FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
Director Thomas Vinterberg
119mins. Cert. 12A
Those filmgoers of an age to recall the Julie Christie / Alan Bates / Terence Stamp 1967 version of Thomas Hardy’s great love story may arrive at the cinema braced for disappointment. And certainly the opening shot of Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) in leather coat and trousers (in 1870?) does not allay fears. But the story and the exquisite acting performances draw you in.
No one writes unrequited love like Thomas Hardy. And Matthias Schoenaerts, as Gabriel Oak, plays it with a wonderful blend, shown in every fibre of his expression, of stoicism and tenderness. His portrayal of manliness and faithfulness is biblically wonderful. As Bathsheba acknowledges, near the end of the film, he has ‘protected her and stood by her’ through all her ghastly and wilful mistakes in life.
