Tess (1979 film)
Tess | |
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![]() Original theatrical release film poster | |
Directed by | Roman Polanski |
Written by | Gerard Brach John Brownjohn Roman Polanski |
Produced by | Claude Berri |
Starring | Nastassja Kinski Peter Firth Leigh Lawson |
Cinematography | Ghislain Cloquet Geoffrey Unsworth |
Edited by | Alastair McIntyre Tom Priestly |
Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Production companies | Renn Productions Timothy Burrill Productions SFP |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 186 min |
Countries | France United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $12 million (est.) |
Box office | $20.1 million |
Tess is a 1979 romance film directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles.[1] It tells the story of a strong-willed, young peasant girl (played by Nastassja Kinski) who finds out she has title connections by way of her old aristocratic surname and who is raped by her wealthy cousin (Leigh Lawson), whose right to the family title may not be as strong as he claims. The screenplay was written by Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, and Roman Polanski. The film won three Academy Awards and was nominated for three more.
Plot
The story takes place in Thomas Hardy's Wessex during the Victorian period.
Its events are set in motion when a clergyman, Parson Tringham, has a conversation with a simple farmer, John Durbeyfield. Tringham is a local historian; in the course of his research, he has discovered that the "Durbeyfields" are descended from the d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the Conqueror. It is useless knowledge, as the family lost its land and prestige when the male heirs died out. The parson thinks Durbeyfield might like to know his origins as a passing historical curiosity.
Durbeyfield immediately becomes fixated upon the idea of regaining his lost nobility, and using it to somehow better his family's fortunes. To this end, he sends his daughter Tess to seek employment with a family named d'Urberville living in a nearby manor house. Alec d'Urberville is delighted to meet his beautiful cousin, and he tries to seduce her with strawberries and roses. But Alec is no relation to Tess; he has gotten his illustrious name and coat of arms by purchasing them. Alec falls in love with Tess and eventually rapes her.
She returns home pregnant, but the baby is born sickly and dies. Some time later, Tess goes to a dairy farm and begins work as a milkmaid. She meets her true love: Angel Clare, an aspiring young farmer from a respectable family. He believes Tess to be an unspoiled country girl, and completely innocent. They fall in love, but Tess does not confess her previous relationship with Alec until their wedding night. Disillusioned, Angel rejects her.
Deserted by her husband, Tess meets Alec d'Urberville again. At first, she angrily rebuffs his advances. But after her father's death, the Durbeyfield family falls upon desperately hard times, facing starvation, eviction and homelessness. Tess is forced to resume her relationship with Alec, becoming his mistress in order to support her mother and siblings.
Shortly afterwards, Angel Clare returns from travelling abroad. A disastrous missionary tour in Brazil has ruined his health. Humbled, and having had plenty of time to think, he feels remorse for his treatment of Tess. He succeeds in tracking her down but leaves heartbroken when he finds her living with Alec. Tess realizes that going back to Alec has ruined her chances of happiness with Angel, and murders Alec.
Running away to find Angel, Tess is reconciled with him; he can finally accept and embrace her as his wife without passing moral judgment on her actions. They consummate their marriage, spending two nights of happiness together on the run from the law before Tess is captured sleeping at Stonehenge. An ending summary tells that she is convicted and hanged for murder.
Cast
- Nastassja Kinski as Tess Durbeyfield
- Peter Firth as Angel Clare
- Leigh Lawson as Alec Stokes-d'Urberville
- John Collin as John Durbeyfield
- Rosemary Martin as Mrs. Durbeyfield
- Carolyn Pickles as Marian
- Richard Pearson as Vicar of Marlott
- David Markham as Reverend Clare
- Pascale de Boysson as Mrs. Clare
- Suzanna Hamilton as Izz Huett
- Caroline Embling as Retty
- Tony Church as Parson Tringham
- Sylvia Coleridge as Mrs. d'Urberville
- Fred Bryant as Dairyman Crick
- Tom Chadbon as Cuthbert Clare
- Arielle Dombasle as Mercy Chant
- Dicken Ashworth as Farmer Groby
- Lesley Dunlop as Girl in henhouse
Production
Polanski had been inspired to make the film by his wife Sharon Tate having given him a copy of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, saying it would make a great film and she wanted the part of Tess. It was the last time he saw her before she was murdered by The Manson Family. The film is dedicated to her.
