Almost every movie ever made was originally a book. It may surprise you to see how many movies were adapted from books. Although the movie and the book have the same storyline, there are always differences between them. Some adaptations have more differences than others. Some movies change scenes, create new ones, or even alter a few characters. Others may omit certain details and scenes, like Shutter Island (Scorsese). The 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane was adapted into a 2010 movie version by Paramount Pictures and directed by Martin Scorsese.
Despite these differences, both the book and the movie have the same storyline. In late summer of 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (played by Mark Ruffalo) travel to Shutter Island, where Ashcliff Hospital for the Criminally Insane is located. Their mission is to investigate an escaped patient named Rachel Solando (played by Emily Mortimer). As they delve deeper into their investigation, Teddy begins to suspect that the hospital staff knows more than they’re letting on.
Some patients have raised concerns that doctors may be performing experimental surgeries on patients at the island’s lighthouse, specifically transorbital lobotomies. Teddy also suspects that the doctors are trying to trap him and his partner on the island to make them wards of the hospital. Over four days, Teddy experiences mysterious dreams involving his deceased wife, Dolores Chanal (played by Michelle Williams), who died in a house fire. Some of these dreams feature a little girl (Ruby Jerins) whom Teddy does not recognize. As he investigates the island further, it leads him to the lighthouse where he encounters Dr.
In the movie, Teddy is informed by Crawley (played by Ben Kingsley) that he has been living in a fantasy world. In reality, Teddy’s name is Andrew Laeddis and he has been a patient at Ashcliff Hospital for two years. Dr. Crawley explains that the hospital staff played along with his delusions to help him snap out of it. Chuck Aule, who Teddy believed was his partner, is actually his primary psychiatrist named Dr. Lester Sheehan. Rachel Solando, another character from Teddy’s/Andrew’s fantasies, is revealed to be a nurse named Emily whose name was not mentioned in the film. Crawley and Sheehan also reveal that Dolores and Andrew had three children together and that Dolores suffered from manic depression.
One day, she went crazy and drowned their kids. In grief, Andrew shot her. He was partly to blame for what happened since he had not listened to anyone’s advice on getting his wife help earlier. So, he created a fantasy where he was the hero. At first, Teddy/Andrew refused to accept this as reality and had dreams that night of what really happened – how he once had kids and that his manic depressive wife drowned them. It was at this point when Teddy realized that he is actually Andrew Laeddis. When this breakthrough was made, Dr. Crawley informed him that it had been made before but that he regressed.
Would Andrew regress again? This storyline is the same in both the book and the movie. However, as with any story, the book contains more information than the movie. Although there were no major changes, some scenes were left out of the movie such as Teddy fishing with his father as a child and some shortened or completely cut dreams and flashbacks. The first thing that was in the book but left out in the movie was Dr. Lester Sheehan’s journal which actually begins the book.
Sheehan pretended to be Chuck Aule because he was playacting with the other Ashcliff staff members in Teddy’s (Andrew’s) fantasy. However, this is not revealed at the beginning of the novel. In his journals from 1993, Sheehan writes about his poor health and that of his wife, Emily. As he states early on in his journal: Soon I will lose her too. A matter of months, Dr. Axelrod told us Thursday… Lester, he added, you’re not looking too well yourself” (Lehane 1). Emily is dying although her illness remains unidentified and Lester does not seem to be doing well himself.
Lester begins to talk about Shutter Island and Ashcliff Hospital in his journal, but the most important topic is his relationship with his wife, Emily. As Lester states, Emily, whom I met on the island” (Lehane 4), he first met her on Shutter Island. This implies that Emily had a connection to the hospital. Indeed, Emily was a nurse there, but not just any nurse – she was the one who pretended to be Rachel Solando when staff were acting out Andrew’s fantasies. Near the end of the book, after Dr.
