Far From the Madding Crowd (6/10): Far from The Hunt

"It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in a language chiefly made by men to express theirs.”

Thomas Vinterberg decided to follow up his critically acclaimed 2012 film, The Hunt, with this adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel set in Victorian England. It was a sharp change of direction for Vinterberg considering what a great small crafted character study The Hunt was. Far From the Madding Crowd is more focused on the narrative and therefor the characters aren’t explored as well, but the romantic story is still quite engaging. It centers on a strong and independent woman played by Carey Mulligan. Her name is Bathsheba Everdene and despite her humble upbringing she inherits a large amount of farming land from her uncle. She is determined to restore the land’s productivity and in order to do so she hires a sheep farmer named Gabriel (Matthias Schoenaerts) who used to own a small piece of land next to her place. He had borrowed some money to pay for the land and buy some sheep, but after a terrible incident his fortune is reversed and is forced to sell the land back leaving him with nothing. Prior to this reversal of fortune for both Gabriel and Bathsheba, he had proposed to her but she kindly refused claiming she had no intention of marrying. Her strong independent female role isn’t something audiences are used to seeing in films set during this era which made Mulligan’s performance quite special. Once her character settles in her new home, two other suitors show up: William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) a wealthy senior and Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) a charming Sergeant who she unexpectedly falls for.    

I wasn’t familiar with Hardy’s novel so I can’t say how faithful David Nicholls’ screenplay adaptation is. Unfortunately I found the pacing a bit hurried and the story was jumping from one scene to the next without letting us get to know these characters. From the very opening scene it is clear that Bathsheba and Gabriel belong with each other. Schoenaerts completely steals his scenes and along with Mulligan they are the only two characters who are portrayed as strong and perseverant characters. By the time Sturridge and Sheen show up on screen they have no chance of getting the audience’s sympathy because they are already rooting for Gabriel. Troy takes a villainous turn very early on without much explanation and William is simply a dull and boring character despite his good intentions. Juno Temple has a small supporting role, but her prior relationship with Sturridge was underdeveloped. There is a scene where her character shows up at the wrong church for her wedding day and so Troy is left stranded in the altar, but it wasn’t handled well. There are also several twists and surprises along the way, but they weren’t as shocking as they could’ve been considering these characters weren’t developed well. The film was trying to get from one point to the next in a rather quick pace because the audience is simply expecting the two main characters to get together and nothing else seems to matter. 

Vinterberg’s greatest accomplishment was casting Schoenaerts and Mulligan in the lead roles because they had great chemistry together, but it also turned to be the film’s downfall since it was so strong that we could care less for the other characters. The cinematography was gorgeous and it helped that most of the film was shot outdoors because nature was perfectly captured here by either the sunlight or the heavily charged grey skies. Those were the two main reasons why I ended up enjoying Far From the Madding Crowd despite being disappointed by it. The Hunt was one of my favorite films of 2012, so I had high hopes for the Danish director in this English film, but they weren’t met. Far From the Madding Crowd is powered by its lead performances, but unfortunately the narrative was unnecessarily rushed and that hurt the film.  

My Review: The Hunt (Jagten) (9/10)

"Look into my eyes. Look me in the eyes. What do you see? Do you see anything? Nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. You leave me alone now."

Danish director, Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration), delivers a powerful and emotionally draining drama that will leave audiences hooked and feeling enraged for what Mads Mikelssen's character goes through in his closely-knit community. It's a film that will resonate with you and stay on your mind long after it's over. Building on Mikelssen's powerful and engaging performance this is a thrilling psycho-social drama that studies the mob mentality very closely while showing us how a lie that's been accepted takes on a life of its own destroying innocent lives in the process. That is what makes this film so infuriating and despite not having any action it builds a lot of mental pressure on the viewer. The Hunt was my favorite foreign film of 2013 and Mikelssen delivered one of my favorite performances of the year (he won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for this role). His character is very restrained at times, but his facial expressions are very expressive. The church scene was one of the most powerful and emotionally draining scenes I've seen all year. This may be a difficult film to watch at times, and the tension can be overwhelming, but this psychological thriller is a must see.

Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is a former teacher who is recovering from a difficult divorce and battling over his son's custody. He lives in a small community where everyone has friends in common. Lucas spends a lot of time with his closest friend, Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen), while currently working at a daycare. The film opens with a lot of laughter between Lucas and his friends first and between Lucas and the children who adore him at the daycare, but this friendly community changes when one of the little girls named Klara (Anika Wedderkopp) accuses him of sexual abuse. This innocent little lie begins to grow as the community reacts with hysteria and accuses him without having any other proof than what this little girl said. The only reasoning being that clearly a girl wouldn't lie about something like this. Lucas's life is shattered and his reputation has been stained forever despite the law finding him innocent. The little lie affects everyone around Lucas including his son Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrom) and his girlfriend Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport). The damage has been done.

This social study about people giving in to hysteria was co-written by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm. It's a modern witch hunt tale while at the same time a character study of an innocent man that suffers from his community's harsh judgement. While watching this film one can't help but recall the Cosby series, Kids Say the Darndest Things, because it's exactly what you think when this young girl accuses this man. It's an unsettling and difficult story about a persecuted man which reminds us all that even though you may have won a legal battle, the social effects remain, especially if you live in a small community. The last film that infuriated me like this was In the Name of the Father, and in that film the story only focuses on the legal aspect, imagine the ordeal the main character still had to go through to clear his name from the people who are still second guessing and judging you. A legal victory seems something to cheer for, but The Hunt reminds us that the most difficult jury is the society and community we live in, and their minds aren't easily overturned once they have decided on something. This is simply a powerful and enraging drama that reminds us how judgmental we tend to be towards others.