The Mayor of Casterbridge

Very good

The story is wonderful but the sound is awful. The characters mumble or whisper while the music is loud. This movie needs subtitles but doesn't have the option. I was strongly Disappointed.

When I saw Alan Bates act Michael Henchard, I thought that I would never see acting any better than his, but I guess it was the role that I was identifying with, for Ciaran Hinds is the perfect Michael Henchard. He was wonderful as Bois de Guilbert in IVANHOE. He was indeed the rugged Captain Wentworth in PERSUASION and many have claimed him to be the very best Rochester in JANE EYRE. I think that Mr. Hinds performance in this movie goes a long way to make it the best movie that I have ever seen.Michael Henchard was a rugged selfmade man striving to follow his own star though that star is always the star of fate.All that holds him back is the all encompassing past which wills him to destruction. He cannot escape himself or his fate.To me he was Hardy's greatest creation. He is everyone.Nearly every role that Ciaran Hinds has played has these samedimensions and he handles each of them to near perfection which makes him my favorite actor and possibly the best actor of our time.How can anyone love a character that would sell his wife and daughter even in a drunken state? Thomas Hardy and Ciaran Hindsmake us love this horrible man even as we love ourselves, and wepray for his redemption. I think that Hardy himself wavered between redeeming Henchard or not.It was not just Thomas Hardy and Ciaran Hinds that made thisincomparable movie. This is Mr. David Thacker's movie, and for a director with such a short list of credits, it is all the more astounding! He did it mainly with excellent casting. Jodhi May was great as Elizabeth Jane. Juliet Aubrey fantastic as the mother,James Purefoy wonderful as Donald Farfrae,and Polly Walker is the perfect Lucinda. He did it by pacing the movie a little faster than Hardy's literary gait. He made this movie happen by an unrelenting revelation of the time and of the nature of the land. Frame by frame, utterance by utterance, gesture by gesture,this movie marks excellence. There are many excellent people that made this happen that are not at the top of the credits, but we see their names over and over in great productions. We salute these great contributors, too, and selfishly wish them many more great successes.

"I don't see why men who've got wives they don't want, shouldn't get rid of them...I'd sell mine this minute if anybody'd buy her."When Michael Henchard (Ciaran Hinds) offers to sell his wife and baby girl, Elizabeth Jane, to a passing sailor for 5 guineas at the Weydon fair one evening, the viewing audience gasps at the horrendous audacity of any man who would treat his wife and child in such a fashion! Susan Henchard (Juliet Aubrey) is so humiliated and embarrassed by her drunken husband's behavior (combined with his history of bad temper), that she agrees to the sale, becoming from then on the wife of the sailor Newson. She takes off her wedding band and sets it in front of Henchard with a sad, lost look in her eyes while Henchard greedily grabs the 5 guineas off the table and stuffs them in his pocket. When he awakens the next morning to find them gone and realizes what he has done, he swears an oath to God he will not touch alcohol for the space of 21 years, but when his "wife & daughter" come to find him 19 years later, will they find him changed...?A&E did an excellent job on this Thomas Hardy adaptation; it is accurate to the original story (although I did feel some moments and scenes were cut too short to allow the full effect to seep in), but I still feel it is well done on the whole. The acting is superb with Ciaran Hinds dominating in his role as the tyrannical Michael Henchard; also excellent is Jodhi May as the sweet Elizabeth Jane (Mirah in Daniel Deronda), Polly Walker as Lucetta (Jane Fairfax in Gwenyth's Emma), and James Purefoy as the Scotsman Donald Farfrae. Although her part is shorter, I also thought Juliet Aubrey as Susan Henchard did a fantastic job. An excellent film, well worth the time invested!

This is an exceptionally well-acted period piece. Ciaran Hinds (Rome, Phantom of the Opera, Persuasion)is perfect for the role of the Mayor, who, as a young man, and completely inebriated, auctions off his wife and baby daughter to the highest bidder. (A passing sailor takes her and the baby, and they leave the area). When he sobers up, he realizes what he has done, and makes a promise never to drink for 21 years. 19 years later, the wife is now a widow, and she comes to find him, in hopes of obtaining help. She finds that he has done quite well as a merchant, and is now the mayor of the town of Castorbridge. The movie moves on through the next few years, with twists and turns in the plot. Ladies: get out your Kleenex for the ending, because it jerks a few tears, but the movie is very enjoyable, and well worth it. The scenery and costumes are splendid, and the supporting actors do a fantastic job in rounding out the cast. This movie is a worthy addition to any collection.