In the book, Crawley reveals that Teddy is actually Andrew Laeddis and that Teddy is a figment of his imagination. Emily then reveals herself to him as the one who played Rachel. When Teddy/Andrew recognizes her and calls her Rachel, she corrects him by saying, I’m Emily…You sleep now” (Lehane 352). However, none of this relationship between Lester and Emily is depicted in the movie. In fact, the name “Emily” isn’t even mentioned in the film. Near the end of the movie, you do see a nurse who resembles Emily carrying medical supplies.
During the movie, she doesn’t say anything to Andrew. As a result, you never learn her name or the fact that she and Dr. Lester Sheehan, Andrew’s primary psychiatrist, developed a relationship and got married. Additionally, the second major scene in the book was left out of the movie. Both the book and the movie address that Teddy (Andrew) is seasick; however, Teddy fishing with his father when he was a boy in 1928 is not included in the film. This is when Teddy sees Shutter Island for the first time before Ashcliff Hospital was built.
Teddy asked his father, Why Shutter?” (Lehane 8). He wanted to know why someone would give an island such a name. His father replied, “Some places just get a name and it sticks” (Lehane 8). Shortly after, Teddy became seasick for the first time. As described in the book, “Later he got sick, repeatedly and violently, pitching black ropes of it over the side of his father’s boat and into the sea” (Lehane 8). His father believed it was motion sickness but it wasn’t. Teddy explained that “It was all that water. Stretched out around them until it was all that was left of the world” (Lehane 9).
Afterwards, they headed back to the mainland, away from Shutter Island. Teddy’s father said, It’s the sea. Some men take to it. Some men it takes” (Lehane 10). Teddy’s father later drowned when the boat he was on sunk at sea in 1938. The third major scene of the book is when Teddy and Chuck were on a ferry heading towards Shutter Island in 1954 – this is where the movie begins. While Chuck was on deck, Teddy was in the bathroom vomiting from seasickness. When he came out onto deck, Chuck asked in the book: “You okay? You look pale” (Lehane 13). In the movie, it is simply reworded as: “You kay boss” (Chuck Aule).
The issue of Teddy’s seasickness is also addressed on the island in both the book and the movie. However, only the book delves into how it all began, including Teddy’s first encounter with Shutter Island during a fishing trip with his father in 1928. Additionally, Teddy/Andrew’s dreams play a significant role in Shutter Island. As he investigates Ashcliff Hospital over four days, he experiences migraines and peculiar dreams that ultimately reveal his true identity as Andrew Laeddis.
Of course, the dreams described in the book were changed, shortened, or completely left out of the movie. The first major dream that Teddy has in this story occurs right after Dr. Crawley gives him pills for a migraine. This dream begins with Teddy walking through the streets of Hull – streets he had walked countless times from childhood to manhood” (Lehane 181). Essentially, Teddy starts his dream by walking through his childhood town and looking at all the familiar buildings; however, the town is empty and he is alone. Then he finds himself in a granite hall where he encounters Rachel Solando who is covered in blood.
On the ground lay her three children, a little girl and two boys, whom she had just murdered. She convinces Teddy to help her carry the dead kids to the lake and sink them into the water. Rachel tells him, “You’ll be my Jim. I’ll be your Dolores. We’ll make new babies” (Lehane 183). Teddy agrees, and they meet Chuck in the hospital hallway where Crawley attempts to take Rachel away. Teddy chases after them until he comes across a little girl in the graveyard staring at a tombstone that reads, “EDWARD DANIELS, BAD SAILOR, 1920-1957” (Lehane 185).
Teddy admits that he is a poor sailor because of his aversion to water. When Rachel appears, Teddy allows her to take the young girl away. As noted in the dream’s conclusion, Teddy continued to wave, despite the child’s lack of response as she was carried towards the mausoleum with hopeless eyes fixed on him” (Lehane 187). However, this dream was altered in the film adaptation. In the movie version, Teddy begins by walking through a Jewish concentration camp where he had aided in liberation. It is there that he encounters Rachel Solando and the little girl amidst piles of corpses.
