Martin Suter's and Alain Gsponer's "Lila, Lila". Comparison of Novel and Film

Suter’s and Gsponer’s Lila, Lila

“Martin Suter verstehe es meisterlich, ‘die verschiedensten Gefühle wie Unsicherheit, Angst, Verlangen, Bedauern in wunderschöne und berührende Worte zu kleiden ohne je abzuflachen oder den falschen Ton zu treffen” (Ziegler, 2005, p. 8). “Lila, Lila is directed by Alain Gsponer who manages to mix comic elements into its clever commentary on the writing life, literary fans, the phenomenon of bestsellers, and the quirks and predatory nature of the publishing industry” (Brussat, n.d.).

Both Martin Suter’s novel Lila, Lila and Alain Gsponer’s film adaptation thereof have many similarities, including dexterity at setting the scene, character identity and development, and deceit as basis of the plot. The differences between novel and film, consisting in how deceit is revealed, the outcome of the love relationship, and the overall statement of the film, make each unique. Supplying comedy and a bit of tragedy, romance, idiosyncratic characters, and topics of identity and deceit, both the novel and film are highly entertaining and encourage reflection on one’s identity and contemplation of how challenges shape one’s character.

Lila, Lila is a 2004 novel written by Martin Suter. Suter, who was born in 1948 in Zürich, worked as a copywriter and wrote screenplays and features for various magazines. He was noted for his weekly magazine column “Business Class” in which he satirized the life of upper management in short-story form. Suter’s simple, straightforward language and engaging plots as well as his light, humorous, and often satirical descriptiveness have helped him become a successful author (Jandourková, 2013). His break-through as author came in 1997 with his first novel, Small World, which dealt with identity crises caused by Alzheimer’s Disease. (Bruckner, 2018, p. 79; Jandourková, 2013, p. 8). In Lila, Lila Suter also addresses the topic of identity, in this case how his character’s identity changes when he becomes a famous author, is under pressure, and wrestles with guilt.

Alain Gsponer, born in 1976, also in Zürich, directed the 2009 film-version of Lila, Lila. He graduated from the widely-acclaimed Baden-Württenmberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg and has worked at an art house cinema and as a radio journalist. He has won several awards for his films, including three awards for the Best Children’s Film in Europe for his 2015 adaptation of Heidi (Dercksen, 2016). “Alain Gsponer likes to disclose all kinds of untruths, exploiting their tragicomic nature and creating his own particular style” (Gröner, 2011). In Lila, Lila Gsponer finds plenty of material to exploit as the entire plot is based on untruths.

Lila, Lila is the story of Peter and Sophie, and David and Marie. David Kern is an unobtrusive waiter who falls for Marie Berger, a young literature student. David discovers a book manuscript in an old, flea-market night table that tells the story of Peter and Sophie, a hopeless love story set in the 1950s. Sophie’s parents forbid the relationship and send Sophie off to a boarding school. Although the two lovers continue to correspond, Sophie eventually becomes disillusioned in her love for Peter and ends their relationship. Distraught, Peter ends his life by crashing his motorcycle into a tunnel wall.

David scans the manuscript, replaces the original author’s name with his own, and gives it to Marie in a desperate attempt to capture Marie’s attention. His small act of deceit snowballs as Marie sends the manuscript to a publisher, and David becomes a literary star overnight. The tension of the lie on their relationship multiplies when Jacky Stocker appears at a book signing, claiming to be Alfred Duster, the original author. Jacky promises to keep David’s secret in exchange for a share in the profits. He becomes David’s agent and encroaches upon David’s life and relationships, driving a wedge between David and Marie. David desperately keeps up the charade and clings to Marie, whom he gradually loses. Jacky eventually confesses that he is not the true author, and David ultimately writes a second novel recounting his and Marie’s love story.

Both Martin Suter and Alain Gsponer prove themselves adroit at establishing the scene. In his novel, Suter emphasizes locale and provides vivid but concise descriptions of the surroundings. Favorite settings for Suter in Lila, Lila are eating establishments, and settings fluctuate from pub to café to bar to lounge to high class restaurant. Each setting prepares the tone, content, and interaction that will take place and plays a meaningful role. Esquina, for example, the stylish lounge where David works, is where the literary group David wants to belong to meets and where he sees Marie for the first time. David is always on the fringe here, wanting to belong but never quite able to be part of the group. Suter employs the various guesthouses where David stays during his public relations tours and book readings as a symbol of David’s distance and disconnection from Marie and the resulting loneliness. The Book Fair, with its upper level publishing executives, famous writers, and milling writers and promoters represents the ruthlessness of the publishing industry.

