Peter Viney's Blog

Based on the novel by Thomas Hardy
Screenplay by David Nicholls

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Composer Craig Armstrong

MAIN CAST
Carey Mulligan – Bathsheba Everdene
Matthias Schoenaerts – Gabriel Oak
Tom Sturridge- Seargrant Troy
Michael Sheen – Mr Boldwood
Juno Temple- Fanny Robbin
Jessica Barden – Liddy

SEE ALSO: Far From The Madding Crowd (1967)

Did I see the 1967 film before I read it? I don’t know. We did Mayor of Casterbridge for GCE, and Jude The Obscure at college. However, my copy is dated June 1968 by which time I would have seen the film.

We had found a pile of old Sunday Times Culture magazines and Karen glanced through before binning them, and came across Camilla Long’s original 2015 review. In some shock, she said, ‘She prefers it to the Julie Christie version (aka John Schlesinger version / 1967 version / Terence Stamp version).
‘Impossible!’ I said.
‘Let’s watch it again to see.’

So it was the third time. Cinema in 2015. Then the DVD. We still have the DVD. I’d been dismissive on first viewing in comparing it to 1967. It’s shorter (113 minutes) instead of 170 minutes. There’s no circus scene. We have rewatched the 1967 yet again since we last saw it.

It’s all about comparison, actor by actor. Dorset is still Dorset. I think they lost opportunities to show the beauty of Durdle Dor because they didn’t want to replicate Schelsinger’s iconic shots. Not one of the main characters tries Dorset accents except Liddy, Bathsheba’s servant. From my point of view they would likely have got it wrong. It’s my ancestral accent, and I’m hyper-critical. However, it’s noticeable by its absence. Bathsheba is way too RP for my ears. It’s 1870, it says on the opening screens. Difficult. The RP (Received pronunciation) accent was spread via public schools. In 1870, I think even a wealthy landowner like Mr Boldwood (born circa 1820, educated 1830) would have had a Dorset burr. Certainly a farmer’s niece like Bathsheba.

Carey Mulligan is a great actor and we have seen her on stage. She does feisty and strong-willed easily. She is extremely attractive. There is an issue with her mouth. Its default position looks like a grin. I had a friend at school who had a very similar mouth. He kept getting detentions. ‘What are you smirking at, boy?’ ‘I’m not smirking, sir.’ ‘You are! You’re still doing it!’ So when serious stuff is going on, she can seem amused. You get used to it. Julie Christie could look more vulnerable.

The first major difference is Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts as Gabriel Oak. Carey Mulligan was asked which if the three suitors she would have chosen herself, and she said ‘Gabriel Oak, From the moment he arrived with the lamb.’ This shifts from Alan Bates as ‘the great lump’ Gabriel. Diffident, downcast, downtrodden but loyal. Not sexy. There is no question from very early on that Matthias Schoenaerts is the co-star with Mulligan. There is no question that it will not end with a long passionate kiss and a walk hand-in-hand into the distance. The balance has shifted.

Then we have Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Troy. Go back to 1967 with Terence Stamp as Troy. Charismatic, already famous, good-looking sex symbol. No question then that Troy was the co-lead. Not here. He gets far less screen time too. We saw Sturridge on stage the year this came out, in American Buffalo with Damian Lewis and John Goodman.

Camilla Long: Tom Sturridge seems like serious miscasting at first: too reedy, too weasely, too unattractive. Troy is an accomplished flirt, but must also be drop dead gorgeous. Terence Stamp was gorgeous. The real point of Troy though is that he is an utterly charming and unpleasant man who spoke “fluently and unceasingly,” who disliked women and lied to them ‘like a Cretan’. Hardy despises Bathsheba for her ability to be flattered by him. It is ultimately a Bottom and Titania situation. Everybody else can see it, but she can’t. In the event Sturridge delivers a fine, serpentine performance; after a while it doesn’t really matter that he looks like Ratty from Wind in The Willows.’
Sunday Times Culture 3 May 2015

Is it truer to the book? Are we going to be seduced along with Bathsheba by Stamp’s Troy? Or repelled by Sturridge’s Troy? As Camilla Long says ‘Everybody else can see it. But she can’t.’ The repulsive Troy is better for the story. When he first forcibly kisses Bathsheba, the director has added what he calls a ‘Danish handshake’ – he grabs her crotch. She is left somewhat thoughtful. (That’s not in the book, as you might have guessed).

Then we have Mr Boldwood. Michael Sheen in the 2015 version is younger looking than Peter Finch was as Mr Boldwood in 1967. Finch looked more uptight, more serious.

Camilla Long: Michael Sheen almost feels too young, too sexy for stiff Boldwood, but he makes up for it by being cripplingly shy, unable to sit at the head of the table without looking hysterically awkward. His rictus grin is extraordinary, especially when faced with the evil Sergeant Troy.

The duet between Carey Milligan and Michael Sheen is very good. As is Troy’s bawdy song at the wedding party- the women all leave the room.

Juno Temple is a touching Fanny Robbin, who went to the wrong church. All Souls instead of All Saints so missed out on marrying Troy. Her open coffin scene is powerful too.

On the storyline, Camilla Long has a point. Gabriel Oak is the hero now from the start. The ending is even more romantic. I disagree that the 2015 Dorset looks better. Schlesinger did all the atmospheric shots. Bathsheba’s “farm” is a major estate. Overdone. Why they had to go 100 miles to find a film location for Boldwood’s house escapes me. There are plenty of local Dorset candidates. There are spectacular shots. The sheep being pushed over the cliff, the thunderstorm threatening the hay ricks, the hiring fair, the bucolic sheep dipping.

It’s worth rewatching, especially if the 1967 version dominated so much that you were unable to get into the 2015 one. Given only one, I’m still with Schlesinger, but the third time revealed the later one as better than I remembered.