Tess of d'urbervilles

Directed by Roman Polanski; written by Mr. Polanski, Gerard Brach, and John Brownjohn, based on the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy; cinematographers, Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet; edited by Alastair McIntyre and Tom Priestley; music by Philippe Sarde; production designer, Pierre Guffroy; produced by Claude Berri; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 170 minutes.

With: Nastassja Kinski (Tess), John Collin (John Durbeyfield), Leigh Lawson (Alec Durbeyfield), Tony Church (Parson Tringham) and Peter Firth (Angel Clare).

Last night I watched Tess by Roman Polanski an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Novel “Tess of the d'Urbervilles”.
i gave Polanski’s Tess my highest rating for the excellent translation of the words into cinematographic images which said is a very slow film. I do believe If you can get into the emotion, you won't notice the 3 hours running time that passes.That might be impossible for many on the home screen,myself included , since the phone rings,…and you probably won’t have a chance to dedicate yourself solely to the pictures.
Polanski’s Tess although heavily criticized by many when was shown at the Cannes Film Festival,due to the coincidence of Polanski facing criminal charges in USA have been very successful in expressing directors targeted ideas .
Tess played skillfully by Nastassja Kinski in the title role is a passive innocent girl trapped in a world which human conduct is governed by social prejudices and elements of small coincidences which conforms her destiny. his father discovers through an accidental encounter that he is the oldest branch of an old aristocratic and because of that she is forced to follow the fate which is governed for her through a series of events which leads to a tragedy unless she has every attribute that should make for happiness ….
I believe Polanski have been able to add an extra dimension to this atmosphere by using different filters in both interior and exterior scenes (the photography spanned for nearly 9 months to cover the changes in seasons which reflect changes in Tess’s life) and in my idea over-stereotyping the characters such as Alec D’uberville( his moustache and oiled hair and the expressions he uses) and applying monotonous voices to the characters .

For me the saddest part is when Tess writes a letter to Angel and leaves it by his door confessing to what has happened to her. The letter is not found and read by Angel, an angel who can not pardon Tess for her past and even now Tess is unable to convince him to stay….

Angel returns from Brazil and finally finds Tess in a Boarding house in sandBourne , during all these scenes our attention is continuously focused on her although she is not shown till we immediately find everything about her just by her appearance….

Polanski’s Tess is a victim and remains a victim and even her Angel fails to help her out. At the final scenes Tess sleeps on Slabs which is believed to be a place where the victims where sacrificed. The sun beautifully rises and another beautiful day begins…..