Bathsheba Everdene is a highly independent woman in Victorian England who has no problem attracting a potential husband. Only problem is she does not want to get married this doesn’t stop Gabriel Oak a sheep farmer, William Boldwood a mature bachelor and Frank Troy a reckless sergeant from trying their luck . . .
Well I have no idea where to start with this review in all honesty, it is a very difficult film to gather thoughts on. Ok, it was very very slow which made it rather boring. I had to say that because I was actually wondering how long was left. It does have some good moments, but it just has a very long time between them. I will say that because of that I was then waiting for the next one.
Miss Everdene inherits a farm and decides that she is going to run it herself, getting in on the different jobs and really trying to make it work. She is beautiful and therefore attracts the attention of many men, I mean three men. But she is very standoffish and adamant that she does not want to be a kept woman and needs her own identity.
I must also make clear that I have never read the book before so therefore no prior knowledge of the story. So maybe if I had read it I might have appreciated the film more. Don’t get me wrong though it is full of very strong performances from very gifted actors. I just felt like I was missing something.
Anyway the three men she has to pick from and she certainly changes her whole lifestyle choices when she somehow decides on Frank Troy to marry. I felt very disappointed by this as he was clearly the worst possible choice, but at the same time she has resisted everything from men and somehow Troy managed to get that first kiss. Something is in that, just a shame that the love of his life turned up to the wrong church when they were supposed to marry. This does make for some very good twists and some pretty dramatic moments.
Oak was a constant throughout and always said he would be by her side. It was a nice relationship but it did have that more friendship thing going on about it all. He was probably the nicest of the three though and a very good performance from Schoenaerts. William Boldwood was an interesting character who is a mixture of charming and creepy. Yes a very strange combination but that is the he comes across, he just seems to turn up every now and then without any warning. But ultimately I think I felt sorry for him.
Everdene just seemed to have a hold over men which she certainly did not know how to deal with. Other than saying no of course, so I guess it was an interesting story with her choices to make. Which were all pretty strange to say the least. The main reason I had be wanting to see this film was because I am a big fan of Carey Mulligan, but I have to admit that I am a little scared that she is becoming typecast in very similar types of roles with the characters who always seem unhappy.
I must mention that the film does have some lovely shots of the countryside in all of the different seasons, as a way to show how much time was passing by. Other than that though I don’t think I’d massively recommend this film for someone to watch as I fear it to be just too slow in pace.
