First, you have to understand that this film is a Roman Polanski film, not a Thomas Hardy film. This movie, thematically, and with its other devices, stands out like Debbie Harry in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, relative to Thomas Hardy's other works, but it slips in very nicely between Polanski's The Tenant, and Frantic. Since August 8, 1969, all of Polanski's films have really been about Sharon Tate and the Manson family.

This is a crucial distinction between Polanski and Hardy. Hardy believed in Fate. Many protagonists in Hardy's novels never seem to get a break; they walk around with a dark cloud over their heads. In Hardy's mind, they are simply fated to run short on luck. Polanski, on the other hand, believes on evil. In Polanski's world, there are people who are so filled with menace, that they can turn an otherwise happy and carefree life 180 degrees; fate has nothing to do with it; one person's life is co-opted by another.

For this reason, Alec d'Urberville, who rapes Tess early in the film, is nothing more than an agent of fate in the novel, while in the film he is an incarnation of evil. In the book, he is a minor character. He disappears early in the book only to reappear very late to announce that he has found G-d. In the film he stalks her; he is Charles Manson torturing Sharon Tate.

Hardy's Tess is thwarted by fate at every turn: the note slides under the rug; her boots are taken by someone who assumes they are abandoned. By the time she commits the crime for which she is finally executed, she is resigned to fate, and does not even try to run. Polanski's Tess is ruined by Alec, and to a lesser extent by the pudding-for-spine Angel Clare.

That Polanski intends his Tess to be a different character from Hardy's is evident by the omission of a crucial scene. (PAY ATTENTION BOOK REPORT WRITERS): In the book, Tess spends one night in a forest stocked with birds for a hunting party. When she wakes up, she finds herself surrounded by wounded and suffering birds, so to alleviate their suffering, she breaks the necks of as many as she can find. This touching and disturbing scene is not in the movie, because it anticipates the ending of the book. At the end (SPOILER ALERT): Tess murders Alec, and is hanged for her crime; thus G-d, or some higher power has taken pity on the multitude of Tess' suffering, and has broken her neck to put her out of her misery.

Polanski doesn't want you to feel relief that Tess is out of her misery; he wants you to feel outrage. I have gone into such detail as a caveat. Anyone who puts in this movie in a Thomas Hardy frame of mind will be confused, annoyed, and may feel deceived. Warned, you can slip in this tape, sit back and enjoy Nastassja Kinski's narcotizing beauty, the luscious scenery, and the outstanding camerawork by Ghislain Cloquet and Geoffrey Unsworth, edited by Alastair McIntyre and Tom Priestley. These four are responsible for the I-could-just-step-into-it feeling. You feel thirsty watching people trek along the dusty roads; your mouth waters when Tess bites into a strawberry (I still can't eat one without hearing Kinski say "I'd rather take it from me own hand.") Your forearms are pumped after watching the milkmaids' endless work. I don't think I can describe how gorgeous this film is; it surpasses words.

What's more, the actors do perform well within the Polanski universe. If you have your own ideas about Tess, you'll have to leave them at the door. Kinski shows us a woman who has lived a string of mild abuses that it takes her a long time to process her outrage when she is violated. She shows us a woman timid, because there's never been enough in her life to fight over, so she never learned, and therefore a woman defenseless, but a woman nonetheless with fortitude. Kinski's Tess appreciates Angel Clare's passive rebellion, while other girls are interested only in whether or not he is handsome. Kinski has a lot of screen time relative to the number of lines she has, but Kinski doesn't need to be speaking to be acting; this is a mark of real talent.

So see the movie, especially if you like on-location films with lots of panned shots, greenery, thick meadows; really looks like Wessex, even though it's France. But somewhere along the line, you may want to read the book as well; it's really, REALLY good, you can imagine Tess looking any way you want, and you don't miss anything if you get up for popcorn.


Shabby Treatment of Tess - Columbia screws up again!   October 23, 2004
 62 out of 66 found this review helpful

Roman Polanski's film of Tess finally makes it to DVD but in such a poor transfer that it hardly seems worthwhile. This is a film of rare beauty in so many ways and long awaited so why have Columbia given it such a cheap and nasty transfer to DVD.

