#all the light we cannot see

[smtemari]

"He takes her hand to help her over the piles. No shells fall and no rifles crack and the light is soft and shot through with ash.

...

“It’s so quiet.” Her voice like a bright, clear window of sky. Her face a field of freckles. He thinks: I don’t want to let you go."

Werner and Marie-Laure from "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

[crybabyddl]

WHO IS THIS MAN AND WHY HAVE I NEVER HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING GRACED WITH HIS IMAGE BEFORE????

LOUIS HOFMANN as WERNER PFENNING ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (2023) dir. Shawn Levy

[olympain]

You will stay the same, Werner Pfennig. Even though you're often annoying. You must not change.

[fukutomichi]

∙ Favorite Trope - Headbutt of Love ∙ Suite Française (2014) ∙ The Old Guard (2020) ∙ Pacific Rim (2013) ∙ Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) ∙ Interview with the Vampire (2024) ∙ The Rings of Power (2022) ∙ The Legend of Tarzan (2016) ∙ The Punisher (2017) ∙ Captain Marvel (2019) ∙ Fallout (2024) ∙ The Mummy (1999) ∙ Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) ∙ All the Light We Cannot See (2023) ∙ Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) ∙ The English (2022) ∙ Strange Days (1995)

[diamantdog]

i just finished all the light we cannot see on netflix, and now i’m going to be one of those annoying people who think that the book is so much better and that they prefer the book because i think the book is so much better and i prefer the book, lol.

one of my reasons is anthony doerr’s incredible prose. to this day i still remember how he compares the shadow of a nazi officer’s car to the grim reaper flying across the walls. another reason is i actually like the original ending, lol sorry. and the netflix series also almost completely erases jutta’s story, so.

anyways. i’d love to recommend the novel to anyone who hasn’t read it.

[bnmxfld]

All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready?

Anthony Doerr / All the Light We Cannot See

[mssboo]

werner pfennig the cuntiest and most in love man in history

[starlightseraph]

hugh laurie, everyone

[asaemory]

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (2023)

[mostlyghostie]

A recent commission, I like how these ones look together

Instagram / Shop

[niallhoranhasthat1thing]

I just finished watching All The Light We Cannot See and I need to rant cause I’m loosing my damn mind.

First off, they took the character names and minor plot points and created their own story with them so at that point just crest something else and if you cannot handle showing the nuance of Werner’s character then you are not the right person to adapt this.

This is going to be filled with spoilers so be warned now.

Werner is a German boy who lives in an orphanage with his younger sister and one day he stumbles upon a radio and falls in love with it. He fixes it and him and his sister Jutta start learning about science and what Germany is actually doing by listing to a French broadcast. Two boys in his orphanage join the Hitler youth and Werner scared for his and Juttas safety destroys the radio which leaves Jutta furious with him. But it’s already too late. His entire town knows how capable he is with a radio and the nazis come for him to put him in a school. Werner who is very much living in a fantasy world in his head believes he will go to this school and will learn and learn and learn and by the time his finishes the war will have been lost and he will never have to contribute to anything, he may even win a noble prize. Jutta still furious with him has this conversation with him

and that’s the last time she ever sees her brother. Werner leaves willingly and you as the reader understand why, you know that if he were to refuse but him and his sister would be killed. You understand it and you even justify it.

Once at the school he meets Frederick and you instantly don’t want to like any of those other boys because they’re not like Werner, he’s there without having a choice. But you learn that Frederick is there only because his father is a high ranked nazi and his mother is waiting for the Jew up above them to be taken away so they can get the top apartment and they made sure he got into the school despite not being able to pass the tests to get in. One night the boys at the school are sent outside in the cold winter to torture a prisoner with cold buckets of water. When it’s Werner’s turn, he does it despite not wanting to and you understand it. He doesn’t have a choice. He would be killed if he refused. Once it’s Fredericks turn he refuses to throw the water. He’s beat and beat and beat. Everyday he is beaten worse and worse until he gets brain damage. Frederick had a choice. He chose the possibility of dying over throwing away his morals. Werner didn’t do that. Because of that your views on Werner begin to change.

Werner ends up going into the field to find illegal radio broadcasts, and while he himself never kills anyone he is directly responsible for many deaths. He ends up being sent to Saint-Malo to find Marie-Laure and her uncle and tracks them down instantly and upon seeing her he decides he’s not going to turn them in. To speed this along Werner ends up saving her life during the siege and they spend a few hours together where in his head he creates this fantasy of them living happily ever after which is juxtaposed with Marie-Laure allowing this German boy to wear her uncles clothes but knowing damn well that he’s not going to be able to hide his German accent. They part ways with Marie-Laure not giving him a second thought because she only wants to go find her uncle. Werner ends up dying a few days later.

You then go over to Jutta who along with the other girls form the orphanage have been sent to Russia to help the war efforts and when Germany looses the Russians take it out on the German women. She learns of Werner’s death and it doesn’t phase her. You fast forward to the 70s and Jutta is a married math teacher with a son, who is so deeply embarrassed and ashamed of her brother. A German man shows up at her door once day with a bad of her brothers belongings and it takes her weeks to open it. Upon opening it she finds the very notebook she had sent Werner to remind him of who he was. She opens it and is reminded of her brother’s innocence and decides along with her son that she is going to go to France to find out what happened to Werner. Jutta eventually finds Marie-Laure and her first thought upon seeing her is that her brother hurt her. Through the conversation Jutta is finally able to mourn her brother and realizes that it’s a lot more than bad vs good. But Marie-Laure is still conflicted with her thoughts on the German boy who saved her life. He doesn’t fit on either sides of the war.

You then jump to 2014 where Marie-Laure finally comes to terms with her thoughts on Werner.

Jutta and Marie-Laure’s feelings on Werner are also the readers feelings on him. The show completely stripped those feelings away. Werner in the show is a perfect human being and everyone forgives him within minutes of meeting him. Marie-Laure even kisses him and then fears for his life and wants to sneak him out of the city and meet up later so that they can spend their lives together.

Werner is such a complex character who you are so desperately rooting for while also feeling completely torn on him. The show is not willing to crest that conversation and beats you over the head with how good of a person Werner is, they rip Juttas character apart in order to make Werner more likable.

I don’t understand how this was made the way it was, I’m honestly still in shock. I had to laugh multiple times through out watching. I knew this show was in trouble as soon as I seen it was only 4 episodes. I hope one day this book gets a second chance and is made by people who understand the material.

[404badwolf]

📸 Photo by Linda Rosa Saal

[arabellas]

The slow sandy light of dawn permeates the room. Everything transient and aching; everything tentative. To be here, in this room, high in this house, out of the cellar, with her: it is like medicine.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (2023) dir. Shawn Levy

[decaytrain]

Matchings

[littlemarylil]

Jakob Diehl and Felix Kammerer in All the Light We Cannot See (2023) S01E01/E02

[whumpypepsigal]

(insp)