Jude

Winterbottom keeps the temperature of the searing original novel in his faithful, brilliantly realised film adaptation. Hardy was sick when writing Jude, out of sorts, and the bleak tale has in some quarters been credited more to bile than his muse. Jude's fate is certainly more damning than other Hardy heroes such as Tess, and the final third of this tale requires a strong heart to get through.

Jude Fawley is a self-educated stonemason looking to enter the hallowed halls of (a thinly-disguised) Oxford. Class and snobbery combine to crush that dream, but he fights and wins his other dream, to secure the love of his cousin Sue. Headstrong and independent, a prototype Suffragette, she will face her own stern test and be found wanting.

Christopher Eccleston inhabits the character fully. The scene in the pub where he recites the Lord's Creed in Latin, then challenges the undergrads to judge if he got it right, is painful and poignant. Winslet is stunning as the admirable but infuriating Sue Brideshead whose choices in life are oblique but all-too-real. A cold draft of air oozes from her expression every time she shuns Jude. There isn't a missed beat in Winslet's portrayal of a woman who goes from supremely confident to utterly lost.

Winterbottom would go on to tinker and experiment, unsuccessfully, with Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge in The Claim. Here, he keeps it strictly BBC, evoking the early industrial age magnificently in his cobbled streets and fog-shrouded spires. An array of British acting talent fill out the supporting roles superbly, most notably Liam Cunningham as the put-upon Phillotson, and Rachel Griffiths as pig-hugging Arabella, whose rising fortune sways in counter-point to Jude's slow, inexorable decline. In one scene where she encounters her estranged son at a fairground, the interaction between woman and child is both naturalistic and magical. The expression on the face of Little Jude's sister is priceless. Perhaps a happy accident, perhaps genius from the director, but all the more tragic for what follows.

One of the most ill-fated couples in British literature are vividly brought to life in this film, designed to satisfy fans of the novel. Hardy, one feels, would approve.

This film has remained in my mind since the first time I saw it (back in the winter of 1997) and has earned its place as my favorite movie of all time; while not technically spectacular, commercially successful, or critically supported, it is both a wicked strike at oppressive Victorian morals, a sour commentary on the effects of religion on a society, and an extremely well-crafted love story about a relationship that endures years of torment on both sides and a horrible tragedy. Kate Winslet and Christopher Eccleston are the two best British actors working today (check out "Heavenly Creatures" and "Shallow Grave" if you don't believe me) and I applaud Michael Winterbottom for bringing this great book to the screen.

You can't discuss this movie without discussing the novel of the same name. The movie stays remarkably true to the novel; from character to location. If anything, the movie enhances the novel--through Christopher Eccleston's fantastic performance we see in Jude the light of desire and the crush of defeat.

Though another review characterizes Thomas Hardy's depiction of females as misogynistic, I disagree. The character of Arabella is certainly a villain at her heart, but the character of Sue Bridehead is a mirror of our tragic hero, Jude. Through their interactions, we see not only a stunning performance by Kate Winslet, but also a relationship of equals in misery. Certainly, the males in the novel and movie are depicted at least as wretchedly as the females.

This movie draws the viewer in and gives you insight into Jude's world, from it's optimistic beginning to its tragic end. Definitely not a date movie, but absolutely fine film-making.

The adage "a great novel rarely makes a great movie" is not as true as is supposed, but I'm sorry to say it's true here. Director Michael Winterbottom and writer Hossein Amini fail here because they fail to understand the town of Christminster, the town Jude loathes and yet wants to be accepted by so desperately. The town functions almost as a character in the novel, but here you feel nothing from it, and therefore the context for everyone's actions is removed. And except for Sue and Arabella(well played by Kate Winslet and Rachel Griffiths, respectively), the characters are underdeveloped). It looks appropriately dark, and the other actors are good, but I felt at the end like there was something missing.

Set in late 1800's Britain, "Jude" traces the life of the title character (Eccleston), a learned but humble stonemason, who courageously struggles with life's disappointments only to be struck with unspeakable tragedy. A beautifully depressing human drama, "Jude" traverses the highs and lows of life through its dreary tale of one man's steadfast conviction to his beliefs and to the woman he loves. Not for everyone, "Jude" is a film for realists into serious drama which many will likely regard as a "downer". (B+)