BEFORE: I've got to drop in another one here, with Carey Mulligan carrying over from "Maestro" before I get to "She Said". The reason is, I couldn't work "Maestro" into the romance chain, and if I can't work that one in, then I can't work this one in either. Ideally I would watch this one in February, but I don't want to wait until NEXT February, because I have no idea if I'll be able to link to it then. It does still link to one other film on my list, but that's an action movie and so I'm going to burn it off tonight.
Now I'll really have to hustle, even if I drop two films from the proposed January line-up I'll still have to watch 32 films in January just to get to the romance starting point in time. And I said I wasn't going to do that again, but here I go. These it a slightly smaller path to my final January film, but it doesn't go through "Babylon", which is taking up space on my movies DVR. Right now I want to give priority to films taking up space there, also you never know, that thing could crash at any time and I'd lose a lot of movies, it's happened before. So any film that's on the DVR has priority, and "Far From the Madding Crowd" is another example.
I'm staying in today - it's too cold to go outside and I have a cold, so I didn't get to go to lunch on Long Island with my wife after she got cigarettes - I've been dreaming of Long Island buffets or even a meal at Friendly's or Applebee's, but I just don't have the strength, probably better to stay inside and take naps whenever needed. Not happy about that though.
THE PLOT: In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
AFTER: I've heard about this novel over the years, sure, but it's not one I've ever read - I don't think I've read anything by Thomas Hardy, I much prefer his film work in the "Venom" movies and also "The Dark Knight Rises". (JK). And now I don't need to read the book, because I know what happens in it, assuming the filmmakers didn't change it much. What's interesting to me is that I always thought Hardy's writing would be dry and boring, but this plot instead feels like some kind of precursor to modern soap operas, just because there are so many reversals and twists among the romantic stories, in the same way the daytime dramas feel the need to constantly keep surprising the viewers so they don't get complacent.
I started to get that feeling when Sgt. Troy was left at the altar, early on - this is a staple of both soap operas and comic books, I think probably more weddings get cancelled this way in movies and soaps than in real life. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation, his fiancée Fanny Robin went to the wrong church. But then she was either too embarrassed to admit her mistake, or Frank was unwilling to forgive her, I'm not sure. Either way, the wedding was off, but remember this seemingly unrelated incident, because it could be important later.
The main story concerns a female farmer who never really considered marriage, either because she hadn't had the opportunity or she's trying to be modern and independent or maybe she never met the right guy, but after the sheep farmer who lives next door returns the scarf she lost while riding her horse, AND then he brings her a lamb, he pops the question fairly quickly, and catches her off guard. (Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but I'm your neighbor, so marry me, maybe?) Bathsheba says she'll think about it, but really, it's a good offer, he just came on too strong, that's all. But people back then weren't known for their subtlety, perhaps, and marriage was also part personal and part business deal. The only thing that could possibly get in the way would be if she accidentally falls for someone else.
Shortly after that, a rookie sheep dog leads all of Mr. Oak's flock right off a cliff, and this is terrible news, except the fact that he's got a month's supply of mutton stew. But his business is ruined, so Bathsheba thanks her lucky stars that she didn't marry him. Instead he goes looking for work at a farm that happens to be on fire when he shows up for the interview, his actions save the barn and he gets the open shepherd job, only to find out that Bathsheba JUST inherited that very same farm from her dead uncle. So he works for her now, but the marriage offer is off the table, since he can't marry his boss for some Victorian reason.
Instead she sends a Valentine card to Mr. Boldwood, the eligible bachelor next door to her uncle's farm and so then HE proposes marriage, and a joining of the two farms. Well, Bathsheba doesn't exactly say no, but she doesn't say yes either. For a woman who never had a relationship before, she sure seems to know a lot about stringing men along, and taking a long time to consider their proposals. She takes so long to decide that a THIRD suitor comes along in the meantime, and it's old Sgt. Troy, who takes her out in the woods and shows her his fencing moves, and maybe it's that element of danger, but she's actually attracted to him. Mr. Oak advises against it, he'd actually prefer it if Bathsheba married Mr. Boldwood, because then he could work for the two farms combined, and make more money. Secretly, Mr. Oak probably wants to marry Bathsheba himself, but he's afraid to put himself out there and get rejected again.
OF COURSE she picks the wrong guy, and whether you're Team Oak or Team Boldwood, you'll be yelling at the screen when she marries Troy. But things have to get worse before they can get better, right? Troy resigns from the army and supposedly goes to work on the farm, but without doing any work at all, or even taking the time to learn how a plow works or when to harvest the grain. No, he just wants to take the farm's profits and gamble them away on bare-knuckle boxing matches, because that always leads to success, right? In true soap opera fashion, however, he bumps into his former fiancée, Fanny Robin, who by the way, used to work for Bathsheba, so it's all conveniently connected. Troy learns that Fanny is carrying his baby, which I guess means this whole story took place over just a few months, though it feels like years. Troy vows to take care of his baby mama, and makes arrangements to stash her somewhere in Casterbridge, but she doesn't show up for their next meeting, because she's died in childbirth and her body is sent to her last known residence, which is Bathsheba's farm.
Troy is so despondent over Fanny's death that he swims out to sea and drowns, though the body is not found (you know what THAT means) and I'm not sure how those town officials can say with certainty that he drowned if they can't find the body. But Bathsheba is left with his gambling debts to pay off, and Mr. Boldwood once again sees an opportunity, if he can marry her and they can merge their farms, he'll pay off the gambling debts, again it's a GOOD DEAL and she should probably take it, but for some reason she still holds back. She once again asks Mr. Oak what she should do, bearing in mind that he's got a vested interest in the farms merging, so this might be influencing his advice. She and Oak just can never seem to get on the same page, can they?
Anyway, if you're familiar with all the tropes of soap operas or romance novels, you can probably figure out where this crazy plot is going to end up. So we've seen plot twists like these many times, but then again, this novel came out in 1874, so maybe this is where some of those tropes started. Every possible plot twist was original at some point, after all. It's not hard to guess who Bathsheba ends up with, either, they made it all but inevitable, but they also took their time getting there, I guess that's supposed to make it feel like a bigger payoff when it finally happens. There have been other film adaptations of this novel, but this one's definitely the most recent.
Two years ago I finally learned what "Wuthering" means after watching an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" - it's just a fancy way of saying drafty or windy. Today I had to look up "madding", only to find that it means frenzied, but it's different from "maddening" because a "maddening" crowd would be a crowd that causes others to be in a frenzy, but a "madding" crowd would be in a frenzy itself. OK, clear? By living out on these farms, our characters are away from the crowds in London, which would (apparently) drive them crazy.
Also starring Matthias Schoenaerts (last seen in "Amsterdam"), Michael Sheen (last seen in "Jesus Henry Christ"), Tom Sturridge (last seen in "Effie Gray"), Juno Temple (last seen in "Mr. Nobody"), Jessica Barden (last seen in "Hanna"), Sam Phillips, Tilly Vosburgh (last seen in "Atonement"), Harry Peacock (last seen in "Gulliver's Travels"), Victor McGuire (last seen in "The Personal History of David Copperfield"), Jody Halse (last seen in "Burnt"), Bradley Hall, Hilton McRae (last seen in "Mansfield Park"), Mark Wingett (last seen in "Dom Hemingway"), Dorian Lough, Leonard Szepietowski, Jon Gunn, Andrew Price, Thomas Arnold (last seen in "The Duchess"), Richard Dixon (last seen in 'Goodbye Christopher Robin"), Chris Gallarus, Penny-Jane Swift.
RATING: 6 out of 10 sharpened knives
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