Classic film of Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles based on life in Marnhull, Dorset

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52160 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Hindi
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 164 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Roman Polanski adapted Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles and came up with this moody, haunting film starring Nastassia Kinski as the farm girl who is misused by the aristocrat for whom she works and who is then caught in a marriage where her initial happiness soon turns to grief. Fans of the novel may feel unpersuaded by Polanski's effort to marry Hardy's Dorset vision with his own fascination with psychosexual impulses toward survival, but the film is an often stunning thing to see, and Kinski's sensitive, intelligent performance lingers in the memory. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Based on Thomas Hardy's tragic 1891 novel TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, TESS follows the hard life of a beautiful young Wessex peasant girl, who seeks her fortune with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, whom her family believes to be distant relatives. Tess's tragic fate is sealed the moment the manipulative son of the house, Alec, seduces and impregnates her. She returns home, bears the child--who dies shortly after--and her ashamed family banishes her from their home. Tess finds work and shelter on a dairy farm, where she falls in love with Angel Clare, the pastor's son. The two are soon engaged to be married. However, the evening before the wedding, Tess tries in vain to reveal her sordid past to her beloved Angel, so they wed nevertheless. On hearing the truth he flees to Brazil, leaving Tess alone once more to find work in the fields, only to be dealt further blows to her fragile life. Ultimately, when Angel unexpectedly returns she seeks to kill Master Alec--vengeance for sparking this series of tragic events--and solemnly she faces the gallows.
With stunning evocative photography and fine acting, with a particularly sensitive and fragile performance from Kinski, this languid tragedy won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design, and also a BAFTA for photography.

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Customer Reviews

Finally replaced my antiquated video!!!!
I've bought it on DVD at long last! Brilliant quality etc! A real treat!

I originally watched it on video when my mum studied for her degree years ago. Then years later when I studied for mine I then bought it.

It is such an atmospheric, emotional film. I loved it, but how I've cried at the end of it! The injustice!

At university, it was always Alec D'Urberville, the villain! Quite frankly, I think that Angel Clare was worse! Mr Pious, who claimed to love her, yet is unhappy because she's "impure." Get your priorities right man! This is probably easy for me to say with a 21st century perspective rather than a nineteenth one! At least Alec seems to want to make up for his awful behaviour. Angel Clare? A waste of space!

A very heart wrenching film, and controversial like the book? Was Tess's beauty really the cause of her downfall? Alec D'Urberville? Tess's father for forcing the alliance with the rich family who turned out not to be genuine descendants of the D'Urbervilles anyway? Watch the film and make up your own mind!

This book, and film created great debates at uni and at school (A level). The seduction scene is vague, but it also is in the book? Was this coincidence or a definite ploy by Thomas Hardy? This story really gets you thinking!

The photography is beautiful in the film, with contrasting colours and moods used to depict the relevant scenes in the novel. Light, sunny scenes alongside dark scenes are very symbolic.

The acting is brilliant, and Angel Clare annoying! A highly recommended film which sticks exactly to the plot in the Thomas Hardy novel. Fantastic and flawless!

Sumptuous and faithful adaptation
Polanski's version of Hardy's novel is a cinemagraphic treat, and a deftly scripted screenplay. There are very few deviations from the plot of the book and there are frequent lines of dialogue lifted directly from the novel. Natassia Kinski plays Tess to perfection -- with a fatalistic melancholy and innocence that captures the character that Hardy invoked so decisively. She is also astoundingly beautiful without seeming to ever realise it, which is one of the causes her downfall. The filmic representation of Tess' life is wonderfully managed -- particularly good is the way the summer Tess spends working at the dairy farm and meeting Angel is portrayed in sumptuous golden light before things go pear-shaped and the scenes become mist-filled and mud-strewn as Tess lives out her unhappy life. Hardy was making a statement about the industrialisation of the countryside and the destruction of rural ways of life at the end of the nineteenth century. Polanski has managed to translate this from book to film in mesmerising fashion, mostly with the aid of visuals such as the ear-splitting, steam-driven machinery in use at the industrialised farm Tess is forced to work at after Angel leaves her. This compares to the slow-pace of rural life at Tess' home and at the dairy. The film's atmosphere and the characterisations are deep and rich, and is certainly the best film adaptation of a Hardy novel despite some stiff competition. Just one aside -- the film is dedicated to Polanski's murdered wife Sharon Tate.

THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE
I went to see this movie at the Odeon Southampton , England , the week it came out . It changed my life and not only re introduced me to Thomas Hardy but also set a benchmark for production values that no movie has ever come close to .
There is true elegance in every frame and the movie has a soundtrack to die for .
You need to own this DVD . You really do .

Neville Judd