Director Explains the Changes in ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ From Book

The director of All the Light We Cannot See explains the changes in the film and why he made them, especially in the ending.

Based on Anthony Doerr’s best-selling novel of the same name, the Netflix miniseries tells the touching story of a blind French girl, Marie-Laurie, and a German soldier, Werner, set in World War II France. The cast includes Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann, Marion Bailey, Hugh Laurie, and Mark Ruffalo, among others.

The miniseries received mixed reviews from critics, while the viewers specifically criticized some of the changes made in the film, especially in the ending.

In an interview with The Wrap, director Shawn Levy discussed the changes made in the film and how it adds to the overall theme of the story. Like in the book, Marie-Laurie and Werner share a can of peaches when they first meet. He added a scene where the characters slowly dance with each other, explaining that it “felt organic” to the characters.

Here’s what Levy said about the dance scene in the film:

“Werner and Marie-Laurie always meet in the book, but Steven Knight and me and Aria and Louis, we spoke a lot about that scene, and it just felt organic to the adaptation, that these two characters might have a connection that is a little more substantial than a can of peaches. Obviously, when you adapt the material, you make decisions and there are changes. And certainly, that dance that they share with that very brief and very gentle kiss is a difference, but it felt organic to those characters.

He also discussed the epilogue of the film, which revealed the emotional fate of Werner. Levy explained that the ending is more open-ended compared to the book. Although he loved the ending in the book, Werner and Jutta’s fate was heartbreaking for him.

Levy wanted to make sure the ending of the miniseries hinted at a beacon of hope. His version of the ending has a “seed of hopefulness,” as he believed the theme of the story is the possibility of hope. Read her statement about the series here:

“There’s so much loss and so much grief in this story, and Steven Knight and I and all of us who made the show, we wanted to not shy away from the loss. There are a lot of characters who lose their lives in this story, but maybe there’s the possibility of hope in our ending. We’re not saying they will meet up in the future. We’re not saying they won’t, but the theme of this story is the possibility of hope.”

At the end of the series, Werner and Marie-Laurie meet, and Werner promises Marie-Laurie that they can find their way back to each other as long as she continues to broadcast over the radio.

After that, Warner surrenders to the American troops. After Werner leaves, Marie-Laurie gets hold of the Sea of Flames and throws it into the ocean. Compared to the book, the ending is more open-ended and does not specify the fates of Marie-Laurie and Werner.

In the original novel, Marie-Laurie had told Werner how to retrieve the Sea of Flames. Werner was then captured by Americans and put in containment, eventually triggering a landmine.

The epilogue of the book revealed that Werner’s sister, Jutta, met Marie-Laurie in France after Werner’s death. The miniseries does not include this part in the ending, making it very different from the book.

About All The Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See is an American drama limited series directed by Shawn Levy and developed by Steven Knight for Netflix.Based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, it stars Aria Mia Loberti, Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie. The four-part series follows the stories of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and a German soldier named Werner, whose paths cross in occupied France during World War II.

The limited series was released on November 2, 2023.