Movie #12 Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

[Dee]

Dee:

3. Yet another gorgeous man who looks so much better with facial hair... or is that just me??

No, it's not just you. Better with, for sure!!

Excellent.

[Dee]

I'm so glad that the powers of internet allowed you to get to the end of the film last night, Mz NR, and you've enjoyed it as much as I did.

You raise some interesting points.

It surprised me that Frank could have such deep affection for Fanny; he showed such emotion when he saw her begging in the streets. He was crushed when she & the baby died. It was so uncharacteristic of the man we see in other scenes! His manner with Bathsheba was so condescending; he certainly didn't treasure their marriage. He seemed incapable of true love.

I have found Frank's character quite interesting. Because whilst he was a real shit and a gutless weakling, he was capable of feeling very deep emotions. True love? I don't think so either. Not from where we stand and judge such things. But from his point of view, it was very much so. Fanny was his "one true love" in the moments when he chose to feel it. He deeply felt it in the church waiting for her. When he saw her again on the market. When he kissed her corpse and when he threw himself into the ocean to die.

But he didn't feel it when after his perceived pride had been hurt by seemingly getting "stood up" at the wedding, he didn't rush to find out why his true love didn't turn up for the wedding. His first thought was not "good lord, what might have happened to her?" But "bitch stood me up" and he left it at that.

And then after they reunited at the market, and Bathsheba refused to give him money... what did he do? He didn't feel the call of true love enough to find a way to care for her, to be with her, to look for her again.

Frank lived utterly in the moment. Everything in life was about his pleasure and his pain, with a huge aptitude for melodrama. Every emotion heightened and amplified. Yet, his pain was real, and despite his dreadful shortcomings, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Had Fanny found the right church, would he have ended up happier? A better man? Somehow I doubt it. He fancied himself as the dashing soldier, the tragic romantic hero... But there was a certain intensity about him that was fascinating despite him being a total disaster of a human being. I thought the actor did a good job with the role.

[Dee]

The scene with her jumping in to wash sheep (is that what they were doing??) with Gabriel and the farmhands was fabulous; she proves that she can not only own and manage the farm, but join in the hard work. Boldwood's appearance on screen at that moment was heavy with emotion. You can't help but feel sorry for him. He opens his heart to her. And he proves to be a loyal friend and protector.

I loved the sheep washing scene too. Gabriel's own brand of flirting. Bathsheba taking him on. How she was this remarkably hardworking woman, no farmwork beneath her, never shying away from hard physical labour, even finding pleasure in it. And that's how Gabriel seemed to like her best. Working by his side. There was so much beauty in that. Boldwood could sense this deep connection between them and knew he could never compete. It was lovely to see him getting a tiny morsel of this connection with her when they sang together.

You know, I'd like to think that at the end he killed Frank not just to free Bathsheba from him, but also in a moment of absolute clarity, to clear the way for her and Gabriel too. I find that beautiful. Even if it wasn't fully intended, effectively that's what he did.

[NurseRatched]

I'm so glad that the powers of internet allowed you to get to the end of the film last night, Mz NR, and you've enjoyed it as much as I did.

You raise some interesting points.

It surprised me that Frank could have such deep affection for Fanny; he showed such emotion when he saw her begging in the streets. He was crushed when she & the baby died. It was so uncharacteristic of the man we see in other scenes! His manner with Bathsheba was so condescending; he certainly didn't treasure their marriage. He seemed incapable of true love.

I have found Frank's character quite interesting. Because whilst he was a real shit and a gutless weakling, he was capable of feeling very deep emotions. True love? I don't think so either. Not from where we stand and judge such things. But from his point of view, it was very much so. Fanny was his "one true love" in the moments when he chose to feel it. He deeply felt it in the church waiting for her. When he saw her again on the market. When he kissed her corpse and when he threw himself into the ocean to die.

