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Other people have tried to adapt John Irving’s novels for the big screen, yet none of them have fully managed to capture their quirkiness or their strange charm. The World According To Garp’s main failing was that Robin Williams struggled to get to grips with the main character, instead choosing to do what Robin Williams always chooses to do-­if in doubt, just act hairy and wistful. The Hotel New Hampshire was merely filmed as a bawdy farce, while A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving’s skewed yet genuinely touching exploration of Christian doctrine, only made it to a direct-to-video release and even then, the makers decided to change the title.

Thankfully, Lesse Hallstrom changes all that; from the outset and from the first spoken word, The Cider House Rules is an engrossing and beautiful picture that has its fair share of lump in the throat moments. Those in the know will no doubt recount that original author John Irving has an unusual affection for bears, wrestling and medicine, all of which reoccur throughout his impressive canon in one form or another. Secondly, John Irving’s novels have always nodded towards Charles Dickens in their vast scope and extensive dramatis personae. The Cider House Rules follows this trend in part, in that while there are no bears or wrestling on view, medicine plays a sizeable part in the plot; Michael Caine plays a grouchy, yet warm-hearted doctor who runs an orphanage in Maine, New England-­a safe haven for children from unwanted pregnancies and those women who choose abortions.

Mercifully, we are spared a heated debate on the morality of such matters, but we are allowed an insight into the abandon children’s lives, the people who work there and Michael Caine’s character Dr Larch, who begrudgingly tries to hold it all together. It is Caine’s relationship with Tobey Maguire’s innocent Homer that fuels most of the picture’s drama; the ether-addicted Larch forcefully yet paternally tries to make Homer stay and work as a doctor in the orphanage, yet the big, bad world is calling him to other, brighter shores. It is here that Irving’s Dickensian style is most evident, for the film owes a debt to the rites-of-passage plot of that writer’s most famous novel, Great Expectations, as Homer leaves to learn more about life in the real world, leaving the confines of the orphanage behind him. Obviously, there is a love interest, in the impossibly beautiful and perfectly formed Charlize Theron, yet this is played out in such an understated and evocative fashion that it one forgets about its conventional style and it would be doing the film an injustice to suggest that this was the only narrative thread of note. 

Hallstrom’s achievement is weaving the different plot-lines together, bringing in an array of different characters, yet never forgetting their humanity. The Cider House Rules is a picture that does not rely on soul-searching speeches to make its point, instead painting in subtle gestures and repeated couplets-­just try listening to the words Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England without feeling teary. While the piece may make all manner of literary references-­Homer’s journey is an Iliad of sorts, Candy is a seductive siren luring him to the rocks and Wally is the cuckolded husband, it never announces its ingenuity. Yet, Hallstrom has managed to coax impressive performances from an all-round cast; Charlize Theron could easily have coasted by on looking stunning, but she displays new depth as Candy; underused elsewhere, Delroy Lindo makes a graceful job as Homer’s boss in his new life-­picking apples and making cider. The Oscar bagging Michael Caine is especially noteworthy as Dr Larch, yet it is Tobey Maguire who leaves a lasting impression. 

It transpires that Maguire is friends with ladyboy Leonardo DiCaprio, yet this does not show in his acting style; unlike his colleague, Maguire does not indulge in overblown melodramatics and does not rely on looking pretty to get by-­he portrays Homer’s sense of wonder and then subsequent disgust with the world with genuine talent. Maguire proved his mettle in other pictures such as Pleasantville, but this is a great calling card, one that marks him aside from the other faceless young thesps of his generation. 

The Cider House Rules is a rich, slow-building film that never stops to moralize or wag its finger at the footfalls of the characters; instead, it allows them to breathe and follow their individual quirks and idiosyncrasies. For once, this is a picture that does its source text justice, yet at the same time does not forget the grace of a wide-angle lens or a bleeding sunset. So, until you see it in the cinema or on video or in a drive-in theatre-­goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

Ross Thompson 05/10/2000