Far From the Madding Crowd | DVD review - Carey Mulligan's headstrong heroine entrances in ravishing Thomas Hardy adaptation | Movie Talk | What's on TV

Far from the Madding Crowd Matthias Schoenaerts Carey Mulligan.jpg

Grabbing our attention from her first appearance galloping across the Dorset countryside in a tight-fitting russet leather jacket, the magnificent Carey Mulligan rightly dominates this ravishing adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Far From the Madding Crowd. And her headstrong, independent heroine, Bathsheba Everdene, bewitches us as much as she entrances the three very different suitors who court her - ever-faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), rich squire William Boldwood, (Michael Sheen) and dashing soldier Sergeant Troy (Tom Sturridge). Danish director Thomas Vinterberg takes the fateful events of the novel at quite a lick, but the richly nuanced performances give the story substance.

Certificate 12. Runtime 119. Director Thomas Vinterberg.

Far From the Madding Crowd is released on Blu-ray & DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Monday 31st August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCm1XNVD_0c

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.