The Fault in Our Stars(2014)

Plot Summary

• Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is an intelligent and sarcastic Indianapolis 17 years old teenager coping with terminal thyroid cancer that has metastasized to her lungs. Believing her to be depressed (as she is reading the same book over and over), Hazel's mother urges her to attend a cancer patients' support group at a local church to make friends. Hazel agrees to attend the support group meeting to make her parents happy. She knows that they are hurting more than she is.During a support meeting, Hazel meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a teen who had suffered from Osteosarcoma which caused him to lose his leg. While sharing his fears at the meeting, Augustus says that he plans to live an extraordinary life and fears Oblivion. But Hazel follows and says that there will be a time after humans, at which point there would be no humans to remember Mozart or Cleopatra or anyone else, and hence oblivion is inevitable.The two bond immediately after the meeting and Augustus invites Hazel to his house where the two bond over their similar interests and views on cancer. Augustus lives with his parents (mother (Milica Govich) and father (David Whalen)). Augustus is best friends with Isaac. Isaac has already lost one eye to cancer and is due to attend surgery to have his other eye removed.Hazel reveals that she contracted Thyroid cancer when she was little and went through Chemo and radiation therapy. Her lungs filled with water and she was close to death. But then she took an experimental drug, which had failed in 70% of the patients, and miraculously it worked with her. Her lungs are still very weak, and she has to carry a portable oxygen cylinder around with her. But she could now stay alive for a much longer time. She has taken her GEDs and is preparing for college.Before departing, the two agree to read each other's favorite novels. Hazel recommends to Augustus An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a cancer-stricken girl named Anna that parallels Hazel's own experience. After Augustus finishes reading her book, he is frustrated upon learning that the novel ends abruptly without a conclusion. In fact, the novel ends in the middle of a sentence. Augustus says that there is a contract between the author and the reader, and ending the book abruptly violates that contract. Hazel explains the novel's mysterious author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), had retreated to Amsterdam following the novel's publication and has not been heard from since.Weeks later, Augustus reveals to Hazel that he has tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij (Lotte Verbeek), and, through her, has managed to start e-mail correspondence with Van Houten. Hazel writes to Van Houten with questions regarding the novel's ambiguous ending to which Van Houten replies, explaining that he can only answer Hazel in person. Hazel proposes the trip to her mother Frannie (Laura Dern) but is rejected due to financial and medical constraints. Later, Augustus surprises Hazel with tickets to Amsterdam, attained through a charitable foundation similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, namely The Genie Foundation.Days before the trip, Hazel suffers an episode of plural effusion and is sent to the ICU, prompting her doctors to question the safety of overseas travel. The medical team argues against the trip but eventually complies with Hazel's parents (father Michael (Sam Trammell)) to accommodate her travel.When Hazel and Augustus first get to Amsterdam, they go to a restaurant and find out that Van Houten paid for a meal and champagne on their behalf. Augustus then confesses his love for Hazel that night. Hazel and Augustus finally meet Van Houten, but are shocked to find that, instead of a prolific genius, he is a mean-spirited drunk. Lidewij confesses to having arranged the meeting on his behalf, angering Van Houten, who proceeds to insult Hazel's cancer and refuses to answer any of her questions. The two leave the author in anger and disappointment.Distraught, the teens leave the residence, but Lidewij follows after them and invites them to go sightseeing to compensate for their ruined experience. Lidewij, Hazel and Augustus visit the Anne Frank House. Hazel struggles to climb the many stairs and ladders leading up to the attic due to her lungs but by the end of the tour, Augustus and Hazel share a romantic kiss, followed by an applause from the other tourists in the attic. They return to the hotel and have sex for the first time.The next day, Augustus confesses that a recent PET scan revealed his cancer to have relapsed. Resolute, the two affirm their love and support for each other. Upon their return to Indianapolis, Augustus' health significantly worsens. Augustus ends up in the ICU for a few days and realizes that he is really down to his final days. Augustus invites Isaac (Nat Wolff), his blind best friend, and Hazel to his Pre-funeral, where they speak his eulogies. Hazel quotes Van Houten about "larger and smaller infinities" and confides that she would not trade their short time together for anything in the world. Augustus dies eight days later.At the funeral, Hazel is astonished to find Van Houten in attendance. He explains that he and Augustus maintained correspondence since Amsterdam and that Augustus had demanded he make up for ruining their trip by attending his funeral. He confides in Hazel that his novel is based on his own daughter, Anna, who died from cancer at a young age. In an attempt for forgiveness, Van Houten tries to reveal the fate of Anna's mother and gives Hazel a piece of paper. Hazel, still upset with his behavior, crumples up the paper and asks him to leave.Later, while talking with Isaac, Hazel learns that Augustus had asked Van Houten for assistance in writing her eulogy. Realizing what Van Houten had given her, she retrieves the crumpled paper and reads Augustus' words, which state his acceptance of death and his love for Hazel, a sentiment she returns. The film ends with Hazel laying back on her grass lawn looking up at the stars, she smiles as she remembers Augustus.

Storyline

• Hazel and Augustus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. The seventeen year-old Hazel Grace has lung cancer and needs to carry an oxygen tank wherever she goes. Her mother Frannie encourages her to go to a cancer support group against her will. However, when Hazel meets the eighteen year-old Gus, who lost part of one leg with cancer but apparently is cured, they fall in love with each other. Hazel introduces her favorite novel to Gus and tells that she dreams of having a conversation with the author, Peter Van Houten, who lives in Amsterdam, about the ending of the novel. Gus contacts him through his assistant, and Van Houten invites them to visit him in Amsterdam. They travel to The Netherlands with Frannie where Hazel will learn that Peter Van Houten is not like they expected at all. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A young female and a young male who both have cancer form a relationship and try to do their best to do the many things that they would like to do together before the worst comes. They both realize that they have more things in common than they think. — RECB3