This Remake Might Be Better than the Original

 

 

Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg

Searchlight Pictures, PG-13, 119 minutes

★★★★★

 

Far From the Madding Crowd was first made into a movie by director John Schlesinger in 1967. It had a powerhouse cast that included Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Peter Finch, Terence Stamp, and Fiona Walker. Great film, but I liked the 2015 even more.

 

I confess that Thomas Hardy, not one of the Austens or Dickens, is my favorite 19^th century British novelist. I find his rural settings much more interesting than grimy London or Victorian drawing rooms. Moreover, his female characters are more complex, especially in being feisty and battling to get at least some of what they want. (Like it or not, women were not considered equals for most of the century.) Most of all, they lack  the sentimentality of “proper” society. What other novelist has characters as determined–even when tragic, stubborn, or impetuous–as Tess Duberfield, Susan Henchard, Eustacia Vye, Sue Bridehead, or Bathsheba Everdine?

 

The latter brings me to the 2015 version of Madding Crowd in which Carey Mulligan plays Bathsheba. Julie Christie was luminous on the screen, but Mulligan is a more skilled actor. She plays Bathsheba as a spitfire determined to prove her mettle. Like many real people–as opposed to movie “types”–her major virtues also are flaws. The narrative is set in 1870s Dorset where Gabriel Oak (Mattias Schoenaerts) is a prosperous shepherd who grows enamored of his educated but down-on-her-luck neighbor Bathsheba. She is fond of him, but has no desire to be married. In a heart-breaking moment, Gabriel loses his sheep and his land. On a tip from Fanny Robbin (Juno Temple) who plans to marry Sgt. Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge), Oak hears of work in Weatherby. 

 

Bathsheba, on the other hand, has a stroke of good fortune and inherits her uncle’s country house and farm. She is determined to run them her way, including dismissing the bailiff who mismanaged it. Bathsheba relies more on her servant Liddy (Jessica Barden) as any man. Locals scoff at her impertinence, but she soon proves herself. She almost loses her barn and grain ricks in a fire, but it is saved when Oak is passing by and climbs upon the roof to dislodge tiles. He is surprised to find himself on Bathsheba’s farm.

 

She hires Gabriel and, though there is frisson between them, both are aware of changed statuses in which he is “Oak” and she is “M’am.” In addition to her wealth, Bathsheba continues to impress villagers with her moxie. She is unafraid to work in the fields or to jump into a trough to dip sheep. Like many strong-willed individuals, though, she errs in assuming that others will always know her intentions or agree with her whims. This leads her to give false hope to neighbor William Boltwood (Michael Sheen) and pursue a relationship with Sgt. Troy.

 

 Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd–madding is an old term for acting recklessly–is a letter-perfect mix of romance, drama, and tragedy. It and both films do an excellent job of allowing the viewers to foresee circumstances, dangers, and relationships before such realizations don on respective characters. It does credit to the cast that we forget that they are indeed actors following a script.

 

About those actors. I reiterate that Mulligan’s performance is superior to Christie’s. She appears as slight and remarkably thin-waisted, yet she is simultaneously tough as nails, determined, and vulnerable. Schoenaerts is more handsome than Bates, but he is perhaps guilty of being a bit too obvious in his desire for Bathsheba, so we can call it a draw. I would not have thought it possible, but Sheen outdoes Finch as Boltwood. He is awkward, persistent, and forthright, but tragic. Temple likewise shines as the bumbling and unfortunate Fanny. The only noticeable fall-off in acting from the 1967 film is that Sturridge is no Terence Stamp.

 

The later may not be entirely Sturridge’s fault. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two films is that the 2015 version is nearly 50 minutes shorter. Given that Hardy’s novel ran 480 pages, director Thomas Vinterberg had to excise material and chose to truncate the role of Sgt. Troy, who goes from rakish charm to rogue in the blink of an eye. I always recommend reading the classic book from which a film is derived, but I sing the praise of all three. And three cheers for Carey Mulligan!

 

Rob Weir