I'd love to rate this product-- how faithfully it followed the Hardy novel; the excellence of the photography, the directing, the casting. I could go on and on, and would happily do so. Unhappily, I never received it. Perhaps others had better luck and you can read their reviews.

I love the story of how a stupid error can disrupt ones life for ever, and you can't ask for forgiveness from those you hurt. I lived in Dorchester (Casterbridge in the movie) when I was 4-6 years old and it is wonderful to see scenery of the town I well recognize. In fact my first haircut there was by the barber who cut Thomas hardy's hair. I was upset because I already had the DVD with Tess of the Derbervilles/The Mayor of Casterbridge and the advert for this single product seemed to make clear it had subtitles unlike the others. It didn't, and my hearing is going. I past it on to my sister for her to see and remember.

Una storia particolare e un pò strana, ma gli attori sono buoni ed anche la scenografia. Un film che secondo me possono gustare solo gli appassionati dei film inglesi in costume. Attenzione perchè non ci sono i sottotitoli in inglese (e nemmeno in italiano, ovviamente).

Un homme qui vend sa femme et son enfant, vous y croyez vous ? C'est bien ce qui arrive dans ce film à la noirceur bien typique de Thomas Hardy. Bon jeu d'acteurs.

This absorbing DVD presents Hardy's characters as constantly struggling to get past the accidents of fate as in a Christian morality play. Difficult dilemmas require each character to summon up an enormous amount of forgiveness which, in many instances, is impossible to achieve. Michael Henchard is an intimidating character who manages to evoke considerable sympathy. In a drunken rage, the youthful Henchard auctions his wife, Susan, and infant child to a passing seaman. Years later, Susan meets up with an apparently contrite Henchard and their future could have been set on a positive path had Henchard been able to get past his powerful streak of selfishness. But he could not. Henchard reverts to his original stubborn and unyielding character, thereby sabotaging everything to do with this relationship. In this version of the story, Henchard appears to be aware of his defects of character but, in the end, is unable to get past them because the traditional Christian tool of forgiveness constantly eludes him.Although Hardy was not a seriously religious man - he was still a Christian - the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge presents the characters with extraordinarily difficult moral dilemmas in the Christian story-telling tradition. Impossible degrees of forgiveness are required of all the characters. Occasionally, as in the characters of Elizabeth Jane and Farfrae, forgiveness is found repeatedly and life recovers. But in so many other cases throughout this story, enmity prevails and disaster follows.For some unexplained reason, in spite of the author's consistent presentation of Christian moral struggles, the DVD claims in its on-screen notes that "Thomas Hardy was an atheist". Although Henchard, the Mayor of Casterbridge, is presented as a selfish, atheistic, personality, his atheistic tendencies are not shown in any positive light. He knows that he needs to overcome his alcohol-fueled selfishness, but he cannot. Even though his character is deeply flawed, Henchard does evoke considerable sympathy because his salvation requires only a change of heart. The pain of his atheistic choices is clearly evident in Ciaran Hinds' presentation of Henchard. Hardy's novel is presented in this DVD with enormous attention to historical detail. The traditional Christian concerns with love and forgiveness and the consequences of selfish behaviour, are presented just as Hardy would have wished. It's one of those films that can be watched again and again!

Völlig betrunken verkauft der Besenbinder Henshaw auf einem Jahrmarkt seineFrau und seine kleine Tochter an einen Seemann. Als er sich seiner Untat bewusst wird und er keine Spur von Frau und Kind findet, legt er das Gelübde ab, für die Dauer von 18 Jahren keinen Alkohol mehr zu trinken. Es folgt ein erfolgreicher Aufstieg als Getreidehändler, bis er schliesslich Bürgermeister der Gemeinde Casterbridge wird. Nach vielen Jahren kommen seine Frau und Tochter auf der Suche nach ihm zurück. Um seine Schuld von einst wiedergutzumachen, heiratet er seine Frau erneut, lässt jedoch seine Tochter und die Gemeinde in Unwissenheit über die Vergangenheit. Nur sein Vertrauter und Geschäftsführer weiss darüber Bescheid. Dennoch verlangt die Vergangenheit ihr Recht, unaufhaltsam beginnt nun der Verfall des Bürgermeisters, schliesslích kommt der Absturz und Henshaw stirbt letztendlich einsam und von Tochter und Gemeinde verstossen..Die Verfilmung folgt der Romanvorlage sehr getreu. Bedrückend, in dunklen Bildern wird das Leben einer englischen Gemeinde Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts dargestellt. Grandios Ciaran Hinds als von Schuld gequälter Protagonist des Filmes.Die DVD gibts leider nur in englisch und ohne Untertitel, ist aber sprachlich gut verständlichEin für mich sehr lohnenswerter Film!