They said it was mad to try and film Ulysses, and they were absolutely right. The whole point of the book is that it captures the inside of life: what it feels like in a human head, so to speak. And by definition, cinema can capture only the outside of life. So all we have here are the bare externals of the story, which are pretty dull, the dialogue which has been lifted almost verbatim and sounds very stiff and stagey, and internal monologues which are worse. And it's very distracting that most of the actors are neither Irish nor can do an Irish accent - Dedalus especially is completely miscast. But if you're struggling to read the book, it's useful for getting an overview, and the real Dublin locations help you to visualise the setting.
Review of Ulysses
