Turtles All The Way Down

spoiler are ahead for Turtles All the Way Down .

discourse of the main character ’s experience with obsessive - compulsive disorder ( OCD ) and intrusive sentiment . Unrelated , treatment of a character ’s apparent death by suicide .

Summary

Based on the bestselling young adult ( YA ) novel of the same name , Max’sTurtles All the Way Downmakes some significant changes to John Green ’s book . The film still centers on Aza Holmes ( Isabela Merced),a teen who is navigating the unmanageable symptom of her obsessional - driven disorderliness ( OCD ) . Green , who has cite his own experiences with OCD , is deliberate to mark that the anxiety disorder can manifest in many dissimilar ways . Aza ’s experience is n’t a monolith ; broadly , her obsession and compulsions manifest as a fear of the human microbiome as well as unseen , life story - threatening germ .

Aza ’s anxious thought volute obligate her to safeguard her health even if no menace is present .

As a result , Aza ruminates a lot on thing like C. diff . Often , her unquiet intellection spirals obligate her to safeguard her wellness even if no terror is present . As she acknowledges , it is n’t rational — it ’s anxiety in overdrive . Turtles All the Way Down ’s roll of charactersalso let in Daisy Ramirez ( Cree Cicchino ) , Aza ’s best friend and a prolificStar Warsfanfiction writer , and Davis Pickett ( Felix Mallard ) , an estranged childhood crush Aza receive as a kid in a grief ingroup after the loss of her father . WhenDavis ' billionaire father , Russell , disappears , Daisy convert Aza to use her connections so that they can claim a $ 100,000 reward .

turtles all the way down poster

6Aza’s Finger Callus Serves A Slightly Different Purpose

The Movie Uses The Injury To Explore Another Symptom Of Aza’s OCD

InTurtles All the Way Down ’s opening vista , Aza explains her anxiety around the human microbome to her healer , Dr. Kira Singh ( Poorna Jagannathan ) . For Aza , it is n’t just the fear of unseen infection that ’s troubling , but the very notion that person are really under the control of tiny organisms . The anxiety echoes the style Aza views her OCD thought patterns — like something has " hijacked " her brain and trunk . Dr. Singh is prompt to point out that a callus on Aza ’s fingerbreadth still has n’t healed .

When Aza is overwhelmed by her unquiet , obsessive , and intrusive thoughts , draining the likely C. diff from her body via the callus is a Brobdingnagian relief .

In John Green ’s book , the not - quite - heal callosity on Aza ’s finger is something she use to exempt her anxiousness . It is bind to a compulsion in that she repeatedly opens the callosity to drain out pathogen . When Aza is overwhelmed by her queasy , obsessional , and intrusive thoughts , drain the potential C. diff from her body via the callosity is a immense relief . However , it ’s only a momentary break from her OCD symptoms . In the motion picture , Aza ’s callus instance another vista of her OCD diagnosis : she is invariably checking the bandage and clean the callosity , and often wondering if she forget to do so .

Isabela Merced as Aza Holmes looking upset in Turtles All the Way Down with book cover background

Custom Image by Yailin Chacon

5Mychal Turner Has A Smaller Role In The Movie

Daisy Is The Real Star Of Turtles All The Way Down

While Aza ’s friend Mychal Turner ( Maliq Johnson ) still appear in theTurtles All the Way Downmovie adaptation , his role does n’t feel as material . As in the book , it ’s Daisy and Aza ’s relationship that takes center point , leaving little time for her moral force with Mychal . Even so , Mychal is still an artist , and he still harbor a monolithic crush on Daisy . He ’s also the one responsible for for fare up with the hurtful " leaf mustard " metaphor , suggesting that Aza is " too much " if not experienced in small superman . However , it ’s still Mychal ’s underground fine art show that leads Daisy and Aza to solving the secret of Russell ’s disappearance .

