[Hardy-l] Re: [Tess

[Rosemarie Morgan]

I look forward to hearing from other Hardyans about this recent 
serialisation of *Tess,* starring Gemma Arterton. I feel this production 
(which my daughter, in the UK,  copied to me last November) benefits 
enormously from its extended (serialised)  length. This more generous 
time-scale allows for a nuanced subtle attention to detail which would have 
been difficult to achieve in a shorter framework. For example, there is now 
time to focus upon Alec's charm and influence over Tess which the director 
achieves, in several cases, by showing Alec's more vulnerable side & its 
effect upon Tess - as also in setting him *outside* his manorial dwelling 
rather than within. There is also more time to focus upon Tess's own fiery 
and often conflicting feelings -- as behoves a young teen-aged girl: 
there's a moment, for example, when her mother, Joan, makes some aimless 
remark whereupon Tess rolls her eyes in mock-drama of exasperation: a 
mannerism  familiar to any parent of a teenage daughter.

The movie is, though, latterly far more harrowing than might otherwise be 
borne (in reading the novel one can at least retire, temporarily, for 
respite and recovery), although Hardy's own dramatic ending cannot, it 
seems, be matched, in its denouement -- for its sheer agonising tragedy.

Happy New Year to all Hardyans --
Best
Rosemarie


>Happy holidays!
>
>Paul Niemeyer
>