Thanks to Penguin, several of our staff members were invited to attend a special preview screening of The Fault In Our Stars film. Here, two staff chat about their reactions.

Nina: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you cry in this movie? (1 being eyes glimmering with unshed tears, ten being full-on sobbing)?

Bronte: A 7? I think I started crying about 20 minutes in. Possibly the whole cinema started at that same time too. (Though to be fair, I also cried non-stop through the third Lord of the Rings film, and still sometimes do in ads for Oprah so my threshold is low.) How much did you cry? Do you think more or less than the book?

Nina: I cried a lot. An embarrassing amount. Even towards the end, when I mentally told myself ‘okay, you’re done now, stop this’, I still kept crying. I think I cried more in the movie than I did in the book because the film was so unrelenting. I could put the book down and walk away when it became too emotional; I didn’t have this option in the movie. Do you think the movie was a faithful adaptation of the book?

Bronte: I thought it was a very faithful interpretation all up, as well as managing to work really well in the film format. Most importantly for any adaption, the characters are well-cast – I thought Ansel Elgort did an excellent job of portraying Augustus’ awkward balancing act between arrogance and vulnerability. A scene where he displays fear about how his leg will appear to Hazel caught me completely off-guard in its rawness, even though I did remember it from the book. Plus pretty much any scene that featured Laura Dern was a fail-proof way to get me crying again. What did you think of the performances?

Nina: Shailene Woodley was brilliant as Hazel, and Laura Dern was an utter delight as her mother. The two of them had fantastic chemistry, and their mother-daughter relationship was absolutely my favourite part of the film. Was there anything that didn’t work for you? I hated the cigarette-as-metaphor thing in the book, and found it even more annoying on screen. Maybe I’m just old though.

Bronte: I also had problems with the cigarette-as-metaphor but I think it was very apt for Gus’s personality and it also seemed like something a teenager would do. I actually really enjoyed the scene where they egg the car, even though I find it a bit staged in both book and film. Thinking about it, this film matched my expectations exactly; I didn’t love either with the same intensity as a nerdfighter but I also definitely ‘enjoyed’ both (in that strange way you ‘enjoy’ things that make you cry) with equal measure. What I liked most in the book, I liked most in the movie - and vice versa. What would you say to people coming to the movie as newbies? Or as already fans of the book?

Nina: Newbies – read the book first. I honestly think you’ll enjoy the film a lot more (and you’ll be prepared for what’s to come!) Fans of the book – I can’t imagine any fans of the book being disappointed in the film. It’s a pitch-perfect adaptation.

The film is due for general release in cinemas across Australia on 5 June. The book is available now in the original