| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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In the book, Louise Kendall is referred to as a few years younger than Phillip, and someone he sees more as a sister. They barely spend any time together at all, she is rarely mentioned other than appearing in a few short scenes. Rachel suggests Phillip will marry Louise several times. |
In the movie, Louise Kendall is a close friend and her deep love of Phillip is made very obvious from early in, Phillip seems oblivious to this, especially when Rachel is introduced to the story. |
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Phillip does not learn Nick Kendall is his guardian until he is in Italy, he is told by Reinaldi that a copy of the death certificate was sent to Kendall because Kendall is his guardian until his 25th birthday. |
Phillip is very close with Nick and Louise Kendall and visits often. Nick is referred to as his Godfather, not just a guardian.
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Ambrose is Phillip’s cousin. |
Ambrose is Phillip’s uncle. |
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Rachel has been married prior to Ambrose Ashley, it is explained in a letter that she is a widow. There is never any reference to how her first husband died. |
Rachel is never referred to as a widow prior to marrying Ambrose
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Phillip is somewhat reserved and guarded. |
Phillip is often irritable and rude, he is dismissive of people and prone to snapping. |
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It is stated that while Ambrose and Phillip lived in the house, it was never cleaned, it was a dirty house full of nice things and they didn’t have cleaning staff. On the report that Rachel is on her way to Cornwall, Phillip decides to have the house cleaned for her arrival. He has his male servants clean for him. |
The house isn’t dirty until Phillip has returned to Cornwall following Ambrose’s death and has fallen into depression. He has no intention of cleaning for Rachel. Louise helps Phillip clean the house after he shows her the dusty room with torn,moth eaten curtains that he intends Rachel to stay in.
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Reinaldi and Rachel spend a lot of time together, they’re never caught in the act but there is implication they are romantically or sexually involved. Phillip admits his jealousy to Rachel after he discovers she has been sneaking off to visit him in town. Despite his suspicions and jealousy, he insists Rachel have Reinaldi stay at the Ashley house as he doesn’t want her galavanting off to town to see him. |
Phillip suspects Rachel and Reinaldi are having an affair after he sees them in town together. Near the end of the film as he and Louise are snooping through the personal letters belonging to Rachel, Louise tells Phillip that it seems Reinaldi is more “Greek” than Italian, that he “likes boys”. |
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Phillip admits he and Ambrose really do very littlle around the estate and are men of leisure : it’s suggested that other than the financial side of things, Phillip has no real involvement in the running of things, that he sits about and doesn’t really involve himself with the staff. |
Phillip is very hands on with the running of the estate, he is seen helping cut down wheat, feeding the horses, doing general tasks and organising wages. He laughs and drinks with his men, showing a much harder work ethic than a typical lord.
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Phillip finds Rachel driving a carriage on the afternoon of his birthday, he wants her to stop and pullover so he can kiss her, but she doesn’t. |
Phillip finds Rachel walking on the afternoon of his birthday, he takes her to a meadow and he makes love to her briefly while Rachel looks uncomfortable |
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Before he goes to Florence for the final time, Ambrose gives Phillip an ominous talk about how Phillip needs to be in Cornwall to run things in his stead. Ambrose seems somber and makes a very vague reference that might suggest he knew he was more ill than he let Phillip know. |
There was no discussion prior to Ambrose leaving. We never hear any dialogue from Ambrose at all.
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When Phillip goes to Italy at the prompt of Ambrose’s letter, the first people he interacts with at Rachel’s villa are the grounds keeper and his wife. It is the groundskeeper that tells Phillip that Ambrose has passed away, and sends him to speak to Reinaldi, in Florence. |
Reinaldi is the the only person present at Rachel’s villa, and it is he who relays the news of Ambrose’s death. |
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It is referenced that Ambrose has been spending every winter in Florence and returning in the late spring for some years due to his illness, and that although he was only in his mid forties, he already walked with a cane. |
The story suggests that Ambrose had only gone to Florence this once and never returned.
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Phillip tells the reader that Ambrose has been gone from Cornwall since he was around twenty-three, at least a year and a half has passed, and over a year has passed since the news that Ambrose has married Rachel. |
In the movie, it is made to seem as if mere months have passed since Ambrose left and has married. Ambrose leaves in Winter, is dead by the following Summer, and by Autumn, Rachel has arrived in Cornwall. |
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At the end of the book Phillip recounts how Rachel has died and now he has lost the only other person in the world he has ever loved other than Ambrose. He states that he has his whole life before him but it will be empty, he intends never to marry or love again. Rachel’s death haunts him as he will now never know whether she did or didn’t kill Ambrose. |
In the movie, we see Phillip in a carriage sitting with Louise, they have married and are now parents. Phillip still suffers with terrible headaches and Louise looks on at him, we see doubt in her expression. Phillip’s closing lines are “Rachel, my torment”, echoing Ambrose’s letters.
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After Phillip has recovered from his feverish weeks in bed, he is under the illusion that he and Rachel married weeks before (in secret), and didn’t tell anyone. Rachel sets him straight, much to his confusion and devastation. |
Phillip doesn’t imagine Rachel and he have married, he becomes increasingly ill and decides she has been poisoning him. |