FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (2015)

In Thomas Vinterberg’s fun and fast-paced interpretation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far From the Madding Crowd, little time is allotted for viewers to sit with this story’s intriguing twists and turns. There’s no sense of scale to this film’s chronology, where, if not explicitly stated, it is left a mystery as to whether days or months have passed between certain scenes. Even when the timeline is easy to follow, there just isn’t room for hushed silences, gradual fades to black, or sombre resting points between scenes of consequence to allow viewers to sink into the pockets of despair that this plot digs up. This hinders emotional investment, making the movie difficult to care about deeply.

The upside of this approach is that its lack of patience mirrors how fickle infatuation can be, and how good fortune often hangs on a rather precarious balance, a fitting notion in a film about a woman who must navigate how to respond to three potential male suitors. Within minutes, we witness the drastically shifting circumstances of protagonist Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan), a woman of lowly status whose parents died long ago, and Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a farmer who’d just asked for her hand in marriage. The pair were hardly star-crossed lovers at this point, having only had a few pleasant interactions together, but at the very least, there’s a good-humoured warmth shared between them.

That is why Bathsheba cannot help but feel sorry for Gabriel’s financial ruin, incurred when his new sheepdog herds all of his sheep off a cliff, sending the poor animals to their deaths far below. Watching them plummet is sickening, and for those who’ve not read the novel, watching it would surely prove a shocking revelation. This sad, bitter occurrence is made all the more difficult to swallow given Gabriel’s mention of his attempts to build a future for himself and Bathsheba using his livestock. Though she rejected his proposal, she appeared to leave the door open for such a union down the line, when the two have grown better acquainted and can recognise the other’s needs.

Bathsheba is headstrong and, for a woman in this era (the film begins in 1870), incredibly impractical, putting little stock in talks of fortune and wealth when it comes to prospective partners. Gabriel is the opposite, recognising that his land and livestock put him a level above his peers in many women’s eyes. His attempt at leveraging this wealth and the request itself fails, yet he misunderstands this protagonist’s response, deciding that the matter is settled when, in essence, it has only just begun. Then, just as his livelihood is destroyed, she transcends her humble beginnings by being bequeathed a large farm in her uncle’s will.

Coincidences abound in Far From the Madding Crowd, which this lively yet dispassionate film isn’t quite able to sell. Gabriel happens upon Bathsheba’s new farm by accident, becoming her shepherd and most trusted worker, and momentarily converses with a total stranger, a young woman named Fanny (Juno Temple) who is in love with a soldier, Sergeant Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), both of whom will be very important to this plot later on. The film’s very convenient chance meetings are as frequent as they are hastily conceived.

But Vinterberg salvages much from these rapidly evolving plot points, livening up an often tired subgenre by making this film feel impressively modern in its story and execution. Poetic flourishes are present in the director’s visuals, but never to the point that they overtake the narrative; Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights (2011) this is not. Shots that linger on a character for a second too long, or which waver uncertainly in rare moments when the camera is handheld, lend a gentle dose of subjectivity to this affair, complementing the undercurrents of emotion in these scenes without these visual cues drawing too much attention to their inclusion. This is a film whose plot is consistently light on its feet, yet without these careful touches, it would simply feel as though Far From the Madding Crowd was going through the motions.

If it were to do so, that would certainly be an injustice to this story, whose modern approach to a woman’s search for love amidst three potential suitors offers plenty of light thrills. That said, the film’s tension, whether from anger, lust, or the pain of unrequited love, never crackles or feels truly alive. It’s made up for by a consistently entertaining plot that isn’t content to rest for very long on just one stage of its characters’ lives, always looking towards new ways through which their social standing or outlook can be chipped away at to carve something new.

Mulligan is an excellent leading woman, where her acting ability and warmth easily make up for the fact that she doesn’t possess the dynamism required to make her a magnetic force of attraction. There’s no doubting the actress’s beauty, which is never so obvious as when she smiles, at which point her eyes sparkle in a way that seems as if they were only ever intended to shine towards whoever she is conversing with at that moment. But this isn’t a lustful tale by any means; there’s only one scene that dares to even approach that territory, and in it, there’s no figure to long for, just this protagonist being forced to confront the shocking degree of attraction that has come over her.

Thankfully, it never sinks to the low standards of Terrence Stamp’s attempt at this scene in John Schlessinger’s 1967 adaptation of the same novel. There it is consistently (and completely unintentionally) hilarious to watch him swipe at the air beside Bathsheba dozens of times, scream bloody murder in a montage of him running awkwardly down a hill and racing full speed at her, or swipe to the left and right of her body as if he’s hacking at a long stretch of dense shrubbery. Sturridge makes for a significantly more attractive prospect, whether that’s in the form of his appearance, demeanour, or attitude towards Bathsheba. This can also be said for each of the actors portraying the male suitors in this adaptation when compared with the 1967 film.

Vinterberg’s iteration is also aided by not featuring Julie Christie, a consistently poor actress throughout Schlessinger’s adaptation, even when accounting for a script that does this character no favours. Frederic Raphael’s screenplay consistently dimmed this protagonist’s fierce qualities in favour of someone who’s often whimsical, even in scenes where she’s supposed to be demonstrating her defiance. That said, Bathsheba isn’t always an easy character to like, regardless of which adaptation one follows.

While she never really does anything wrong (any way in which this protagonist could be accused of leading men on is innocent in intention), Bathsheba isn’t always easy to side with. Her presence often leads to the ruin of those who fall for her, which, though through no fault of her own, is at least somewhat predicated on her hesitance and poor decision-making. One can’t help but feel that all three of these men would be much better off if they could simply move past their interest in her, for it continually brings them suffering.

With barely any undercurrent of sensuality at play, and a screenplay by David Nicholls that plays hopscotch when it comes to character development and the ways that these competing lovers deepen their relationships with Bathsheba, there isn’t much to cling to in Vinterberg’s interpretation of Hardy’s material. At a very brisk two hours, it rarely explores these characters, their understanding of one another, or their relationships with the world beyond these romantic liaisons.

As a woman in a position of power, Bathsheba is dismissed by men of influence in the local area when she attempts to trade her crops. This scene is impressive given the believable sense of discomfort and alienation it draws from this hostile territory, ending in a minor victory when this protagonist strikes up a compromise that suits her and her buyer. But, strangely, this tale of an independent woman attempting to earn the respect of her male peers isn’t explored more, especially when the three men courting Bathsheba make similar mistakes in their gendered expectations and practical discussions of money instead of love and attraction.

Much of the film is centred on miscommunication, but it all feels too neatly put together to truly resonate. Despite the occasionally beautiful shot compositions, strong performances, and light touches of beauty in the film’s compositions, Far From the Madding Crowd never feels essential. With little to offer in the way of gender politics, sensuality, or the importance of sitting with these characters’ decisions, Vinterberg’s adaptation is enjoyable yet lightweight.

UK • USA | 2015 | 119 MINUTES | 2.35:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Thomas Vinterberg.
writer: David Nicholls (based on the novel by Thomas Hardy).
starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple, Jessica Barden & Sam Philips.