But he didn't feel it when after his perceived pride had been hurt by seemingly getting "stood up" at the wedding, he didn't rush to find out why his true love didn't turn up for the wedding. His first thought was not "good lord, what might have happened to her?" But "bitch stood me up" and he left it at that.

And then after they reunited at the market, and Bathsheba refused to give him money... what did he do? He didn't feel the call of true love enough to find a way to care for her, to be with her, to look for her again.

Frank lived utterly in the moment. Everything in life was about his pleasure and his pain, with a huge aptitude for melodrama. Every emotion heightened and amplified. Yet, his pain was real, and despite his dreadful shortcomings, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Had Fanny found the right church, would he have ended up happier? A better man? Somehow I doubt it. He fancied himself as the dashing soldier, the tragic romantic hero... But there was a certain intensity about him that was fascinating despite him being a total disaster of a human being. I thought the actor did a good job with the role.

He did! And you've really dissected the character here; he could have run off at any moment to track her down (after leaving the church, after seeing her at the market) but no. Too self-absorbed & overly concerned with status and money. Given his flaws, he probably would have made Fanny miserable, too, but you never know!

[NurseRatched]

Do you think Boldwood's character was meant to be more of a father figure when it was all said and done?

[Dee]

It's an interesting question. I think in some adaptations much older actors are cast as Boldwood. In this casting, the age gap didn't seem to be the issue, not for me anyway. I think he was genuinely in love with Bathsheba, and his love was pure. A worthy suitor in every way. And they could also sing beautifully together, what a bonus!! He most probably desired her too, but he was always a complete gentleman about it. Or indeed his love was more of a platonic kind, maybe, that doesn't make it any less wonderful. I certainly don't think he looked at her like a daughter. Perhaps like an angel, but not a daughter. He really had no fault other than Bathsheba already loved Gabriel, though wouldn't admit it. Boldwood was noble, honourable, approachable and cultured, perhaps a little stilted and reserved. His tragedy was that he knew his love was unrequited. He hoped that Bathsheba's respect and gratitude and affection would be enough for him, because he knew that was the most he could hope for, and he settled for that. He felt the tangible chemistry between her and Gabriel, and I believe, in the end he manipulated events to get himself out of the way of what he recognised as true love.

[DawnFae]

Dear sisterss !
I loved reading your comments and your deep insights and interest in the characters of this wonderful movie.
I enjoyed watching it too. In fact it was the best movie I've seen in a long time!
It was full of connections and warmth. It also captured life in all its moments: the mysterious, the beautiful, the genuine, the tragic and the selfless...
The nature scenes were breathtaking and the the farm life with ts colorful and hardworking ways was such a lively place!
I don't know if I am being cynical here but I thought for a short moment that Frank mislead Fanny to the wrong Church so that he won't have to marry her at all. I won't put it past him to go for such a dirty trick to come up on top and avoid taking responsibility for his acts. It was exactly what he did when he went for the "not so deadly swim". He escaped his debtors in this tricky way.
Did he really intend to die in the sea? I don't think so! He was an excellent swimmer so he used his physical prowess (like in bed to get what he wanted: money and a higher station in society though his marriage to a "rich" farm owner).
He was cruel enough to reappear on the very evening he knew his "wife" would choose a new husband so he came back to take that new chance away from her and ruin her existence for good by demanding she sells the farm for his own profit and benefit.
The law in that time probably gave a husband unlimited access to his wife's fortune I guess...

Frank fancied himself a good and honorable man but he only polished this image, carefully avoiding to have to live up to this high standard and being a man of his word.
Why did he marry Bathsheba really? I believe that he seduced her to get access to money without having to work for it.

