackson, Ben Kingsley, and Michael Gambon.

[edit] Plot summary

Two lonely Londoners - William, a bookshop assistant (Kingsley), and Naeara, a children's author (Jackson) - find common ground when visiting the sea turtles at London Zoo. They both feel, independently of each other, that the turtles are unnaturally confined, and hatch a plan with the assistance of zookeeper George (Gambon) to smuggle them out and release them into the sea. Not a lot actually happens in the film, the release of the turtles signifying William and Naeara's release of themselves on a number of levels, including romantically, personally and professionally.

[edit] How book and film compare

As in many of Hoban's novels there is a great deal more action in the heads of the characters than in the actual story. Hoban himself is known to have been disappointed by Pinter's adaptation because it made little effort to bring Hoban's original 'interior action' to the screen and instead concentrated almost exclusively on the rather thin plot, and the resulting screenplay seemed much more Pinter than Hoban. The novel is therefore well worth reading for a greater idea of the characters' many preoccupations and motivations. The film taken by itself is also in fairness quietly enjoyable.