Review of Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) by Jack G — 21 May 2015

9.5/10.

I wanted to see this movie not only because it starred Carey Mulligan, who is one of my favorite and one of the best actresses, but also it had a very good director, Thomas Vinterberg, and another of my favorites actresses Juno Temple. And not knowing the story previously, it seemed very beautiful looking in essence and in image. And so while watching the movie it was really beautiful overall, from the cinematography to the places it was filmed, everything. It was almost as if every frame could be a painting or a photograph, that beautiful and well shot the movie was. Also the acting was excellent as you would expect from such great cast. Carey Mulligan was just breathtaking as the lead Bathsheba, a very strong and independent woman that truly redefines the role of women in romances and in Hollywood movies, it truly was beautiful to watch her grow and really fall in love with her. As to the male leads starting with Matthias Schoenaerts, he was very sweet and completely different from everything he's done before, he simply played Gabriel perfectly. While Michael Sheen also was great as a man that wants nothing more but to not be alone and without any malice marry Bathsheba, another excellent performance from him. On the other hand Tom Sturridge was also good but there wasn't much to like about his character, but looking at how we dared to be mad at him, he did do a very fine job as Sergeant Francis. Moreover, Juno Temple sadly only had a very small supporting role that although she was great as always I wanted for her to be more on screen and to play a more important role. But nonetheless the story overall was very good and really very different from any other romance movie or any movie, with a lot of unexpected situations and a very engaging love story that actually makes you fall in love with them even if you know what it's coming.

~May 22, 2015~.