Similarly, Gsponer expertly weaves the various settings into the film and employs them effectively. We see the simple settings of David’s first apartment juxtaposed with the luxury hotel Jacky where Jacky stays at the end. Esquina is contrasted with the high-class restaurants Jacky frequents at the Book fair. The intimate atmosphere of small bookstore readings alternates with the fast pace of the Book Fair and packed auditoriums. The film even opens with David’s largest reading at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Both Suter and Gsponer effectively make use of their settings to set tone, to create contrast, and to drive the pace and action of the story.

A second area of similarity between novel and film is how David’s identity is challenged and changes and grows through the process. Marie and Jacky also undergo slighter challenges and changes to their identity. In order to further examine identity, Jan Assmann’s definitions of individual and personal identity prove helpful. Individual identity is the constructed image in an individual’s consciousness of self which differs from other individuals and is not interchangeable or replaceable. Personal identity represents the roles, characteristics, and skills attributed to a person according to his or her place in the social structure (Tigges, 2010, pp. 98 & 99; Jandourková, 2013).

David’s passivity in the book as well as in the movie is a prevailing part of his individual identity and leads to many of the conflicts he faces, and his passivity keeps him cemented in those conflicts. David’s individual identity can be described as shy, reserved, awkward, clumsy, boyish, unfinished, unobtrusive, and passive. He is accustomed to waiting until someone pays him attention (Suter, 2005, p. 22). He is an anti-hero: the conventional hero’s antithesis, clumsy, fainthearted, tedious, ignored, but having positive and negative qualities (“Anti-Hero,” 2019). In the bookDavid promises to break off a reading engagement because it conflicts with his and Marie’s plans, but he does not want to confront Jacky. In the film David does not ask Jacky to leave when Marie, for good reason, requests him to do so. David does not defend himself, allows others to make decisions about his life, and does not stand up for Marie.

As his personal identity, David did not want to be known as a waiter—that was only his current job. “He wollte als der gute Bekannte, vielleicht auch als der Freund gelten, der zufällig im Esquina die Getränke brachte und kassierte, weil er momentan zufällig als Kellner jobbte” (Suter, 2004, p. 22&23). One scene in particular, which plays out verbatim in the film, sums up David and his position and personal identity in the Esquina clique. David is trying to be helpful and brings their drinks before they even order. Ralph, the alpha of the group, finds fault with David’s anticipation and argues that he does not want the red wine David brought him. He wants to the red wine he ordered. If not for the other group members stepping in on David’s behalf, the situation could have been even more humiliating for David.

David’s individual and personal identity is challenged when he is catapulted to literary stardom overnight. He is forced to do book readings before small and large audiences, something that is contrary to his individual identity. David suffers under the lie and it comes through in his readings. “Es wurde zum Markenzeichen von David Kern, dass er aus seinem Roman las wie ein reuiger Verbrecher aus seinem Schuldbekenntnis: verschämt, stockend, voller Versprecher und falscher Pausen“ (Suter, 2004, p. 161.) He loathes the undeserved success but, slowly begins to enjoy being the center of attention, which was so foreign to his former life. His personal identity is now that of a published author. David changes and becomes ever more foreign to himself, but he manages over time and with much practice to come to terms with his new role. “Trotzdem identifiziert sich der Kellner David langsam mit seiner neuen personalen Identität des Schriftstellers, bis er sie schließlich zu seiner eigenen individuellen Identität macht und [am Schluss] wirklich zu schreiben beginnt” (Jandourková, 2013, p. 37).

Suter’s and Gsponer’s initial characterization of Marie is very similar. Her individual identity is a young, beautiful, intelligent, independent woman who does not want to be known only as the up-and-coming author’s girlfriend. Her personal identity is that of a literature student, and literature is truly one of her passions. Suter’s portrayal of Marie is somewhat shallow, and Gsponer fleshes out the character of Marie. Marie is manipulative and even tells David in the movie that she’ll leave him if he doesn’t meet with the publisher. But she can also be caring and mature as she stands by David through his embarrassing first book readings and encourages him to continue despite initial setbacks. She struggles as to whether she is in love with David, and her reflection on this aspect determines the choices she makes.

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