4Davis' Blog & Backstory Are Different In The Film

The Blog Is More Significant At The Start Of Their Romantic Relationship

InJohn Green’sTurtles All the Way Downbook , billionaire Russell Pickett still goes missing in the wake of deplorable billing . However , the Pickett ’s are the Holmes ' neighbors . That still make Aza and Davis old friends of sorts , but the moving-picture show focuses much more on their yesteryear together at a heartache camp when they were navigating parental expiration . The change is small and decidedly forge in the moving picture ’s favor , as does its discussion of Davis ' web log . In the book , Aza stumble upon Davis ' authorship while having a thought spiral and reads what he ’s written about Aza as well as his begetter . In the picture , she use the web log as a substance to get to know Davis before dating him .

3The Book Goes Into More Detail About How Aza Manages Her OCD

Turtles All The Way Down Shows Aza’s Steps In Montage Form Only

Before getting into a automobile accident with Daisy in theTurtles All the Way Down ’s ending , Aza come into an consuming intrusive thought spiraling after reading Daisy ’s lightly disguise fanfiction about her . Amid a related panic attack , Aza consumes hand sanitizer to clean her physical structure in Green ’s book . Later , at the infirmary , her anxiety around cut C. diff pushes Aza to wassail more hand sanitizer as it feels like the only way to stop her intrusive thoughts . The movie parses these result out a chip , putting the focal point on Aza ’s mo in the infirmary bathroom .

Dr. Singh anticipate that they will find medication and other management strategy that operate for Aza .

After her mom see her , Aza ’s tum is pump . It ’s a torturous moment , but it push her to see her healer more regularly . Still unconvinced by her prescription ’s effectiveness , Aza confesses how hard managing her OCD symptoms is to Dr. Singh . In bend , Dr. Singh promises that they will find medication and other direction strategies that work for Aza . The novel function into more particular around this than the movie , showing how Aza begins to oversee her coercion by focalize on a subroutine , taking her medication , and practicing photograph and reply prevention ( ERP ) .

Aza in her therapist’s office, Dr. Singh in Turtles All The Way Down

Image via Max

2Daisy & Aza Make Up At The Art Show

The Friends' Reunion & Discovery Of Pickett’s Body Happen Back-To-Back

In the book , Aza process hard to grapple her OCD symptoms and , as part of that regimen , makes up with Daisy . The movie take a slimly different coming . After Davis sends Aza prime ( and a Dr. Pepper ) , she accord to meet him at Applebee ’s . Feeling endue by the cracking strides she ’s made in managing her OCD , Aza hopes she ’s ready to rekindle their love story . alas , that ’s not the vitrine , butthe consequence does crowd Aza out of her solace zona , giving her the boost she needs to meet up with Daisy at Mychal ’s art show . There , Daisy and Aza forgive each other and , moment later , find grounds of Russell ’s dying .

1Davis' Father Leaves His Fortune To A Tuatara Research Facility

The Pet Tuatara Of The Book Isn’t As Substantial

WhileTurtles All the Way Downhonors Green ’s book , the change it makes are often to the welfare of its pic culture medium . However , one seemingly insignificant alteration involves the movie ’s use of the tuatara , a non - lizard reptilian that ’s endemic to New Zealand . According to Davis , Russell believes the tuatara holds the key fruit to tenacious animation expectancy and human health . As such , Russell plans to leave most of his fortune to a tuatara inquiry adeptness and fundthat he created rather of his two son . In theTurtles All the Way Downbook , Russell leaves his money to a favourite Sphenodon punctatum .

turtleneck All the Way Downis now streaming on Max .

It ’s not easy being Aza , but she ’s try … trying to be a good girl , a good friend , and a good scholarly person , all while voyage an endless barrage of invasive , obsessional thoughts that she can not control . When she reconnects with Davis , her puerility crush , Aza is face with profound interrogative sentence about her potential for love , happiness , friendly relationship , and Bob Hope .

Daisy (Cree) and Mychal Turner (Maliq Johnson) in Turtles All The Way Down

Image via Max

Aza Holmes and Davis walk hand in hand, looking into each other’s eyes in Turtles All The Way Down

Image via Max

Daisy and Aza Holmes dancing spontaneously in the street in Turtles All The Way Down

Image via Max

Felix Mallard as Davis, smiling in Turtles All The Way Down

Image via Max

Turtles All The Way Down