X
- 1980
- PG
- Columbia Pictures
- 3 h 6 m
- 1980
- PG
- Columbia Pictures
- 3 h 6 m
Summary A young strong-willed peasant girl, becomes the affection of two men, in the end tragically falling into the arms of one.
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Written By: Thomas Hardy, Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, Roman Polanski
- 1980
- PG
- Columbia Pictures
- 3 h 6 m
- 1980
- PG
- Columbia Pictures
- 3 h 6 m
Tess
7.8
Summary A young strong-willed peasant girl, becomes the affection of two men, in the end tragically falling into the arms of one.
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Written By: Thomas Hardy, Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, Roman Polanski
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
82
80% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
20% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
82
80% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
20% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Tess is thus an almost unprecedented example of sweeping historical epic that also functions as an intense personal meditation on the capricious vicissitudes of love and death.
It takes nearly three hours for Tess to reach its tragic climax at Stonehenge, but the deliberateness and occasional longueurs pay off: Tess is depthcharged, resonant. [22 Dec 1980, p.73]
Tess is as rewarding a film as you'll encounter all season. It has a veracity to its period that matches Tom Jones and a pictorial beauty that is breathtaking. [29 Dec 1980]
Tess is a sensitive, intelligent screen treatment of a literary masterwork. Roman Polanski has practiced no betrayal in filming Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and his adaptation often has that infrequent quality of combining fidelity and beauty.
The film, like its source, is filled with pessimistic fatalism, but it spares no pity for the instruments of fate, painting Alec as an irredeemable villain. What, if anything, this meant to Polanski remains unknowable.
Roman Polanski’s version, from 1980, of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles is textured and smooth and even, with lateral compositions subtly flowing into each other; the sequences are beautifully structured, and the craftsmanship is hypnotic. But the picture is tame.
Having all the strengths and excesses of a middlebrow film (visual beauty, lush soundtrack, arty direction), this adaptation's appeal to the senses leaves them cloyed.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 13 User Ratings
7.8
85% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 13 User Ratings
7.8
85% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Renn Productions,
Timothy Burrill Productions,
Société Française de Production (SFP)
Release Date Dec 12, 1980
Duration 3 h 6 m
Rating PG
Tagline She was a poor man's daughter, an aristocrat's mistress and a gentleman's wife. She was Tess, a victim of her own provocative beauty.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
César Awards, France
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
