Tess
The events of the story are set in motion when a clergyman, Parson Tringham, has a chance conversation with John Durbeyfield, a simple farmer. Tringham is a local historian, and in the course of his research he has discovered the 'Durbeyfields' are descended from the d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the Conqueror. The family lost its land and prestige when the male heirs died out. The parson thinks Durbeyfield might like to know his origins as a passing historical curiosity.
16 April 1932, Chindrieux, Savoie, France
1 August 1918, Monmouth, Gwent, Wales, UK
1912, England, UK
27 February 1946, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK
5 June 1917, Marylebone, London, England, UK
12 August 1911, Dundee, Scotland, UK
10 September 1944, Birmingham, England, UK
13 June 1943, England, UK
27 April 1953, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
10 December 1909, Darjeeling, India
24 August 1924, Newmarket, Suffolk, England, UK
24 September 1902, Maisons-Lafitte, Yvelines, France
3 April 1913, Wick, Worcestershire, England, UK
1949, Cupar, Scotland, UK
1960, London, England, UK
11 May 1930, London, England, UK
7 April 1941, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, UK
8 February 1952, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, UK
February 19, 2010
Insufferably long, but very good in parts.
February 19, 2010
Visually, Tess is a masterpiece, capturing in amazing detail the scenery and atmosphere of the England of yore. The film's chief drawback, however, is its lack of vitality.
January 08, 2007
Though not one of Polanski's best features, this adaptation of Thomas Hardy's challenging novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, is intelligent if flawed, but it's nice to look at due to excellent production values, particularly cinematography.
February 25, 2014
The film, like its source, is filled with pessimistic fatalism, but it spares no pity for the instruments of fate [...] What, if anything, this meant to Polanski remains unknowable.
May 20, 2003
Without Mr. Polanski's name in the credits, this lush and scenic Tess could even be mistaken for the work of David Lean.
March 06, 2014
This is Kinski's show and she flat out steals it.
January 01, 2000
een in the context of Roman Polanski's career it becomes something rich and strange, shaded into terror by the naturalistic absurdism that is the basis of Polanski's style.
June 24, 2006
Tess tells one rather more about its director's much publicised preoccupations than about Hardy's themes.
February 06, 2014
Unexciting.
October 23, 2004
This is a wonderful film.
April 18, 2014
Roman Polanski is one of those men who, despite his icky treatment of women in real life, manages to create strong and compelling female characters for the screen.
February 19, 2010
Tess is a sensitive, intelligent screen treatment of a literary masterwork.
