moviefreak

Last night I saw this 1979 movie on TV. Never read the novel by Thomas Hardy before, so didn’t know anything about the story. Turned out it was a depressing one. The movie was so long, too! Almost 3 hours long! I wasn’t really in the mood to watch a depressing movie, but then again after watching it halfway, I had to know the ending he he he…but I don’t think I’ll ever watch the movie again - not because it’s bad, but because I’m not too keen on depressing stories.

The Story:

Tess (Nastassja Kinski)  is a beautiful young girl from a poor family. One day the father is made to believe that he’s the relatives of a noble family named d’Urberville, so Tess’ parents send Tess away to the d’Urbervilles’ mansion to get a job. There she meets Alec d’Urberville (Leigh Lawson) who seduces her and takes advantage of her. She becomes his mistress for a few months, then she decides to come back home. Turns out she’s pregnant with Alec’s child. She gives birth to a baby boy, but then the boy dies.

She goes away again to find a job as a milking lady and there she meets Angel Clare (Peter Firth). They fall in love and Angel wants to marry her. Tess is dying to tell Angel about her past, but she’s so afraid of losing him. She gathers courage to write a letter to Angel to tell him everything, but the letter gets stuck under the carpet, so Angel never gets it. After the wedding ceremony, Tess tells Angel about her past, since Angel also tells Tess about his past relationship with an older woman. However, Angel is so shocked that he can’t forgive her.

Unable to stand being in the same house, Tess decides to go back home. Angel promises her that when he can forgive her, he’ll go back to get her. Tess says that she’ll wait for him. Life becomes tough again for Tess as she has to do farm work for Alec to help feed the family, especially after her Dad dies and her family loses the house.

Mini Movie Poster:

Spoiler:

Alec manages to persuade Tess that if she wants him to help her family, she has to be his mistress again. So they live together in a huge mansion. Meanwhile, Angel finally realizes that Tess does love him so much, so he tries to find her again, though it’s not easy since Tess’s family has lost their house and they’ve moved away. After asking around, Angel finds out where Tess lives and their meeting is very painful for both, because Tess keeps on saying to him that he’s too late and that Alec has been taking care of her and her family very well.

Angel leaves the house in a sad state and goes to the train station. Tess cries her heart out while Alec tries to annoy her by asking her questions about whether or not she’s crying because of Angel. In a fit of anger, Tess kills Alec and runs out of the house to go to the train station to catch Angel. She gets on the train on time and confesses to Angel about what she has done. The police are now after them. They try to get as farther away from them, but to no avail. In the end, Tess is hanged due to her crime.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS