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| Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [2008] | ![Tess Of The D'Urbervilles [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51r3P-wyJEL._SL160_.jpg)
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| Actors: Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, Ruth Jones, Hans Matheson
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £24.99
Buy New: £15.98
You Save: £9.01 (36%)
New (12) from £15.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 320
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Running Time: 200 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5051561027710
ASIN: B001E454FM
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: October 27, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Poor Thomas Hardy November 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thought this new BBC dvd was quite good - until near the end when Tess
and Angel are hiding in the empty mansion and we are suddenly confronted
with and orgy of nudity and sex. I think the BBC have lost the plot.
Thomas Hardy's text certainly does not call for such an exhibition.
I think the older versions available have more integrity and artistic
merit.
Cold and Despairing! November 13, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was extremely disappointed with this BBC adaptation of the Hardy classic. It was unrelentingly grim and despairing and I found the characterisation of Angel Clare very unconvincing.
For a truly special portrayal of Tess of the D'urbervilles you should look no further than the 1998 television production starring Justine Waddell in the title role. It brings the 'Wessex' countryside of the 19th century to life in a way I have never seen before and it is a truly moving experience.
 Outstanding, Emotional & Beautiful! November 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I read this book when I was a teenager and found Hardy's style of writing hard going; but it painted a vivid picture of the extremes of the rich and the poor, the depths of emotional despair and the cruel twist of fate. At each crossroad Tess seems to take the wrong path and we are left to ask "what if?".
Having watched and loved the Polanski film, I was expecting alot of the BBC. I wasn't disappointed. Atherton's beauty and touching portrayal of Tess took my breath away. If you don't connect with Tess from the beginning, it is harder to sympathise with her every time she takes a wrong turn, and Atherton captured me from the first scene.
Everything about this adaptation is beautiful ... the cinematography, the casting and the acting.
I was worried from the outset that I wouldnt cry at the end, that somehow this wonderful portrayal would let me down at the crucial climax. Instead I was left sobbing like a baby for about half an hour after the credits rolled and I knew I'd watched something truly special.
Awsome..Breathtaking October 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I stumbled across this programme while searching for another programme on BBc iPlayer and then I just couldn't wait to watch it all off. It was just awesome. A must have for your collection.
PS
Please know that this review is about the drama itself and has nothing to do with the quality of the DVD on sale here.
As good a dramatisation of any classic I have ever seen and as affecting. October 7, 2008
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
If you scan these reviews you will find that two of them complain that this 'Tess' is too grim and a couple of others complain that it is too 'light' and doesn't reflect the harsh social conditions strongly enough. I think you can safely assume therefore that the makers got it just about right. I certainly think so. The production values throughout are very impressive and the period when Tess works through the winter on a farm, for very low wages, in terrible conditions and cruelly treated, is well conveyed. And on the other hand there are plenty of scenes which are set against wonderful green Hardy landscapes never seen to more advantage than here, as shot with the new HD cameras.
This is the third time that Tess has been done, and all three have been quite superb. The other two were done in the usual cinema feature length form but this one has the advantage, not only of HD, but of an extra hour and more on the running time and so there is room for far more of the novel. Time and again dialogues were expanded on what one remembered and many extra scenes were inserted so that I felt continuously as though the entire space of the novel was being filled out with substantial and significant information that normally you would only get by reading. And by the way I have read Tess but it was back in the late 60's - I did not enjoy it (I really don't think Hardy would have expected me to) and I had no intention of re-reading it but I have since been grateful to Polanski and the ITV version of 15 years ago for keeping it before my attention and making sure that Hardy's necessary and important classic is kept fresh in my mind. I still have no intention of re-reading it and thanks to this version I feel quite comfortable about this.
I said in my Amazon review of the recent 'Mayor Of Casterbridge' that it was better than the book simply because it was more powerful in it's effect, and that Hardy would have agreed with me. I gave my reasons in terms of the Aristotelian theory of Tragedy, and the 'Unities' in particular. I feel the same way about this dramatisation.
I also made the point that Hardy was a writer who by and large described things and people from the outside, and has even been described as a cinematic novelist, and argued that the losses in transfer to screen were therefore minimal.
Actually there are other reasons why a dramatisation of Tess can be even more valuable than one of the 'Mayor' and that has to do with the person of Tess herself. I for one believe that Hardy's heart would have overflowed, as mine did, at seeing her so beautifully brought to life as she was here. I still hadn't recovered my composure nearly an hour after Tess met her fate, having switched the TV off immediately out of respect.
Respect is due to all who were involved in this production and I mean all those people low down on the credits as well; film is an industrial production process. Most of the time while watching it I could hardly believe that what I was seeing could possibly be so good, especially as it was all achieved on a TV budget and production schedule.
How could it be this good? We don't really deserve TV of this quality. We don't take TV seriously enough.
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