***/**** (3.5 stars) Dorest, 1870. In the depths of the countryside, an orphaned young woman, Bathsheba Everdeen, discovers she is to inherit her uncle’s farm and large fortune. In her new position, she draws the gaze of a variety of men: Sergeant Troy, gallant yet troublesome; Mr. Boldwood, a well-respected and kind man; and Gabriel Oak, her first sweetheart. The trouble with adapting Victorian fiction is that, once you strip away the allure of the lexicon and the authors’ command of the English language, the plots can be really rather… Frustrating? Long-winded? Overly convoluted? A mixture of all of these, perhaps. I have studied many a Victorian novel, from multiple Dickens books, to the dreary Austen, and, indeed, to Thomas Hardy, and in each case, I have always felt that if the characters actually communicated with one another about how they were feeling, these novels would not be half as long. Refreshingly, Hardy does at least suggest why Bathsheba is not forthcoming
Film reviews by Eleanor. Writer, blogger, cat lover.