Far From the Madding Crowd

classified 12A
Film

Please note: This was screened in May 2015

Director
Thomas Vinterberg
Cast
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple
Details
119 mins, 2015, USA/UK

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s stunning adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic about the dangers and destruction of love and marriage, is a powerfully affecting realisation of its source material and glorious evocation of its stirring rural setting.

Rural Dorset in the 1870s. Bathsheba Everdine (Carey Mulligan) is a young woman determined to defy the restrictive social conventions of Victorian society and find her own way in life. But when the inheritance of a working farm, left to her by an uncle, provides an opportunity for her to take charge of her future, it also brings her to the attention of three very different suitors. The emotional turbulence of love, desire and independence are laid bare before her as she navigates through the evolving nature of her relationships to the loyal and dependable shepherd Gabriel Oak (Matthias Shoenaerts), the wealthy and secure landowner William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) and the handsome but reckless young soldier Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge).

With fabulous performances from its note-perfect ensemble cast, this thrillingly rises above the sometimes humdrum nature of traditional British costume dramas to give what is an already thoroughly engaging drama about the nature of relationships a subtly modern inflection. We reckon if you think you’ll love it you most certainly will and if you think it’s not for you, you might very well be surprised.


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