Jude a film released in 1996, was directed by Michael Winterbottom, also known for Welcome to Sarajevo, and just recently The Claim starring Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley. It wasn't a very publicized movie, so I was greatly joyed when I found it one day in a video store and just bought it. It's based on one of my favorite books Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I've decided to not talk about the whole storyline or plot of this movie because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to watch it.
Cast
Christopher Eccleston .... Jude Fawley
Kate Winslet .... Sue Bridehead
Liam Cunningham .... Phillotson
Rachel Griffiths (I) .... Arabella
June Whitfield .... Aunt Drusilla
Ross Colvin Turnbull .... Little Jude
James Daley .... Jude as a Boy
Berwick Kaler .... Farmer Troutham
The movie I must say is very good. The film stars Kate Winslet, known mainly to the american teen audience as the lead girl Rose in Titanic, but actually known for her better roles internationally as Marianne Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Juliet in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, and recently as the young Iris Murdoch in Richard Eyre's Iris. Winslet gives the perfect portrayal of Sue Bridehead, the confident heroine. The heroine that eventually denies her true feelings and emotions, breaks down, and turns to God.
Christopher Eccleston gives a good portrayal of Jude, the tortured hero. When I talk about tortured, I mean, Jude is the man with the ideals, he believes generally that society is good, he is ultimately optimistic. But with the constant societal forces working against him, being rejected from Christminster -- their reason being he is better off remaining as a carpenter -- and society's denial to look at his relationship with Sue as being a marriage without the actual papers had driven him to the depths of despair. Though I often imagined the character of Jude to be a bit younger, he does a good job. I'm not saying that he is bad, in fact I think Christopher Eccleston is one of the better actors out there, though he does a lot more television than he does films. You might remember him as the Duke of Norfolk in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth.
Though the movie is not entirely faithful to the novel, it can stand perfectly on its own. To even try to adapt the novel completely would require a 3 - 4 hour long movie of depression that just keeps getting worse and worse.
The movie takes the most important parts of the novel, changes a little details (because some things in the novel would be unexplainable in the film medium), not much so that any meaning is changed altogether, and makes everything work out. In fact, many of the scenes that occurred in the movie are exactly how I imagined them in the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and didn't believe that it was either too short, or too long. It told the story of how people were treated back in the day in a very realistic manner. You might see Jude and Sue's relationship as being trapped in the past while it's trying to be modern. And Arabella's (Arabella being Jude's ex-wife) career as a bar owner as very modern, she is the independent woman, the woman who contributes to society's destruction of Jude and Sue. Rachel Griffith's did an excellent job as Arabella, because having not being exposed to her in other movies before I saw Jude, I actually hated her so much, much more so than in the book. One has to remember that a lot of the Arabella storyline was left out of the movie that was in the book. In actuality the way that the movie portrayed her, the little snippits should only have made me hate her less, but because of Rachel Griffith's excellent acting I actually hated her more. Her acting even affected how I looked at her in later films, my emotion of hate towards her carried over, but it's okay now I think she's a great actress. She can currently be seen on the television series Six Feet Under.
Michael Winterbottom utilizes a lot of face shots which I believe helped the film a lot. Emotions can always be conveyed in a much greater strength and intensity when using the face shot correctly. The camera also gives equal time to Jude and Sue telling both sides of their stories fairly. The first half of the film primarily focuses on Jude from his childhood to his meeting with Sue. The second half is about the both of them, while the last half really focuses on Sue. Warning this film is a tear jerker, and some people may find some aspects of the film just wrong, but this film is completely actor driven, that you may find anything forgivable.
I know this film isn't one of those Oscar films, but I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to feel depressed for a while, or for those who just want to see a good movie because I think this film is totally underrated.
Cast list borrowed from The Internet Movie Database.