Title: A Very, Very Poor Rendition of Hardy's Story
Review: The director and script destroy both the insightful plot and character development of Hardy's brilliant novel. Where Hardy describes Wildeve as "one in whom women find nothing of which to object and in whom men find nothing to admire," Clive Owen's intensity and over-acting destroy the character and characteristic aloofness of Hardy's ambivalent and ordinary Wildeve. And compared to Hardy's complex and nuanced Eustacia, the Eustacia of the movie is revoltingly unprincipled and unsympathetic. It is difficult to imagine that Gold has any understanding of Thomas Hardy or the Late Victorians. Gold would have done better to direct a Harlequin Romance. The only things this film has in common with the novel are its title, character names, and location.
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