Far From The Madding Crowd

Film (2015)
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg

With Carey Mulligan (Bathsheba Everdene), Juno Temple (Fanny Robin), Michael Sheen (William Boldwood), Matthias Schoenaerts (Gabriel Oak), Tom Sturridge (Sergeant Troy)

Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is living in the country and encounters Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a decent guy who wants to marry her. But she is young and independent and very soon after comes into a ladylike inheritance. Gabriel comes into troubles of his own, but regains a place in the neighborhood as an earnest worker. Meanwhile, Bathsheba is drawn romantically in other directions while Gabriel stands dutifully by. How those other liaisons work out, or don’t, and how it all winds up for the spirited, but misdirected, Bathsheba and the long-suffering and dutiful Gabriel, provides the energy for this well-crafted tale.

The camera spends much of its time in this warm and delightful retelling of the Hardy classic on Carey Mulligan’s face, and rightfully so. She is a wonderful actress and can, with a few nudges of lip and a twinkle of eye, convey several volumes on whimsicality, spiritedness and vulnerability. One never bores watching that face, and the film does a compelling job of convincing us why Gabriel and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) find it so captivating as well.

Meant to bring out something about the relationship between a bright woman’s independence and her emotional and erotic vulnerabilities, the novel is quite vividly modern. Bathsheba is, much like Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a spirited woman who cannot fit into the boundaries expected of her. The craft of the authors who created these compelling women provides a vision of how they develop some sense of earthly wisdom out of the elements of determination and passion. Both authors suggest that the fusion of those is, in some way, possible, though difficult.

(It is worth noting that the wonderful film version of Pride and Prejudice (2005) starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet features Carey Mulligan as Elizabeth’s younger sister, Kitty. That film contributed, justifiably, to making Knightley a major star. Mulligan, who is roughly the same age as Knightley, has, for years, deserved an equivalent vehicle to demonstrate
her considerable talents. The current role as Bathsheba should go considerable distance towards providing that.)

Hardy’s characterization of Gabriel Oak is a great contribution to humbly heroic male characters, full of honest desire, yet decent to the core. Matthias Schoenaerts, who made a big impression in Rust and Bone (2012), gives a credibly durable and passionate performance here, compelling and captivating, sturdy and resilient, all the while simmering with passion and never letting it disrupt his basic decency.

And, as Boldwood, Michael Sheen is beautifully austere at first, giving one the impression of a real stick in the mud, but he too does a wonderful job of putting blood in the veins of this complex creature who becomes heroic in his own way.

Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Troy is somewhat less effective, exhibiting so much sleaze from the outset that one wonders how Bathsheba might have been at all taken with him.

Carey Mulligan showed her potent stuff as the acerbic and hysterically funny Jean in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) and though she had the spotlight in The Great Gatsby (2013), the film itself was a great pratfall and didn’t demonstrate her best talents, due to no fault of her own.

Much of the supporting functions of the film are very well done. Costumes are beautifully conceived, the score is lively and affecting; this is a great period piece all around, delivering a creditable and engrossing cinematic version of the great Hardy epic.

– BADMan