Tess (1979)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Gérard Brach (screenplay) &
Roman Polanski (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 December 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

As timely today as the day it was written.

Plot:

A young strong-willed peasant girl, becomes the affection of two men, in the end tragically falling into the arms of one.

Plot Keywords:

Love | 19th Century | Peasant | Girl | Tragedy

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

John Collin	...	John Durbeyfield
Tony Church	...	Parson Tringham
Nastassja Kinski	...	Tess (as Nastassia Kinski)
Brigid Erin Bates	...	Girl in meadow
Jeanne Biras	...	Girl in meadow
Peter Firth	...	Angel Clare
John Bett	...	Felix Clare
Tom Chadbon	...	Cuthbert Clare
Rosemary Martin	...	Mrs. Durbeyfield
Geraldine Arzul	...	Child
Stephanie Treille	...	Child
Elodie Warnod	...	Child
Ben Reeks	...	Child
Leigh Lawson	...	Alec d'Urberville
Lesley Dunlop	...	Girl in henhouse

Runtime:

190 min | Argentina:150 min | France:170 min | 172 min (DVD) | West Germany:134 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:A (1980) | UK:PG (1987) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 (w) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Château de Beaumanoir, Le Leslay, Côtes-d'Armor, France

Company:

Renn Productions

Trivia:

Director of Photography Geoffrey Unsworth died of a heart attack during the third week of shooting at the end of October 1978. Most of the film's scenes shot by him were exteriors in the first half of the movie and can be noticed by some fog and slight diffusion. Ghislain Cloquet shot the second half and the remaining of the movie with most of his scenes in interiors with no diffusion. Rumor has that among the scenes shot by Unsworth before his death were: - 1) The foggy day-to-night seduction in the woods - 2) The tent and the strawberries when Tess is in the D'Uberville mansion. - 3) The large barn of cows being milked. - 4) The girls seeing Angel at sunrise. - 5) Angel carries the girls over the stream.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the beginning of the final sequence, set at Stonehenge, someone's head can be seen at bottom-left.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 'Tess': From Novel to Screen (2004) (V)

A return viewing.

Roman Polanksi's Tess gets better and better with age.

The mists...the sounds of footsteps on the dirt roads... the ambling horse... the elflike man that appears at the Cross in Hands, Tess' walk to her Inlaws church, The dripping water, The taking of the boots, the misplaced letter, the milk run, the puddle in the road, the dripping milk pouches, The strawberry, the blood stain, The burial, Stonehenge...Everything is beautifully shot. It lingers in the mind long after viewing. Geoffrey Unsworth's final cinematographic film. Thank you for all your beautiful work.

It is neither pretentious nor bold.

Mesmerizing! The musical composition is charging.

Nastassja Kinski's plays the title character. She reacts so well. Her beauty in a time of such oppression and depression would be an ill fate. Tess knows this fate and she wishes she was never born. She is the sacrifice of a paradigm. Victorian era was finished. Edwardian Enlightenment would soon come but not for Tess, the sacrificial pure beauty.

Thomas Hardy created a pure woman in Tess. That is why her plight is so tragic. She possesses a strong spirit that is oppressed by the male political and religious world around her.

The opening shot is well directed in the morning sunrise as fair maidens dance with one another. Tess' oversight by Angel begins this tragic tale. "As Flies to wanton boys, are we to the Gods, they kill us for their sport."

Tess, Thomas Hardy

Do not take your eyes off of it. It is beautifully told!

Victor Nunnally, MFA Film Production and Theory, BFA Dramatic Theory and History, AA Performing Experience.