Far From the Madding Crowd
Starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge, Michael Sheen
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Should you ever happen to score an invite to Tomas Vinterberg’s place for Christmas, I’d suggest that you politely decline. In both 2012’s harrowing The Hunt and this assured Thomas Hardy adaption, the Dane has deemed the Yuletide season the ideal occasion for climactic confrontations.
Of course, before things can fall apart, Vinterberg must first assemble this Victorian-era narrative’s romantic quadrangle that features the headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) and her three suitors: stoic shepherd Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), cocksure soldier Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) and solemn recluse William Boldwood (Michael Sheen, in perhaps his saddest-eyed role yet). As these disparate men’s fortunes fluctuate, Vinterberg lends considerable fluidity to the accompanying shifts in power dynamics.
Undoubtedly, the co-author of the Dogme 95 Manifesto (which stressed lo-fi aesthetics and authenticity in filmmaking) initially seems a strange fit for a handsome new edition of an oft-told period piece. And, on at least one occasion – a sexually-charged knife-sharpening lesson that comes to resemble Ghost’s pottery scene – the provocateur seems to be having a go at the target audience. For the most part, however, Vinterberg discovers the instances of genuine humour in Hardy’s work. Likewise, he commands complex performances from his cast, lending an emotional ruggedness to the will-they-or-won’t-they-or-will-it-be-those-two-instead.
Mulligan is exceptional as the self-possessed Bathsheba. Ultimately, it’s not her romantic trials that render her compelling so much as her staunch determination to establish her independence. And when Mulligan passionately intones the film’s telling line – “It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” – it’s apparent that this embattled heroine is worthy of our devotion.