The little girl opened her eyes, sat up, and said to Teddy, “You should have saved me. You should have saved all of us” (Ruby Jerins). He then found himself in a granite hall where Rachel Solando had just murdered her three children and was covered in blood. She asked Teddy to help her bring the bodies to the lake and let them sink, so Teddy reluctantly agreed and did so. Later on, he woke up in his bed at Ashcliff but realized that he was still dreaming. His dead wife Dolores walked through the door and told him that ‘Laeddis isn’t dead. He isn’t gone. He’s still here” (Michelle Williams). When they hugged, Teddy finally woke up.
The next dream that Teddy has is when he is hiding from the guards at Ashcliff in a cave. This dream takes place in a lake house where Teddy gathers with people he knows have already died. The group includes Teddy’s parents, Dolores, Chuck, Rachel Solando, and a fake or imposter Andrew Laeddis. The dream was left out of the movie due to certain content that does not need to be specified.
Teddy’s last dream consists of flashbacks where he realizes that he is actually Andrew Laeddis and that Teddy Daniels and Rachel Solando do not exist.
He dreams of different memories from his real life that are finally coming back to him. In his dreams, he remembers that he and Dolores lived in a house by the lake because they had to leave the city. She had lit their apartment on Buttonwood on fire, trying to rid it of ghosts. He also dreamed that Dolores was insane (Lehane 352). His dreams revealed that they had three kids: Rachel Laeddis (the little girl), Edward Laeddis, and Daniel Laeddis. Despite many people telling Andrew to get her help for her manic depression, he refused to listen.
He dreamed of his daughter, Rachael, telling him that she was concerned about her mother one night while he was putting her to bed. He also dreamed of going to a baseball game with his son Teddy and talking about their home. In another dream, Dolores was paranoid that the butcher who lived down the street from them was a Russian spy. She even woke him up one night, thinking that the spy was in their house. Finally, he dreamed that after catching a fugitive and coming home, he found Dolores all wet and asked her why she was wet saying Baby, why are you all wet?” (Lehane 356) (Leonardo DiCaprio).
He then discovers that she went insane and drowned their children in the lake. Overcome with grief, he shoots her, ending her life. In the movie adaptation, much of this dream sequence is omitted and only a portion is shown where Andrew returns home after capturing a fugitive to find that Dolores has killed their children. Similar to the novel, Andrew kills Dolores in a moment of despair. While both versions of Shutter Island follow the same storyline, certain intriguing details are left out in the film adaptation such as Dr. Lester Sheehan’s journal entries, Teddy’s initial fishing trip with his father, and alterations made to Teddy’s dreams.
Most of the story in both the movie and book is seen through Teddy Daniels’ perspective. However, it’s not until the end that we realize Teddy Daniels doesn’t exist; he is actually Andrew Laeddis. Andrew created this fantasy world as a way to cope with his guilt over his wife and children’s deaths. In this world, he was a heroic figure named Teddy Daniels. He also created Rachel Solando and the missing patient investigation as an explanation for why he was on the island.
Shutter Island, both in the novel and the motion picture, is a complex and interesting story. However, some additional information was left out of the movie. For example, it did not show when Teddy/Andrew became seasick for the first time. Additionally, it did not reveal that Dr. Lester Sheehan – Andrew’s primary psychiatrist who pretended to be Chuck Aule – and Emily – the nurse who pretended to be Rachel Solando – ended up developing a relationship and getting married.
Furthermore, the movie altered one dream sequence and omitted part of another one entirely.
Of course, this applies to all books and their movie adaptations. While some movies may be more faithful to their source material than others, no film can replicate the novel word for word or detail for detail. Attempting to do so would result in an excessively long and confusing movie with disjointed scenes. Books are simply better at conveying the story. This holds true for any book-to-movie comparison; there will always be something missing from the film, whether it’s a scene or small details.
