Film Review: Far from the Madding Crowd

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Far from the Madding Crowd. Rated M (mature themes and sex scene). 118 minutes. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Screenplay by David Nicholls. Based on the novel by Thomas Hardy.

The reliable old adage ‘they just don’t make them like they used to’ could be effortlessly applied to this gorgeous cinematic adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 literary masterpiece.

Stunningly photographed by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen, the rural English locations are both beautiful to look at, and in perfect service to the heart and soul of this classic story about the feisty and extremely capable Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) and her three very different suitors, each of whom wants her as his wife.

Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a shy and reserved young sheep farmer who in one tragic evening, loses his entire flock and ends up being evicted, penniless, from his farm. Inadvertently left at the altar by his intended bride Fanny (Juno Temple), Sergeant Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge) carries the weight of the painful legacy of rejection heavily on his shoulders. William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) is, like Gabriel, an unassuming but wealthy landowner, whose palatial country estate is next-door to Bathsheba’s.

While she receives outstanding support from the leading male cast, Mulligan (The Great Gatsby) is fantastic in the demanding role of Hardy’s extraordinary heroine, after whom The Hunger Games’ equally determined Katniss Everdeen is named. Beginning as a seriously not-to-be underestimated young woman fighting for equality and respect, the consequences of her choices trigger the chain of events that tragically alter the course of each of their lives.

Vinterberg masterfully guides Nicholls’ pared-back but compelling adaptation of the novel, which will introduce a whole new generation to this classic romantic drama – who will possibly be shocked to discover just how little has changed for women in the world since 1874.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby. Rated M (mature themes and violence). 142 minutes. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Screenplay by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Verdict: A magnificent achievement from start to finish.

It is curious to consider that F. Scott Fitzgerald died believing his seminal work The Great Gatsby to have been a failure. Only posthumously did his novel become considered as ‘the great American novel’ – such was the impact of the cracked mirror Fitzgerald held up to those in pursuit of unimaginable wealth and glamour, which is all too conveniently referred to as ‘the American dream’.

It is not quite as curious that it should be one of Australia’s big picture dreamers who takes the novel on. Luhrmann’s preposterous ambition for this film incises the novel’s grand themes of hope, optimism and the desolation of a life-long infatuation and lays the threads that both unite and divide us bare in scene after scene of artfully considered cinematic mastery. The finely-wrought screenplay, written with his constant collaborator Pearce, is flawless – and utterly enthralling for every one of its 142 minutes.

The production and costume design from Catherine Martin, Luhrmann’s creative soulmate and constant collaborator, is magnificent – recreating the 1920s with such an alarming level of dazzling, hyper-realistic creativity that it is, at times, simply overwhelming. Martin’s world for this film is both lovingly and carefully considered, and as true to the era as it is possible to imagine for people who never experienced it.

Leonardo DiCaprio, (who first worked with Luhrmann in Romeo and Juliet) delivers a beautiful performance as the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, whose obsession with winning back the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan (a perfect Carey Mulligan), leads him and everyone involved in his pyrotechnical life to the brink of emotional ruin.

Tobey Maguire is outstanding as the narrator Nick Carraway, delivering a performance of wide-eyed wonder in the face of the increasingly disconcerting influence of the obscenely privileged people that surround his innocent, uncomplicated existence. The standout performance, though, is that of Joel Edgerton, whose morally-bankrupt Tom Buchanan strides and procrastinates through the story like a raging bull from a bygone age. And as his self-righteousness suffocates everyone around him, the real sting in Fitzgerald’s tale becomes less about the perils of soul-less wealth and glamour but more about who it is in our lives who would prefer to see us absolutely fail than succeed beyond our wildest dreams.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.