Review of  Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen

Gordon Bennett, that was good! I love a good period drama over and above any other type of adaptation. I love the romance, the sensation, the costumes, the nods to history (which are sometimes somewhat tongue in cheek!) and, of course, the dashing hero or handsome, but villainous cad who puts the reputation and morality of the helpless, and often hopeless, heroine in jeopardy. 

When period dramas are good they can be really good, case in point is Andrew Davies’ 1995 Pride and Prejudice. That's partly because the dramatist already has an amazing springboard to bounce off. The original source novel has been chosen because it tells a fascinating story and with the help of clever scriptwriting and appropriate casting, the nineteenth-century novel can leap into action on our screens bringing some of our most loved fictional characters to life.

Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd is one of these brilliantly executed adaptations. It is at once humorous and full of pathos. He represents some of the key proto-feminist (before the feminist movement of  the ‘60s) issues in the book, such as a desire for independence and the female experience, by showing the places that women are allowed to go and the things that women were allowed to do and as the film explains business was not one of those arenas. 

As an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s book, it's very good. Vinterberg has taken a bit of an Andrew Davies approach, i.e., sexing up the novel’s central characters by choosing rugged handsome actors (Matthias Schoenaerts) who smoulder and brood over their secret, unrequited love. It was a narrow escape that Schoenaerts doesn't get the full on Mr Darcy Colin Firth wet shirt moment!

The chemistry between Bathsheba Everdene and impoverished farmer Gabriel Oak is sweetly and tactly navigated in this adaptation. As is Bathsheba’s tense relationship with the wealthy, aristocratic and obsessed William Boldwood (Michael Sheen). Vinterberg has not completely abandoned the issue of class division between Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak, but it has been downplayed. This may be because Vinterberg felt that it was no longer relevant to us as we apparently now live in a classless society? I certainly feel that it is still a relevant topic to us today and even if it weren't, it would still be understandable as it’s in living memory. In the novel, Bathsheba was also revolutionary for the period because of her rejection of Gabriel Oak’s proposal as she valued her independence too much to marry. We’ll always love a social maverick so maybe this theme could  have been more evident too.

Ultimately this is a great film. As an adaptation it’s not perhaps the strictest but that's the joy of an adaptation. It doesn't have to be faithful to the original. Adaptation is a space for experimentation (look at the successes of teen films 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless) and Vinterberg has experimented with the key themes and central characters of Far from the Madding Crowd but it has worked really well because of the strong cast and brilliant filming. I'll definitely be watching it again!  Do check it out when you have the chance!