Frank Cottrell Boyce is dismissive of screen writing books, but on the evidence of this disjointed, incoherent outing he may want to take a trip to the library. Bearing a superficial resemblance to The Mayor of Casterbridge, this film lacks dramatic tension, dramatic irony, humour, characters who we can love or loathe, and most essentially a plot that resolves itself on the basis of the choices the characters make. Hardy's novel traces the rise, fall, then rise again of a powerful, cantankerous individual. The novel's tragic irony is that the 'daughter' the Mayor sacrifices everything for is not, in fact, his biological daughter. This plot line is inexplicably discarded by Boyce. It robs the climax of any dramatic power, Winterbottom looking to compensate for the lack of emotional payoff with a show of pyrotechnics.<br /><br />Like Boyce, Winterbottom fails to do justice to the story. Daniel gives up all for his daughter, but the emotional impact is never relayed to the audience. Elena tells Daniel that to embrace Hope as a daughter he must tell her the truth. That conversation takes place with the camera behind Daniel and Elena, their faces masked in silhouette. Why cast actors of the caliber of Kinski and Mullan if you won't let the audience see them act in their most dramatic moments? The only father-daughter interaction between Daniel marrying Elena and the crucial scene where he tells her the truth, is a dance at the wedding relayed in a prosaic, underwhelming longshot. When Daniel comes to tell her of his past misdeed he does so matter-of-factly, she runs away, and the inner turmoil this must have caused for both individuals is never examined. It is symptomatic of the failure to manage any emotional arcs or beats in this film. Winterbottom does not seem to follow the basic rules of action-re-action. When Hope first reveals herself to Daniel with the rosary beads, there is shock - then nothing. A reflective moment, with Daniel fingering the beads, is called for but never offered up. Dalglish loves Hope, sleeps with someone else, blames it on his job, and is forgiven. A sub-plot involving a railroad engineer and a prostitute takes up more screen time than the Hope-Dalglish romance. At two points people are shot dead but we cut to life going on as normal, with no sign of grief or consequences for the community.<br /><br />The film looks like an amalgam of Winterbottom's Wonderland (the fireworks scene is recycled set-up for set-up) and Miller and Mrs. McCabe. However, it has neither the keenly felt human longing of the former or the frailty and mystery of Altman's latter.<br /><br />Perhaps in reaction to the less-than-inspiring efforts of his collaborators, Michael Nyman seems not to have bothered too much with this one. He re-jigs a few notes on his Wonderland score and layers it over The Claim. All the music did was take me out of the film and make me think how sad it is to see a genius plagiarizing his own work.<br /><br />The Claim looks nice in places, though the snow-covered pioneer town invites comparisons with Altman's masterpiece and once again falls short. There are some nice moments, most notably when Jovovich sings about Portugal. But it is all very bitty, ill-disciplined and under-realised. It looks like a work in progress rather than a finished film. Boyce, Winterbottom and Nyman have all done better in the past, and need to do so again.