The print is not new and not restored. The colours are bright and true but there are loads of artifacts, scratches, dots, jumps, speckles etc throughout the film.This is a 3 hour film and there are very good extras, 72 minutes worth, taking the running time to over 4 hours. Columbia decides to cram all this information onto a single disc and naturally the picture and sound quality suffer. If they had gone to a second disc this would be improved but the print used is still far from perfect.

Important also; this copy is not the 'roadshow' version that played the major cities on its initial release with the intermission and musical overtures, however they have left the exit music at the end but cut off the final few chords!!!

Even worse is the sound quality. This was one of the first major features to use 'Dolby Stereo'. On its initial release the sound was flawless with a very lively surround track and great depth that particularly showed off the luscious score by Phillipe Sarde. The print used here has not been enhanced for 5:1 and doesnt even seem to have been remastered for DVD. Throughout the film there are wierd low frequency rumblings and distortions, and more irritatingly 'hiss'. These episodes come and go but generally the sound balance is all wrong. When the surround does come to life it leaps into life but with strange sounds coming from strange places in the sound stage.During the Stonehenge sequence at the end of the film when there is supposed to be spiritual activity coming from the surround channel, on this DVD version sounds like a party going on nearby. Very disturbing at the climax of the film. The sound levels are inconsistent throughout - sometimes very loud followed by too quiet and I found myself consistently reaching for the remote.

This is yet another blunder by Columbia as it is sold as an overpriced SE. Which means that we are unlikely to see a decent transfer in the next 10 years.This is a shabby way to treat such a special and beautiful film after so many years of neglect. Buyer beware!


Exquisite, captivating, unsurpassed film adaptation of Hardy   January 20, 2000
 31 out of 33 found this review helpful

I write as someone with an English ancestry going back three centuries and a passionate love for Hardy's novels and poetry. I live within five miles of Dorset and have visited practically all the towns and villages mentioned by Hardy using his Wessex aliases. I was prepared to scoff at Tess - Polish director on the run from US police, a German girl in the title role, French locations and finance...even a mock Stonehenge. I was wrong, hopelessly wrong. Today I remain in total thrall to this movie, Roman Polanski and Nastassja Kinski. I believe it is an artistic masterpiece just as important in its own way as an Old Master painting or a Shakespearean sonnet. Tess has enriched my life, and, having it watched it at least 50 times, provides an enduring source of pleasure to me. Yes, there are moments that jar - Nastassja's occasionally-heard Teutonic accent as in "Let me see that ledder (letter)" and, in one hilarious moment, even balalaika music - but I can forgive them without the slightest hesitation. I know the area in which Hardy set Tess, and, astonishingly - as he filmed it in Normandy - Polanski has managed to recreate some Dorset settings with almost mystical skill. Marnhull, or Hardy's Marlot, for example, has a real-life church on a hill that can be seen for miles - so does the village as seen in the film. Was it accidental, or just another example of Polanski's passion for detail and authenticity for which he is justly renowned? Unfortunately, Nastassja has made some real lemons since Tess and sadly she may never turn in another performance of such outstanding brilliance. Or will she? Hardy's remaining works may give her that chance. How would she fare, for example, as Bathsheba in Far From the Madding Crowd? If you want my opinion, divinely.


THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE   August 19, 2004
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I went to see this movie at the Odeon Southampton , England , the week it came out . It changed my life and not only re introduced me to Thomas Hardy but also set a benchmark for production values that no movie has ever come close to .
There is true elegance in every frame and the movie has a soundtrack to die for .
You need to own this DVD . You really do .

Neville Judd



Film - five stars, DVD - three stars   October 24, 2004
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I agree with a previous reviewer that the DVD transfer is not as stunning as it could have been. "Tess" features gorgeous cinematography, but the DVD looks like nobody cleaned up the dirt from the film's negatives. The film looks good in daylight scenes but any scenes set at night or with grey skies looks grainy and specs of dirt are evident throughout.

It's great to have "Tess" on DVD, and the featurettes are a nice bonus since there is not a lot of information about the making of "Tess", but if this is supposed to be a "Special Edition" a two-disc set would have been more appopriate.

Even the cover of the DVD makes Nastassja Kinski look anorexic.

Talk about a DVD sacrificing quality for $$$$.