We knew it was going to be a hard act to follow, but we didn't think the plot would be altered to be about people fleeing London to avoid the attentions of a particularly raucous corvidae corvus. But settled in our extraordinarily expensive seats in the local Odeon (shows how often I go) we soon realised that yes, it was another adaption of Thomas Hardy's classic novel set in 1870s Dorset. And of course John Schlesinger's 1967 film is indeed a very hard act to follow. So how did Thomas Vinterberg do? Well, very creditably considering he only had I hour 59 minutes in which to tell this sprawling majestic tale and Schlesinger had the luxury and money to reach 2 hours 50 minutes. Which meant that much of importance had to be left at the side of a bleak Dorset trackway. Poor Fanny Robin hardly had the time to become a Hardy victim of circumstance, but we still booed her beau Sergeant Troy, a first class Victorian villain played up to the sword hilt by Tom Sturridge. Belgian Matthias Schoenaerts abandoned trying to do a convincing Wessex accent (it didn't matter), and Michael Sheen's Boldwood had suitable if wingeing gravitas. But you'll have guessed it's Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene that now has a starring role in my Unmitigated Fantasy of sheep shearing, singing, harvesting and heartbreaking in Victorian Dorset. And I have another heroine in the line-up for Unmitigated Honours, and that's cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christiansen. This film is ravishing to look at, a very worthy companion to Nick Roeg's photography back in 1967.
So, apart from the obvious yawning gaps in the narrative, Boldwood's completely over-the-top 'farmhouse' (Claydon House in Buckinghamshire, oddly) and a farmyard well that looks like it's just been dusted-off from the prop store, this is a superbly watchable film. And as Deborah Ross quite rightly said in her Spectator review 'Crowd Pleaser' (2 May): "...can someone not have another go, even after nearly half a century? And why do they have to be in competition? Can't they co-exist?".
I was 19 when I first saw the original (the second actually, the first being a silent film of 1915), and afterwards I made a point of reading everything I could lay my hands on by Hardy, without any real disappointment except in what happened to Jude's children and Tess. So if any 19 year olds can unglue their smart phones from their faces for just under 2 hours and decide as a result that they'd like to read the book and its companions, then it would all be even more worthwhile. Bring me my heavy woollen coat and gaitered boots....
8 comments:
" . . . Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene that now has a starring role in my Unmitigated Fantasy of sheep shearing, singing, harvesting and heartbreaking in Victorian Dorset."
Phew. Steady on. Much too early for that sort of thing.
I haven't had my breakfast, yet !!!
Sorry Zeph.
Studying Far from the Madding Crowd at 'O' Level, put me off Hardy. I have tried reading 'Return of the Native' but never get off Egdon Heath at the beginning.
As I recall the previous film of Far from the Madding Crowd the biggest fault was that Bathsheba had the wrong hair colour. Which as I dimly recall was of some importance to the plot.
Yes Stephen, Hardy writes Bathsheba as having dark hair. But it's never struck me as being important.
Hardy is one of my favourite authors and I went through a big phase of reading all his books in my teens whilst I was doing a project on the Pre-Raphaelites for art history 'A' Level. So in my mind I always picture Gabriel Oak as looking like Ford Madox Brown's Hireling Shepherd. However, I'm planning to catch the film next week and am looking forward to seeing how the book's been adapted.
What I would love though is a version of 'Return of the Native' - fave Hardy book. I remember watching a tv adaptation back in the 1990s featuring Catherine Zeta Jones, which I thought was spot-on.
Farmer Boldwood lives in CLAYDON? Blimey. That is some farmhouse.
Lovely stuff Peter! The '67 version is my favourite of all time - looking forward to seeing the new one when it comes to the Electric Palace in Bridport! Drove past Waddon House the other day which was Boldwood's Farm in the 67 film. The lovely opening scene was at Scratchy Bottom near Lulworth, Bathsheba's cottage near Friar Waddon and Weatherbury Church was at Sydling St Nicholas with also a few scenes filmed up on Eggardon - some locals still talk about it now and rightly so! All the best, Dickie
Thanks for that Dickie. On balance all though I thoroughly enjoyed the new film, John Schlesinger's 1967 film won't be surpassed I think. Finding Waddon Manor via John Piper's weather-soaked photograph in the Dorset Shell Guide was equally memorable.
Vintage Knitter: I too would love to see a new version of The Return of the Native, and another go at The Woodlanders.
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