Far From The Madding Crowd Review

This irresistible love story, which follows Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan), an attractive and independent young woman who is courted by a triumvirate of imperfect men, has charmed many for generations. The novel has been adapted before of course, most famously in 1967 by John Schlesinger, with Julie Christie in the lead role. That particular version is known to be one of the great literary adaptations of British cinema or to put it another way, difficult to surpass.

Nonetheless, Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s fourth novel is a luscious revival that sweeps across the Dorset country side, with each frame indulging us in such bucolic beauty. His magisterially directed update resembles a finely acted and sharply paced period romance. It shaves fifty minutes off of the running time of Schlesinger’s classic, and the film feels sufficient in substance, not at all flabby. David Nichols screenplay, the novelist behind Starter For 10 and One Day, laces authentic characters into the boot of the narrative, rightly shunning the melodrama that exists in the original source material.

 

Carey Mulligan is excellent as Bathsheba Everdene; the character’s resilience and integrity are effortlessly distributed through Mulligan’s steely gaze and confident poise. She exhibits flourishes of playfulness too, offering the role a fresh and fun dynamic.

In regarding the somewhat unsuitable suitors, both Matthias Schoenaerts, as the stolid Gabriel Oak, and Michael Sheen, as the lonely William Baldwood, give terrific performances. Schoenaerts echoes Brando with his quiet, rumbling intensity, and Sheen rallies audience empathy for his tremulous tone and unshakable longing for Bathsheba. Tom Sturridge succeeds in being unlikeable as the supercilious Captain Francis Troy, though stumbles in being anywhere near as captivating as Terrence Stamp was in Schlesinger’s picture.

This in no way harms the film, which is, as I have mentioned, a luscious revival. Many will say it lacks an earthiness to it, but what we have here is a tonal palette of nature and class. Far From the Madding Crowd does not abscond from its roots, but it does extend its reach out into the modern world, where it conveys a plucky and grounded heroine atop of the hierarchy, not adverse to getting dirt under her fingernails. This is the best British period piece since Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. Seek it out.