The 10 best films adapted from Booker-nominated novels, according to a film critic

Books – particularly Booker Prize selected novels – have long been a fruitful creative well for filmmakers, with literary adaptations such as The English Patient and Schindler’s List stacking up awards and etching themselves into the altar of cinema greats.    

As a film critic who is also an avid bibliophile, book adaptations offer a precious chance to better understand how different creative practices lend themselves to tackling thorny, thought-provoking subjects.   

From Anthony Hopkins breaking hearts in a period romance to a queer Korean psychological thriller, these 10 films inspired by Booker-nominated (or winning!) novels are all testament to the brilliance that can happen when the right creative team tackles an acclaimed novel for the screen. It’s no wonder they also happen to be some of my favourite films of all-time. 

Notes on a Scandal, directed by Richard Eyre, adapted from Zoë Heller’s novel  

There are few issues as difficult to tackle onscreen as the sexual abuse of a minor. Yet, Eyre’s adaptation of Heller’s Booker Prize 2003 shortlisted page-turner acutely understands that Notes on a Scandal is not simply about the illicit relationship between a teacher and her student. It is, most of all, an examination of loneliness, yearning, ageing and womanhood. 

Dame Judi Dench plays bitter veteran teacher Barbara (the narrator both in the book and the film), whose dull routine is broken by the arrival of a newcomer, ceramics teacher Sheba Hart (played by Cate Blanchett). An unlikely friendship blossoms between the two, their relationship suddenly morphing into much more complicated territory when Barbara finds out Sheba is having a criminal affair with her 15-year-old student.   

Terrifically performed by two legendary actresses, Notes on a Scandal is my go-to whenever I want to be reminded of how films can keep a viewer on the edge of their seat. The film offers a refined marriage between a beyond-competent cast and a script that expertly tackles complex issues such as morality, the British class system, and sexuality.   

The Remains of the Day, directed by James Ivory, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel  

Whenever I’m in the mood for a good old tearjerker, it takes only the memory of Anthony Hopkins’s big blue eyes swimming in a pool of quiet tears in this affecting historical drama to instigate tears of my own. 

In the screen adaptation of the 1989 Booker Prize winner, the veteran British actor plays the butler of the imposing Darlington Hall. It is postwar Britain, and the estate is home to several unofficial meetings that come to define the trajectory of the country’s future. Most importantly, below stairs, an impossible love is developing between the butler and a recently arrived maid played by Emma Thompson.  

Director James Ivory’s romance takes a searing look at how British life is shaped by class, while never losing its grip on the agonising futility of falling in love for a man whose life revolves solely around duty. In this, the film masterfully mirrors the quiet desperation of the novel, made even more affecting thanks to two career-best performances from Hopkins and Thompson.  

Never Let Me Go, directed by Mark Romanek, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel 

Released in 2010, Romanek’s adaptation brought together several actors who have since become some of our most popular movie stars, including leads Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. The drama first finds the trio as children in a rigid boarding school somewhere in a dystopian near future as they find out the horrifying secret of their existence: they’ve been bred and raised to eventually have their vital organs surgically removed for the benefit of an unspecified ruling class.  

A poignant, deeply moving low-fi sci-fi, Never Let Me Go beautifully captures the melancholia of Ishiguro’s Booker Prize 2005 shortlisted novel. It tortuously allows us to experience a glimmer of hope for these characters doomed from their very first breath, while effectively examining the moral complications of human cloning and the possible existence (and importance) of the human soul. This adaptation sits high on my list of most rewatched films. It’s a nifty companion for those times of deep dispiritedness that also never loses sight of the rewarding nature of togetherness.   

It’s no coincidence that Kazuo Ishiguro appears twice in my top 10 film adaptations of Booker books. The novelist’s signature worldbuilding and his tendency to show rather than tell perfectly lend themselves to the big screen. Luckily for fans like myself, two more films are about to join this select rank: Kei Ishikawa’s adaptation of A Pale View of the Hills and Taika Waititi’s of Klara and the Sun (which was longlisted for the Booker in 2021).  

Small Things Like These, directed by Tim Mielants, adapted from Claire Keegan’s novel  

Keegan’s Booker Prize 2022 shortlisted novel is a harrowing read about a coal merchant who discovers evidence of abuse against teenage girls at a convent on the edge of his small Irish town. The film adaptation proves just as gut-wrenching, despite the quietness of its delivery. 

Starring Oscar-winning Irish actor Cillian Murphy as merchant Bill, Mielants’s drama may seem muted, but it holds great tension in how it establishes the moral dilemma of its main character: should he follow his conscience and help the desperate girls, but risk social exile, or should he look the other way and continue to enjoy the privileges of his community?   

A deeply emotional yet vital watch, Small Things Like These is an urgent reminder of the still-present ripples of the past, looking back at Ireland’s recent history to ensure the stories of many still-nameless women do not go untold. For those who, like me, may not have known much about the sombre history of the Magdalene laundries, the film is even more urgent, although I recommend great care going in for those who may be emotionally distressed by its themes.

The Comfort of Strangers, directed by Paul Schrader, adapted from Ian McEwan’s novel  

Many films come to mind when one thinks about Venice as a setting, from Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice to Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. I have lost count of how many times I’ve caught myself fiercely defending Paul Schrader’s The Comfort of Strangers as an often-overlooked Venice-set gem. 

Adapted from Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize 1981 shortlisted novel, the film features Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson as a young couple whose life is torn apart by an encounter with Christopher Walken’s peculiar bar owner and his glamorous wife, played by Helen Mirren.  

This erotic thriller understands the claustrophobia of Venice like few others. It also understands the intoxicating nature of the city’s beauty, here juxtaposed with that of its protagonists. In this, Schrader’s adaptation becomes an intriguing observation of the ugliness that can come out of a perpetual thirst for the beautiful, made even more credible thanks to a renowned cast in top form. For those of you who, like me, are great fans of late 80s/90s thrillers, this film is a surefire bet.