Tess
Composite Score: 84.53
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin, Tony Church, Rosemary Martin, Sylvia Coleridge, Fred Bryant, Carolyn Pickles, Suzanna Hamilton, Arielle Dombasle, and David Markham
Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Genres: Drama, Romance, Period
MPAA Rating: PG
Box Office: $20.10 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Tess is the film adaptation from Roman Polanski of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles about the daughter of a poor rural family whose life becomes increasingly more complicated when her father learns that they are the descendants of an old noble house. The film stars Nastassja Kinski in the titular role alongside Peter Firth as love interest Angel Clare and Leigh Lawson as her “cousin” and tormentor Alec d’Urberville. The film was nominated for six total Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, with three of them turning to wins for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. The film’s gorgeous shots of rural England and its poignant story of a woman doing her best for herself make it a lingering great in the history of film.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
I can’t write about a Polanski film without mentioning the fact that he’s a nasty man and fugitive from the American justice system. Tess in particular is troubling in this aspect because it came so soon after his conviction and flight from the U.S., and its dedication “for Sharon” just gives the whole thing an unpleasant air. Much of Polanski’s career after his trial for drugging and raping a minor feels like Polanski trying to justify himself to the film community and to get the world to forgive him for his egregious crimes. There’s no denying that the film is a triumph of cinematography and period filmmaking, but I don’t think that justifies giving a continued platform to a convicted pedophile. There’s also the fact that key moments in Tess include a sexual assault and a lost child – as if he wants to try to diminish the impact of one wrong by pointing back to the wrongs done to him by the Manson family. Those scenes can also be particularly triggering, even were Polanski just another normal director.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Tess is a triumph of the visual and transportive arts of filmmaking – drawing the audience into this older world with excellent costuming and set design, a haunting score, and some of the most breathtaking cinematography ever taken of rural England. The film truly deserved the nominations it received in those categories for creating a space in the modern world for such a setting to exist so viscerally and enthrallingly. It truly is a cinematic sight to behold on the biggest screen you can find if you’re going to watch it. The three-hour epic earns its runtime by being one of the most transportive films I’ve ever seen – taking you into its world and not letting you out from its opening credits to its closing epilogue – and in that, I applaud the filmmaking.
Tess earns its place in cinematic history through an immersive combination of sound, sight, and experience, transporting the audience to another place and time excellently for its entire runtime, cementing a spot among the greats. Whether that’s enough to distance the film from its director’s less than stellar track record outside of filmmaking is up to you to decide for yourself. Maybe it’s best to see how the directors are compensated by whatever streamer you happen to be using to watch this film. Currently, it is available to stream on the Criterion Channel, if that’s something you’d like to look into.