Bathsheba made a huge mistake but she was inexperienced with men. The only males she knew were two honorable gentlemen who loved her for herself and not for her money. She got caught in her own ideas about "not needing a husband" and "finding someone who can tame her" not knowing what "taming her" really meant. The way Frank treated her was certainly not what she imagined about being tamed by a strong and loving man.
She loved Gabriel but she was too proud and too stubborn to admit it and accept him as a husband. They were the perfect match! They enjoyed working and building things together. Her pleasure when she rode the horse with him back to the farm after he accepted to return and save the poor sick sheep was very telling but she never seemed to follow up on those revealing moments.
I guess that she let Frank dazzle her with a shiny uniform and a dashing smile. The scene with the sword play seemed to awaken her erotic side and she succumbed to the idea that choosing Frank would give her some freedom while being with someone who admires her. Sadly, Frank was a good looking predator interested only in satisfying his insatiable hunger for easy pleasure and freedom from responsibility and hard work.
We never learned why he quit the army? I believe that his less than honorable behavior earned him the sack from the army but he made Bathsheba "responsible" for it: "I quit my job for you" but did he really? I doubt it!

Poor Boldwood was a true gentleman and a noble man! He probably sacrificed his own life to free Bathsheba from the monster she made the mistake of marrying in a moment of bad judgement.

Gabriel was similar to Boldwood in character and even more devoted to Bathsheba. He stayed with her through thick and thin just to help her find her way in life and mature into a stronger woman. Bathsheba sadly took a lot of things for granted and the behavior of both good men lead her to probably believe that all men would be like her two suitors until Frank started showing his true ugly face just a few days after their wedding. Frank surprisingly found the real church for his wedding this time around. I guess that if Bathsheba were a poor woman, he would have seduced her without going as far as to marry her. The wedlock was for his own gain: becoming the Master of the farm as he announced during their wedding celebration party and spending as much money as he well damn pleased.

In the end Boldwood made the ultimate sacrifice for Bathsheba and cleared the way for her and Gabriel to be together. He trusted Gabriel would give her the life she deserved as he proved time and again how much he loved her. Gabriel's love for Bathsheba was true and Boldwood accepted and honored it. I believe that if Boldwood did not kill Frank, Gabriel would have, eventually ruining both their lives in the process.

Bathsheba became wise after she went through hell for her "stupid and naive mistake" but it was beautiful to see her finally make the right decision when she went after Gabriel to bring him back home for good. And they lived happily ever after

[Dee]

That was so interesting to read your review, DF, especially the differences in our interpretations of Frank's character. I throughly enjoyed your cynical take on the character, and I almost feel like rewatching the film right now to see whether his manipulations were really as dark as you suggest! Goodness, they might have been. I would certainly agree that he seduced Bathsheba for her money and status, but I didn't think he had sent Fanny to the wrong church... I guess, it would have made more sense for me if he had known she was pregnant, and one way to get out of marrying her, but he only found out about the baby at their reunion, and he seemed to me pretty shook up at the church.

Did he fully intend to fake his suicide when he started swimming? Again, I didn't think so. I thought he was gonna die as a tragic hero, but once he got rescued, he changed his mind, then changed his mind again.

I have never seen other adaptations and have never read the book, so now I'm just gonna have to go and find out what was written in the story!
It never fails to amaze me, how differently we can interpret the very same things we see!

Loving this discussion here!

[DawnFae]

HAHA! Maybe he didn't prmeditate the two "betrayals" 100% but he surely was very happy to weasel his way out of taking any responsibility for his actions.

I don't know though because in the movie, he had a satisfied smile on his face when he was swimming out there...Hummm

Here is an earlier version / adaptation of the story with the focus on Frank's story (2 parts).

Far from the Madding Crowd: Sergeant Troy's story part I



Far from the Madding Crowd: Sergeant Troy's story part II



It is my reaction to his lies and manipulations of the people around him that made me distrust him so much that I did not put it past him if he planned the whole misunderstanding about the church and the faking of his death. He as good as planned them because he never came clean about any of the things he said or promised...
Did he purposefully tell Fanny the wrong church's name? Or did he "conveniently" mishear her when she told him the name of the church she thought they were going to wed in? Does it really make a difference? In this older version, he never stopped to listen to Fanny's explanation, he just walked away from her.