Polanski wrote the screenplay in French with his usual collaborator Gérard Brach, then it was translated and expanded by John Brownjohn. The story line largely follows that of the book, although the role of the sexual predator Alec d'Urberville is toned down.[2]
Costumes for the film were designed by Anthony Powell. He received his third Academy Award for this work.
Set in Dorset, England, the film was shot at various locations in France : first of all Normandy (Cotentin, la Hague : Omonville-la-Rogue, Éculleville, Sainte-Croix-Hague, le Vast, Bricquebec and Saint-Jacques-de-Néhou), then in Brittany (Locronan, le Leslay) and Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Condette). Polanski was living in Europe as he was wanted as a fugitive after conviction for sex with an underage girl in the United States.[3] He had fled before sentencing and could have been extradited to the US from the United Kingdom.
Polanski intended the film to reflect an ancient peasant culture, which he had seen in Poland during World War II after fleeing the Kraków ghetto. The scenes also refer to the genre painting of the French artists, Georges de La Tour and Gustave Courbet, of the 17th and 19th centuries, respectively.[2] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian has compared this element of the film to Terence Malick's evocation of American agricultural work in his Days of Heaven.[2]
During the third month of shooting, on 28 October 1978, the cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died of a heart attack. Most of the scenes he had shot were exteriors that occur in the first half of the film. Ghislain Cloquet shot the remainder of the film, including most of the interior scenes. Both Unsworth and Cloquet were nominated and won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Cloquet alone was nominated for the César Award for Cinematography, which he won.
Music
The original musical score was composed by Philippe Sarde. The melody played by the character Clare on a recorder is a popular Polish folk song, "Laura i Filon".
Release
Tess was released in theaters in the United States on December 12, 1980. During its entire theatrical run, the film grossed little over $20 million in the United States ($60 million in 2014 dollars), which made it 33rd highest grossing film of 1980.[4]
Critical Reception
In a review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin described Tess as "a lovely, lyrical, unexpectedly delicate movie".[5] It’s one of Polanski’s rare love stories, and one of his most highly acclaimed works.[6] Tess received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 85% "fresh" rating based on 20 reviews.
Accolades
Tess was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, at the 53rd Academy Awards and won three.[7] It was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards (winning two), three British Academy Film Awards (winning one) and six César Awards (winning three).
References
- ^ Variety film review; November 7, 1979.
- ^ a b c Andrew Pulver (26 March 2005). "Girl, interrupted; Roman Polanski's Tess (1979)". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- ^ Janet Maslin, "Once Called Victim, She Forgives but Can't Forget", New York Times, 2 September 2013
- ^ "Tess (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Janet Maslin (12 December 1980). "Tess (1979)". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ Presentation A film and its era : Tess, by Roman Polanski on Eurochannel
- ^ "NY Times: Tess". NY Times. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
External links
- Tess at IMDb
- Tess at AllMovie
- Tess at Box Office Mojo
- Tess at Rotten Tomatoes
- 1979 films
- British films
- English-language films
- 1970s drama films
- 1970s historical films
- Best Film César Award winners
- British romantic drama films
- British epic films
- British historical films
- Columbia Pictures films
- Films based on romance novels
- Films based on works by Thomas Hardy
- Films directed by Roman Polanski
- Films set in England
- Films set in the 19th century
- Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award
- Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
- Films whose director won the Best Director César Award
- Films about capital punishment
- Epic films
- French films
- Romantic epic films
- Romantic period films
- Films set in the Victorian era
- Films that won the Best Costume Design Academy Award
- Films shot in France