The heroes and heroines of Thomas Hardy novels are some of the most tragic and unlucky in all of literature. Scholars of the classic English novel adore Hardy for the same reason that they are scholars of the English novel—they are gluttons for punishment. Hardy’s books are beautifully and poetically written, which makes the stark awfulness of the events that unfold within them all the more painful to read—and yet, these books are also impossible to put down. At least they are for me.
I am one of those aforementioned gluttons for punishment. I love the gorgeous tragedy of Hardy’s stories. They remind you that modern life is a lot easier than life was back then, especially if one was a woman. They also remind you that no matter how bad things seem, they can always get worse, so keep your head up. Tess Durbeyfield, perhaps the best known of Hardy’s tragic heroines, does as much; she refuses to be a mere victim no matter how many awful things try to strike her down. A&E’s The Thomas Hardy Collection is a two DVD set that contains an adaptation of her story, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, as well as one of the lesser known of his great works, The Mayor of Casterbridge. Both play as a somewhat poor-man’s version of Masterpiece Theater, though that doesn’t keep them from being enjoyable to watch if you like that sort of thing.
Tess Durbeyfield’s problems result a lot from her family’s ineptitude and stupidity, for which one can’t help but feel sorry for her. Then again, a lot also result from her own naivety and stupidity, for which one might not share sympathy. This complexity is what makes her story so appealing; the dramatic events that unfold can be read in multiple ways once Hardy presents them. Yet adaptations tend to make it all a lot simpler, and to lean towards the more sympathetic viewpoint, as though they fear their audience won’t like watching a complicated protagonist. Let me give you some advice: if your audience is tuning in to a Thomas Hardy costume drama, they know what they’re getting into. This adaptation is definitely guilty of that, and is one reason why it is not the definitive Tess (that title belongs to the 2008 BBC adaptation starring the incomparable and beautiful Gemma Arterton). Another reason is the lead performance of Justine Waddell, who emphasizes all that is annoying about Tess and less of what is remarkable. Tess is a strikingly modern woman, as are many of Hardy’s female protagonists, yet Waddell’s performance is rather one-note.
The plot is such: Tess Durbeyfield discovers that her down-and-out family is descended from the ancient and respectable D’Urberville line. Her mother, eager to take advantage of any possibly familial charity, sends Tess to claim kin at the nearby D’Urberville estate. Here she meets Alec (the reliably good Jason Flemyng), who on the surface is all charm and attractiveness, but has darker intentions. Tess’s fortunes veer even further downhill from there, and at times the onslaught of tragedy can be a lot to handle. Yet the beauty of Hardy’s Wessex countryside and of the language spoken by the characters makes the whole story palatable. If only they had ditched the unnecessary, pedantic voiceover, and cast someone else in the lead role.
The second film in the set, The Mayor of Casterbridge, fares better than the first despite being a less celebrated story to start from. This is partially because the quality of acting is superior, since the lead role of Michael Henchard is played by Ciaran Hinds, he of costume drama fame and glory due to his roles in adaptations of Jane Eyre and Persuasion, among others. Henchard is a cruel drunkard who in a fleeting moment of inebriation at a fair, auctions off his wife Susan and baby daughter to a sailor. He only later realizes his terrible mistake and vows to not touch liquor again for at least twenty-one years. Nineteen years later, the sailor dies, and Susan seeks out Henchard once again, with their now-grown daughter, Elizabeth Jane. Elizabeth believes the sailor to be her true father and knows nothing of the events of the past. To top it off, Henchard is now mayor of the town of Casterbridge and a thriving businessman to boot. When the family is united, is appears that they’ll finally get their happy ending. But nothing is that simple in a Hardy novel. The past and the secrets and lies that come with it will always come back to haunt our heroes, and in the case of Henchard, they do so tenfold. The film is mysterious and dramatic and the three leads that comprise the family at the center of the drama are all very good.
Overall, if you are a Hardy scholar or completist, these are definitely worth checking out. Since there are far fewer adaptations of The Mayor of Casterbridge out there than there are of Tess, that makes the second disc rate slightly higher than the first, but nonetheless, both are decent films to sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy on a long, rainy afternoon.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
The only bonus features on the set are two still frames that contain a brief text biography of Hardy (though if you’re watching these films you probably already know a bit about him) and a bibliography of his work. I would have appreciated more historical context, as in some short featurettes on the time period and how they recreated it for the films, since that information is always incredibly interesting.
"The Thomas Hardy Collection" is on sale August 16, 2011 and is rated . Drama, Television. Directed by David Thacker, Ian Sharp. Written by Ted Whitehead. Starring Ciaran Hinds, Jason Flemyng, Justine Waddell.
