Far from the Madding Crowd

Picturesque Victorian farm melodrama in a style "she is alone and there are three of them" with all the good and bad, what you would expect from a slushy romance. The problem is definitely not in the genre or performances (although Christie overplays in a theatrical way sometimes), but in an inappropriate directing, when Schlesinger tends to devote too short time to abbreviated plot and behavior of characters and at the same time he devotes almost three hours of footage to treading water. Thanks to that it is rather slow and sometime not that interesting. What is surprising is that the movies is far better at the details of everyday life on a large farm than during the emotional challenges of the main characters. (08.03.2015)

I can finally check this one off with relief in that I have seen another famous classic, which I approached with justified skepticism. However, I couldn't leave this task unfulfilled. Thomas Hardy is considered a typical representative of realism, but I can't help the fact that his story feels more like romanticism to me, or rather, I find all the classic flaws of his contemporary production therein. After all, the novel is an invention of this artistic style. The tormented soul of a romantic and a penny-dreadful is not something that attracts me (except for the exceptions that prove the rule), and it usually affects my review. Only one of the four central characters evoked a feeling in me that he is a normal character from life, someone I can root for or sympathize with. The others are a scoundrel, another a madman, and the main female character could be called a cow, but I feel like that would grossly insult poor female domestic animals. Partly, this is because Julie Christie overacts, pushing her character into positions that Thomas Hardy probably didn't intend for her. The happy ending (questionably happy for both parties) doesn't suit the story and feels artificially tacked on. The nearly three-hour runtime is exhausting, and yet I don't get the feeling that John Schlesinger managed to tell the story smoothly and explain all the motivations of his characters. However, the cast is a positive aspect (except for Julie Christie), and so are the shots of beautiful nature and country life. Overall impression: 45%. (11.07.2018)