Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Anton Chernyavsky *Spolers inside*I thought the film was well produced but god that was a terrible story. I mean soap-opera with a bad ending terrible. 80% of the film is it's characters obsessing about their misfortunes. Maybe that was standard in 19th century, but I found it very frustrating to watch. And I don't mind dramas, not at all. Including with unfortunate endings. I just like to see some sense in it, not just pointless suffering over and over again. There is too much of it in the real life. I just don't understand people who need books or films to see that. Open your eyes people! Go do some volunteering instead.The story just drags the characters behind it, they do nothing to change anything. So anti-climatic. And when somebody does something (the murder) it feels like the stupidest thing ever. Tess tells Angel she never wants to see him again, and then kills the other guy, and suddenly they are all good now? Oh come on.Other things I didn't like. The dialogues are really bad. There is basically nothing witty said in the entire series. The characters are not likable, lack depth, and there is very little development, just things happening to them. I didn't read the book but it looks like the author didn't really understand people well. Compared to the Jane Austin adaptations this was a disaster.

nevandsue What a really good production this is. Technically perfect and an excellent cast. Gemma Arterton is a super actress and for me this is the best performance of her career so far. If he could, I'm certain that Hardy would agree! Her newest release "Tamara Drewe" is taken from the Simmons comic strip which in turn was inspired by Hardy's "Far From The Madding Crowd". I read that a new version of "Crowd" is in the works - if they don't have Arterton as Bathsheba Everdene they are making a serious error in my opinion. She was born to play that role. I see that one of the reviews here is personally insulting to the actress. For shame!

JasmineFIowers I was emotionally moved by the story. Maybe Angel could have been portrayed better, but for me the actor chosen cut deep and made a connection. He seemed genuine, but probably a bit sillier than he ought. I understood why Tess 'gave up' and accepted her fate in the end. It's easy to sit in the audience and cheer her on to not stop at the house and keep going, or we just know she'll be caught, but we haven't lived her life or suffered her horrors. She had already been suicidal earlier in the piece. She had felt she was dead in the arms of Alec. Her reality and perspective was warped; not that she's deranged or anything, however, her experience in not running from the police is the norm in society with most people who murder. The whole piece together forms all part of the tragedy.It was well shot, the scenery was great, most performances very good. I was curious if there was any more in the novel about Tess and Alec's arrangement, and I think it could have drawn out her pain and motivation for the murder should they have included more. Yes, we know that Alec is a rogue. Yes, we know he mistreats her. I guess with a legal mind the lead-up to the final act of desperation on Tess' part needed more explanation and the life they lead.Having read another response I shall now critique part of it that pushed me to write the review. Attacking the substance of the source material is moronic. What's even more moronic is suggesting that a woman would have a defense to murder at the turn of the 20th century. The only defense would have been the Queen for a pardon, and I doubt Queen Victoria would be interested, given the circumstances. Battered Woman Syndrome, a defense in many jurisdictions now, was unheard of and women who murdered were "pure evil". The rape? Well, you heard half the male characters in the show itself...It was the woman's fault. Regardless of how overpowering the man was. Or ignorance. Or anything else. She brought him on. etc. etc. And being turfed out of a village for this too. She also would have not got a pence from a judge for her work at the "slave" farm, because of strict precedents from cases involving employment contracts back then. It is easy (and foolhardy) to say that most of Tess' problems could have been solved by the 21st century justice system, but the story is an excellent comment on the life of a woman over a century ago, and the vast developments in criminal law and society. In fact this is one of the reasons I believe it gets remade, to make a point about such issues. And in the end, I think poor Tess had enough. She knew bliss wouldn't last.

alicecbr The distorted look of this actress' face due to her plastic surgery, or collagen pump-up, echoed the disappointing nature of this re-make. It became a pumped-up soap opera, rather than a drama of real life, suffered by many women of that era. Just as "The French lieutenant's Woman" has the actress pitying the English women and how many became prostitutes through no fault of their own, this thomas Hardy novel produces the same effect in me.Send a woman to the gallows for killing an abusive spouse? Of course, when there is no legal help for an ignorant woman who was reacting to the full injustice of her life. There was so many floods of tears, however, I lost sympathy for her about halfway through the series. The 1979 issue of Tess was far superior, both in writing and acting. *********************SPOILER ALERT*******************************I must say that the overall character failure of Angel is made more pronounced by the sight of him sitting on a hill far away from where Tess is executed. And is she really as dumb as this movie makes her out to be? Her life is in danger, and yet she dawdles in the mansion to the extent that she is captured. And how convenient that the famous ring of stones is right on their path. Both their IQs are called into question as you watch them striding across open ground in full sight of any who might be looking. And most certainly they couldn't be far from the scene of the murder, since all this is done afoot.The ignorance and martyred air of this young woman is insufferable. I don't remember having this same feeling when I watched the 1979 movie. Since I also have it in my library, I intend to rewatch it and try to discover why I was caught up in the drama of that one, fully empathetic with Tess and just disgusted with this one.The actress who played the mother did an excellent job of projecting a fully despicable person, complete with the whiskey bottle. I have yet to understand why this girl, pregnant as she was, rejected the first offer of marriage that would have made her baby safe and was allowed to. The second offer of marriage, she accepted after her mother accepted for her, now after the baby is dead. Most assuredly, she could have left then as she did before and wouldn't have had to kill him to get away. Too much stupidity portrayed in this one....but then again, maybe Hardy was trying to show how stupidity can lead to death, especially when Society has no protection for such women.Guess it all serves her right for having so much collagen injected in her upper lip that she looks like a grotesque imitation of a woman. Over the top-ness killed this re-make.