Analysing Blindness as an Adaptation of An Essay on Blindness

This book aims to analyse the film directed by Fernando Meirelles (1955) and scripted by Don McKellar, Blindness, released in 2008, as an adaptation of José Saramago's (1922-2010) book, Ensaio sobre a cegueira, published in 1995. To do this, we will first contextualise the book and the film in the artistic production of their respective creators, in order to make clear the differences between them, since the adapter of a literary work does not share the same point of view, aesthetic concern or historical moment with its author. We will then present various critical opinions on the relationship between literature and cinema, placed chronologically, to show the intrinsic relationship that one art form has with the other. In the end, we'll be able to see clearly how the study of Literature and Cinema views a film adaptation. A film based on a literary work is neither seen nor analysed as a mere transposition of the book into another medium.