Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

Top comments

1. 

   Siskoid

   Put Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen and strong cinematography on the screen and you'll pull focus every time. Now, I've never read Thomas Hardy's novel, not being a particular fan of 19th-century melodrama, which is definitely was this is, but a film doesn't require the same investment of time. I can well imagine the story of a woman (Bathsheba Everdeen) who, despite suffering the attentions of three men (a shepherd, a solider and a land owner), doesn't see the point of getting married when she can well and truly run a farm by herself, would have been shocking and strange when the book was published, but today, it feels very much like the kind of feminist narrative we're used to. But for all of her protestations, it's a romance as well, and Hardy - through the filmmakers - means to school us on what a healthy marriage ought to be, but presents what marriage usually meant - the suffocation of a woman's identity. If you're looking for a well-acted piece of period melodrama, you could do much worse, and I know literary purists will have problems with the film's tone, which doesn't attempt to jar the viewer the way the book does its readers (because I've already read such reviews), but what can you do. It almost does in the quick editing at the start of the film, which felt modern in a way period films usually don't, but that was perhaps more distracting than upsetting. 8 years 10 months ago
2. 

   Emiam

   6+/10
   Feels very much as Jane Austen. She made the right decision in the end! ❤️ 2 years 6 months ago
3. 

   PrinceJax

   No film could truly capture the rural tone, the raw humanity and often tense relationships of a Hardy novel but this film paid beautiful tribute to the story. The cinematography was gorgeous and the score was perfect. Really liked it. 8 years 3 months ago

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