What does "love" mean to such an egoistic monster? Maybe he liked her and thought he were faithful and honorable but uttering such words after she was dead and was never to be a burden to him ever was a luxury, don't you think?
Frank could promise the world to a dead Fanny because dead as she was, she would never demand anything of him, ever! At the same time he used Fanny's death to hurt Bathsheba whom he married for his own selfish reasons. He slept with her, he spent a lot of time carefully casting his deadly net as a spider to catch her and prey on her, then he told her that she was nothing to him? Why?
Bathsheba didn't exactly know his story with Fanny? She never seduced him away from the "love of his life" so what was all that about?
I think that Frank used Bathsheba as his convenient scapegoat because in his own eyes, he was perfect, without fault, he was the hero who lost his true love when in fact, he sent Fanny to her death after he saw her begging for a coin in her advanced pregnancy .

Was he really capable of love? I honestly doubt it. I think that he liked how Fanny absolutely loved and admired him, it made him feel superior and more secure in his power over women whom he charmed for his own gain. Yet, he believed he loved Fanny especially after she was not longer a threat to his freedom and pursuit of money, pleasure and status in society. He basically wanted a free ride and the feeling of being important and "famous" without the hard work and absolutely no obligation towards anybody else.

[Dee]

What seems to be really interesting here is that as the source material gets interpreted and adapted to screen, sometimes the adaption outright changes certain aspects of a character by either omitting certain scenes or changing the focus on some others.

For instance: (I've just read on wiki the synopsis of Hardy's novel) In the original story Boldwood acts out aggressively toward Frank when he first starts courting Bathsheba. He also offers him a huge bribe to keep away from her and he pretends to consider it, then blurts out they are already married, making Boldwood mad. In the novel he also tries to take his own life after he kills Frank, but his friends save him, grabbing his gun. By omitting all these scenes from the film, Boldwood's character is hugely affected. Softened, made more likeable.

I think that makes a better story, if the choice between these men is not so blatantly obvious. It would probably even more interesting if Frank's character was more layered and humanised, although I think this film has done that quite well.

It's a fascinating process. The script writer, the director, the actors all put their spin on the original story and characters, then we, the audience interpret them again, according to our own perception of intention but also how we naturally react to them, that is deeply rooted in our personal experiences and preferences.

[Lori]

First things first: Facial hair? A must. So much more handsome in this case.

This was a sweet film. I love that we all were getting some respite from harrowing tales of love and loss, and instead were treated to a classic multi-pronged love story complete with a happy ending. Those are far and few between. I realized how badly I needed one.

I also thought the acting was superb and found myself sympathetic to all of the men somehow. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but we know differently. Men follow suit. I felt for Frank to the extent that he was operating with a completely broken heart. Yet, he had sunk so deeply in this pool of self involvement that he ultimately did either cause or not prevent his true love's death. My sympathy got milked away when he returned actively unrepentant...or was it a bit mad? I was trying to remember how he was portrayed in the original. I thought it was more apparent that he was a creep from the get-go, yet in this adaptation I believed he had been upset at the church.

I loved the solid steady masculine patience of Gabriel. He was too confident to flag under rejection. I love the name in general, Gabriel. It rings like a church bell, much like Michael. Are these male angel names? Perhaps that is the source of the image for me. Regardless, his very presence was calming. He was so honest, yet would not be manipulated by love. His warning regarding Frank was born of heartfelt concern rather than competition. His sympathy towards Boldwood was genuine. Again, characters given a slight turn sideways as compared to the book.

So many tales of past eras regarding woman and the choices they made are interesting to view through the eyes of a new era. We really cannot internalize the necessary motivations of the time. That is also why it is so hard to judge history - who are good players and who are bad players based on our sensibilities now.

It was a fun and relaxing ride. Thanks for the suggestion, DF!

[Lori]

Oh, and I agree the music was so wonderful. The duet was beautiful - I love that song, but I always thought it was time rather than thyme.