Tess
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Tess (disambiguation).
| Tess | |
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 Original movie poster for Tess |
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| Directed by | Roman Polański |
| Produced by | Claude Berri |
| Written by | Gerard Brach, John Brownjohn, Roman Polański (screenplay) Based on the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy |
| Starring | Nastassja Kinski Peter Firth Leigh Lawson |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography | Ghislain Cloquet Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing by | Alastair McIntyre Tom Priestly |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 12, 1980 |
| Running time | 190 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom/France |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Tess is a 1979 English language romance and drama film based on the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and directed by Roman Polański. It tells the story of a young strong-willed peasant woman who is seduced by her wealthy aristocratic cousin, whose right to the family title may not be as strong as he claims. The film was adapted by Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, and Roman Polanski. The original music score was composed by Philippe Sarde.
Taglines:
- She was born into a world where they called it seduction, not rape. What she did would shatter that world forever.
- She was a poor man's daughter, an aristocrat's mistress, and a gentleman's wife. She was Tess, a victim of her own provocative beauty.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story takes place in rural Dorsetshire, England, during the Victorian period.
Its events are set in motion innocently enough 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 actually descended from the d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the Conqueror. It is useless knowledge, really, as the family lost its land and prestige when the male heirs died out. The parson merely thinks Durbeyfield might like to know his origins as a passing historical curiosity.
Unfortunately, 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 seduces 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, eventually seduces/rapes her, and she leaves, pregnant; back at home, the baby is born sickly and dies.
Some time later, Tess goes to a dairy farm and begins work as a milkmaid. There she meets her true love: an aspiring young missionary from a respectable family, named Angel Clare. Angel believes Tess to be an unspoiled country girl, and completely innocent. They fall in love, but Tess does not guiltily confess her previous relationship with Alec until their wedding night. Disillusioned, Angel rejects her and Tess finds herself alone once again.
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 torrid relationship with Alec, becoming his mistress in order to support her mother and siblings.
Shortly afterward 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 is remorseful at his treatment of Tess. He succeeds in tracking her down -- but leaves heartbroken when he finds her cohabiting with Alec. Tess realizes that a second time, allowing Alec to manipulate and seduce her has ruined her chances at happiness with Angel. She suffers a mental breakdown and murders Alec in a rage.
Running away to find Angel, Tess is able to reconcile with him; for he can finally accept and embrace her as his wife without passing moral judgment on her actions. They consummate their marriage, spending one night of happiness together before Tess is arrested, tried, and executed.
[edit] Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Nastassja Kinski | Tess Durbeyfield |
| Peter Firth | Angel Clare |
| Leigh Lawson | Alec d'Urberville |
| John Collin | John Dureyfield |
| Rosemary Martin | Mrs. Dureyfield |
| Carolyn Pickles | Miriam |
| Richard Pearson | Vicar of Marlott |
| David Markham | Reverend Clare |
| Pascale de Boysson | Mrs. Clare |
| Suzanna Hamilton | Izz Huett |
| Caroline Embling | Retty |
| Tony Church | Parson Tringham |
| Leslie Dunlop | Girl in benbouse |
| Sylvia Coleridge | Mrs. d'Uberville |
| Fred Bryant | Dairyman Crick |
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Academy Award nominations
- Golden Globe Awards
- Best Foreign Language Film
- New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture
- Golden Globe Award nominations
[edit] Box office
The film grossed US$20,093,330 in the United States.
[edit] Trivia
- When Roman Polański last saw his wife Sharon Tate alive (before she was murdered by Charles Manson's gang), she had given her husband a copy of the book Tess of the d'Urbervilles, convinced that Polański would someday make a great film based on it. The dedication at the film's beginning reads simply: "For Sharon".
- Although the film is set in England, it was filmed in Quimper, Brittany, France. This is because director Roman Polański was wanted for statutory rape charges in the United States, and he could have been extradited from the United Kingdom.
- The melody that Angel Clare, a Victorian period Englishman, plays on the recorder is a popular Polish folk song, "Laura i Filon".
- In October 1978, cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died of a heart attack during the third week of shooting. Most of the film's scenes he shot were exteriors in the first half of the film and can be noticed by some fog and slight diffusion.
- Ghislain Cloquet shot the second half and the remaining of the film with most of the scenes in interiors with no diffusion. Rumor has that among the scenes shot by Geoffrey Unsworth before his death were:
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- The foggy day-to-night seduction in the woods.
- The tent and the strawberries where Tess is in the Duberville mansion.
- The large cows being milked.
- The girls seeing Angel at sunrise.
- Angel carries the girls over the stream.
[edit] External links
- Tess at the Internet Movie Database
- Tess at Rotten Tomatoes
