Tamara Drewe

I read Thomas Hardy's novel Far From the Madding Crowd this past summer in anticipation of a film adaptation starring Carey Mulligan coming sometime soon. It turns out there was sort of an adaptation in 2010, called Tamara Drewe. If you've read the novel, you can pick out minor details from the novel, though it's set in the modern day.

The movie, set in the English countryside, concerns the young woman of the title (Gemma Arterton) returning to her country home after getting a nose job. The neighboring farm doubles as a writer's retreat, owned by an arrogant and successful mystery writer (Roger Allam) and his long-suffering wife (Tamsin Greig). They have a hard-working horticulturist, Luke Evans, who used to date Arterton.

Numerous other characters are entered into the mix. Arterton, an entertainment journalist, falls in love with a vain rock drummer (Dominic Cooper). A well-meaning but weak-willed American scholar, played by Bill Camp, (who is writing a book on Hardy, natch) is in love with Greig, and despises Allum for his infidelities. And two teenage girls, who worship Cooper, act as plot manipulators through their actions, notably by sending an e-mail from Arterton's computer (has she not heard of a password?)

I liked most of the film; it's kind of breezy, well acted, with a nice light tone set by director Stephen Frears. The film is actually based on a graphic novel, which in turn was based on Hardy's book. You won't get too far making comparisons--much is changed, starting with the heroine's name. Tamara Drewe is a nice name, but it doesn't match Bathsheba Everdene. It's fairly clear that Evans equals Gabriel Oak, Cooper is Sergeant Troy, and I suppose Allum is Boldwood, thought it doesn't all gel. The teenage girls are wholly an invention of the film.

The film is weighed down by the cliche of the aging writer bedding young women. I don't doubt that it goes on, but it's so common in books and films that it just doesn't have any dramatic weight anymore. I imagine it was included because Hardy had a weakness for young women--according to Camp, Hardy had an affair with one women, and then later her daughter.

I was teaching a lesson recently about foreshadowing, and how it's in almost every movie one sees. Usually it has to do with guns and other weapons, but here, in an unusual occurrence, it has to do with the dangerous nature of cows. I kid you not.