In the past, the study of film adapted from literature has focused largely on the question of fidelity. This thesis explores new ways to look at the relationship between literature and film by showing how concepts from the field of translation studies, particularly literary translation, can enrich the study of adaptation theory. An application is made to the case of Spanish novelist Juan Marsé’s work El embrujo de Shanghai, which has been adapted to film by Fernando Trueba and to screenplay by Victor Érice. Rather than taking a hierarchical approach to the novel and its two variations, a comparative approach is used that seeks to understand the unique choices of each director and how his vision can illuminate the source novel. An adaptation of a novel does not diminish its source; instead, it opens up a space for dialogue between the two works, thus enriching the world of both literature and film.