The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in November
Settle In, It’s Going to Be a Long Winter
Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Have fun.
NEW:
My Policeman
Stream it on: Amazon Prime, November 4
Literary bona fides: based on My Policeman by Bethan Roberts (2012)
You guys like Harry Styles, right? Here he plays a policeman in 1957 Brighton, who marries Marion, a local schoolteacher, though he’s secretly in love with Patrick, a curator. Seems like a stable situation where nothing bad could happen! (For extra literary aplomb, the story is based on E.M. Forster’s affair with his own policeman, Bob Buckingham.)
Causeway
Stream it on: Apple TV+, November 4
Literary bona fides: the screenplay was written by Ottessa Moshfegh and Luke Goebel along with Elizabeth Sanders.
There’s nothing particularly literary about this movie, which follows a soldier (Jennifer Lawrence) with a traumatic brain injury trying to find her feet back home, except that it was co-written by literary world darling Moshfegh and her husband Luke Goebel.
Dangerous Liaisons
Stream it on: Starz, November 6
Literary bona fides: based on Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos (1782)
The second adaptation of this classic novel this year (not to mention the already perfect Cruel Intentions) is being billed as the “origin story” of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont—which means it is very likely to be both juicy and disastrous.
The Wonder
Stream it on: Netflix, November 16
Literary bona fides: based on The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (2016)
In which a British nurse (Florence Pugh) is summoned to visit with an 11-year-old girl who has apparently given up food but continued to thrive in 19th-century Ireland.
Fleishman is in Trouble
Stream it on: Hulu, November 17
Literary bona fides: based on Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (2019)
A perfectly cast adaptation—Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan, chef’s kiss emoji—of Brodesser-Akner’s bestselling novel about a soon-to-be divorced dad whose wife disappears. If it’s half as funny as the book, it’ll be a hit.
The People We Hate at the Wedding
Stream it on: Prime Video, November 18
Literary bona fides: based on The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder (2016)
You had me at Alison Janney and Kristen Bell behaving badly together. At a wedding. In Europe!
THROWBACK:
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Stream it on: Prime Video, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
If you missed it on Hulu in September, you have another chance to soak in all the literary cameos in this classic 90s Shakespeare romp.
All the Harry Potter movies (2001-2011)
Stream it on: HBO Max, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
If you (or your kids) need an eight-film, twenty-hour mental break.
Adaptation. (2002)
Stream it on: Hulu, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief (1998)
Probably most meta literary adaptation ever filmed—with extra points for Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean!—and also a pretty spot-on, savage story about being a writer.
Julie & Julia (2009)
Stream it on: Hulu, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on My Life in France by Julia Child (2006), with Alex Prud’homme, and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (2006)
Nora Ephron’s last film, one of the earliest blog-to-book-to-movie projects, and an absolutely perfect turn by Meryl Streep (again, always) as Julia Child—chef’s kiss.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012)
Stream it on: Hulu, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999)
If you were young enough for this book to feel like an underground cult classic (I’d say “remember MTV Books?? but actually it’s back), you were probably too old for the movie adaptation, which for some reason came a cool 13 years after the fact. But when has that ever stopped anyone?
Still Alice (2014)
Stream it on: Netflix and Hulu, November 1
Literary bona fides: based on Lisa Genova’s Still Alice (2007)
Julianne Moore absolutely cleaned up the Best Actress category in 2014 for her performance as Alice Howland, a linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. (The book, by the way, was originally self-published before it was acquired by Simon & Schuster and spent 40 weeks on the bestseller list.)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Stream it on: Hulu, November 1
Literary bona fides: a documentary based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House
An incendiary watch, and another sobering reminder that James Baldwin was right, and continues to be right.