The Big Picture
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the first faithful and entertaining Shirley Jackson adaptation, successfully capturing the unique aspects of her writing style. The film replicates Jackson’s world through compelling characters and an unusual, gothic fairy-tale tone, showcasing the Blackwood family’s isolation, superstition, and damaged psyche. While the film takes some liberties with the plot, including a significant change to the ending, it remains true to the essence of the story and the complex character of Merricat.
Shirley Jackson published classics like The Lottery and The Sundial almost 80 years ago, but her works still make for fascinating on-screen adaptations in the present day. Jackson’s writing is famous for exploring witchcraft, and the blurred line between the supernatural and the dark potential of human behavior. Her work has been made into all kinds of media, such as radio shows, movies, and stage productions. Shirley Jackson’s work continues to inspire several films to this day. However, more direct Jackson-inspired films, just like any book-to-screen adaptation, are always in question over which ones are the most faithful to the author’s writing. One of the prime examples of this is The Haunting of Hill House. Between horror director Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series, which is rather a tribute to Jackson’s novel as opposed to a direct adaptation, and the universally disliked 1999 adaptation The Haunting, there is no shortage of on-screen media for fans of the book.
While the 1963 version of The Haunting is accurate to the plot of its source, it’s not nearly as faithful as the 2018 adaptation of Jackson’s novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Despite its positive reception, the film is often forgotten in the conversation of book-to-screen Shirley Jackson projects. While it does slightly deviate from the plot, Stacie Passon’s film does the most justice with the characters, narration, and tone in what is considered Jackson’s masterpiece.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Merricat, Constance and their Uncle Julian live in isolation after experiencing a family tragedy six years earlier. When cousin Charles arrives to steal the family fortune, he also threatens a dark secret they’ve been hiding.
Release Date May 17, 2019
Director Stacie Passon
Runtime 95 minutes
‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ Succeeds Where Other Shirley Jackson Adaptations Haven’t
We Have Always Lived in the Castle follows the remaining members of the affluent but despised Blackwood family in their quiet life of isolation. Taking place years before the events of the film, the father, mother, aunt, and young son of the Blackwood family were fatally poisoned by an unknown member of the family. This tragedy left alive only Mary Katherine, or “Merricat” (Taissa Farmiga), her older sister Constance (Alexandra Daddario), and her uncle Julian (Crispin Glover), who ingested the poison but survived, leaving him ailed and without his memory. Constance was accused of the crime and was eventually charged and acquitted, but still guilty in the eyes of the townspeople. When Julian’s nephew Charles (Sebastian Stan) arrives with the hope of taking the Blackwood fortune, it disrupts the family’s solitary life.
Most on-screen adaptations of a Shirley Jackson story have achieved the entertainment factor, as well as the unnerving feel that comes with the author’s stories, whether it be supernatural or grounded in reality. Others have been able to portray the stories’ plots with impressive accuracy. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the first Jackson adaption to be entertaining and faithful to the story, pulling off the unique aspects of her writing style. The 1962 novel is considered Jackson’s masterpiece for many reasons, one being 18-year-old Merricat’s distinct and unreliable narration. This aspect of the novel is arguably where Jackson’s style shines the most. While it’s always difficult to translate a novel to the screen, Staci Passon’s film does it perfectly.
The tone of the film matches the novel, and it’s similar to that of a gothic fairy-tale, while also being off-kilter and surreal. Jackson easily achieves this through her compelling writing style. But the film can replicate Jackson’s world on the screen through the compelling characters, and the unusual world they have built for themselves. The surviving Blackwoods live in an ornate manor with a fantastical garden, far from the town. It is evident that the family stays away from the public as much as possible, and they appear odd to outsiders. Merricat is closed off and superstitious, practicing witchcraft to protect the family in their solitude. Constance is viewed as a guilty woman, leading her to agoraphobia. Uncle Julian suffers damage from the poison, struggles with memory loss, and his words often do not make sense to readers and viewers. When outsiders, like Charles, experience the family, they are confused and disturbed by them.
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‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ Is Faithful to Its Source Material
In terms of the plot, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is faithful to its novel. The main three characters and their traits remain the same and the events unfold in the same way, from Merricat being teased during her visits to the village to Charles’ manipulative behavior while he stays with the Blackwoods. Additionally, the dialogue and Merricat’s narration are often the same as it is in the novel. Despite all these signs of an accurate adaptation, the film takes the liberty of making a few significant changes.
The majority of the film is faithful to the novel until the end. Wanting Charles to leave the Blackwood home for good, Merricat trashes his room and ends up starting a fire on the second floor. A mob of townspeople arrives to watch the home burn down. After they vandalize their house, they only leave when it’s found that Uncle Julian has died. Constance and Merricat then hide in the woods until morning. Charles then returns, begging Constance to let him back inside. He breaks through the door, but Merricat kills him. In the novel, Charles never forces his way inside, but simply leaves when the sisters ignore his pleas, meaning Merricat never kills him.
While this is a significant change, it’s not entirely out of character for Merricat. It’s revealed that she poisoned her family all those years ago, so killing Charles to protect her sister wouldn’t be that surprising. This is especially the case as the film is more clear than the novel about why Merricat killed most of her family. While Constance mentions to her younger sister that her poisoning saved her from their father, the novel is much more vague and open to interpretation. Nevertheless, this doesn’t make the film a different story from the book, unlike other Shirley Jackson adaptations that preceded We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Rarely is a film able to recreate the atmosphere and tone of a book, while also differentiating from its source material. Shirley Jackson is an unsung literary hero, creating some of the most influential horror and mystery stories out there. While there are other amazing adaptations of the author’s writing, the film version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the most faithful to Jackson’s iconic writing story and would undoubtedly make her proud.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is available for viewing on Prime Video.
Watch on Prime Video