Released 1997
Stars Christopher Eccleston, Kate Winslet, Liam Cunningham, Rachel Griffiths
Directed by Michael Winterbottom

A warning to those looking for happy tales of love among Britain's upper classes in the 19th century, é la Jane Austen: This somber and austere adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" is nothing less than Austen's antidote. Hardy, the son of a stonemason, provides a harrowing vision of an England on the verge of industrial revolution and still mired in an unjust class system. Clearly somewhat autobiographical, the story follows Jude (superbly played by Eccelston), an eternally optimistic and socially daring young stonemason who breaks class taboo by pursuing a university education. He further pushes the bounds of societal tolerance when he takes up with his atheist schoolteacher cousin (Winslet), despite his being married. The film's first third is a jumble of vignettes as it appears the filmmakers tried to hurry through a mountain of plot points, and character development suffers as a result. The film's last half provides a much more intricate peek at its protagonists and begins to focus its attacks on the social mores of the day. And there are some truly horrifying plot twists near the end not for the faint of heart. This tragic romantic drama is both a thought-provoking history lesson and gloomy period piece.

Summary written by Find-A-Video