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| Jude |
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| Originally released: 1996 |
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Thomas Hardy stopped writing fiction after Jude the Obscure. Small
wonder. Victorians were thrown by the pessimism, blasphemy, long
words and sex stirred into this great novel. Eccleston takes on Jude,
farm boy determined to study at Christminster (Oxford), but
distracted by sexual desire. When his wife conveniently disappears,
he arrives in the city and falls for his cousin, Sue (Winslet). She loves
him but won't marry him. Cue childbirth, rain, crushing tragedy.
Winterbottom is out of his depth slightly, but the use of
black-and-white film, straight to camera sequences, and the pace of
the final, awful minutes, are masterful.
Sophie Levy
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