Nonureva
Really Surprised!
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
leplatypus
It's an excellent movie because it scores in each corner: it has a wonderful, gripping story that can speaks to anyone with heart. As it's an adaptation, you will be interested in reading the novel. Beyond the personal drama, I remember two scandals that are always verified today: 1) education is elitist as it expels those who don't have pedigree 2) Christian congregation is highly hypocritical as they achieve to turn a message of love into one of rejection. It has wonderful locations, between the green pastures and the austere British cities (for those who have seen Spielberg's "War Horse", it has the same ambiance). Winterbottom is inspired to fill his frames and Johnston's soundtrack is just one of the best ever as it gives such poetry to the pictures. As for the cast, it's just an amazing reunion: Eccleston finds his career pick as his Jude is such a good man: always sincere, hardworking, caring, sometimes sad but never quits! Kate is always fascinating by her precocity and by her personal choices for free- spirited characters!
miss_lady_ice-853-608700
Jude The Obscure is Thomas Hardy's final novel, and his bleakest. It doesn't seem an obvious choice for cinema, hence why it failed at the box office.An air of gloom hangs over the whole proceedings. The story is a little like Tess- a man's chance at love is destroyed by a woman from his past. Jude (Christopher Eccleston) is the man in question- an ambitious country boy whose desire is to become a student at Christminster (Hardy's made-up name for Oxford). He moves to Christminster and falls in love with his clever cousin Sue Brideshead (Kate Winslet). Unfortunately he is already married- to loose country girl Arabella (Rachel Griffiths), who keeps popping up and ruining Jude's chance at happiness. The climax of the film is one of the most tragic and horrific things you will see in a long time.The film is quite well done. It is a bit graphic (this is Michael Winterbottom after all) and anachronistic in places, but there are enough tinges of Hardy to make it a costume drama. He certainly hasn't butchered it as he butchered Tess in his film Trishna.The problem of the film is that Jude is a bit of a ninny, who doesn't seem to have the ruthlessness or the cleverness needed to get into the academic elite and constantly runs back to Arabella. The incestuous aspect is also very off-putting. One feels sorry for Jude and Sue but one can never feel entirely comfortable with their relationship.Another problem, at least adaptation-wise, is that Arabella, who is a horrible sadist in the book from what I've heard, is merely a nuisance here. Perhaps Winterbottom thought that might be too much misery for people but it does mean that the film ends abruptly.Acting-wise, everything is fine. Eccleston convinces as a country boy, although his Northern accent does come out at times. Winslet does well as spirited Sue Brideshead, similar to Rose in Titanic so not much of a stretch for her.EDIT: Having now read the novel- not my favourite Hardy novel but a powerful novel nonetheless- the film gets the sexuality right. Everything that Hardy couldn't show, this film shows, so for those who complain that the film has too much nudity, this is actually quite true to the novel- particularly as none of it is very erotic. Jude's weakness for the flesh is almost animalistic.Leaving aside the hot and steamy, we have that whole spiritual dimension. That part of the novel is quite hard to translate and it doesn't really come through in this film. Jude is meant to be too noble for this world, hindered by his fleshy desires.And the film really does let Arabella off too lightly. In this, she's a typical country wench- a tart with not much of a heart. However in the book, she's not only a tart with no heart, she's a proper butcher, cruel to the point of sadism.
dorothy-tripp
If you like dark dramas, this is your movie. Very true to the book and absolutely engrossing. The locations are beautiful. The acting is superb. The characters are richly brought out, and you can understand their thought processes. This is a moral play, as well as a look at the way society imposes rules of conduct. I stumbled on this wonderful film while watching the romance channel on television in 2000. I came in toward the middle, but was immediately drawn into the story. I searched high and low for the video, and when I want a moody drama, this is where I go. This film will make you think. Obviously, the book is practically required reading after you see this movie. You'll just be compelled to know more. Truly a haunting movie that you will remember for a long time.
Kevin Gillette
The gentleman from the UK who commented on the film and said that he hadn't read the book is very intuitive regarding the book's motive force - and quite correct!Thomas Hardy (my favorite author) wrote many of his novels as searing polemic against the institutions of Victorian English society. Hardy was a modern thinker, and felt that the societal strictures that predestined people to riches or servitude were abhorrent in the extreme.It seems evident that the film was suggestive enough of this agenda, so on that score the film is successful.
