Review of Tess (1979) by Stuart K — 01 Feb 2011
From Roman Polanski, made shortly after his scandal, he decided to adapt Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. All done in France, as he couldn't set foot in the UK, but it works and it has an engaging cast and beautifully shot, with a good lead performance too.
It makes for a good classical adaptation. Set in Dorset in the late 19th Century, it has simple farmer John Durbeyfield (John Collin) discovering he is decended from a wealthy family called d'Urberville.
He sends his oldest daughter Tess (Nastassja Kinski) out to offer her services to the d'Urberville family, who accept her, and her cousin Alec Stokes-d'Urberville (Leigh Lawson) falls for her and seduces her, but it turns out they bought the title of d'Urberville.
So, Tess leaves, and works on a dairy farm, and falls for young farmer Angel Clare (Peter Firth), they marry, but Tess confesses to her encounter with Alec, Angel leaves Tess, and the past comes back to haunt Tess, after a chance encounter with Alec again, who tries to seduce her once again.
It's a gloriously romantic film, and it's running time flies by. Polanski recreates a world long forgotten, and the Oscar-winning cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet and Geoffrey Unsworth is just beautiful, and Kinski's Tess is a damaged girl, and one you feel sorry for.
This review of Tess (1979) was written by Stuart K on 01 Feb 2011.
Tess has generally received positive reviews.
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