This is a really long film (2 hours 40 mins) but I actually enjoyed it immensely and I'm not even a person who is partial to Hardy's special brand of melodrama. I had heard that the acting was not so fantastic and there's certainly nothing I would describe as a tour de force here but I think the gloomy restraint rather suits it. Furthermore, seeing Julie Christie at the height of her 'it' girl fame (replete with purple, Biba-esque eyeshadow) only reinforced how this Bathsheba could capture not only the hearts but also minds (read sanity) of all the men who surround her. So, she may have only been being Julie Christie, but she does it ever so well here. Terence Stamp is truly truly slimy in this (to my mind, he looks like a tacky car salesman)...the montage scene where he demonstrates his prowess with a sword is hilarious (I think Bathsheba is supposed to be so frightened that she's turned on...personally, if some gappy toothed man was waving a sword in my face, I'd tell him he'd missed his chance and that would be the end of it). The most appealing thing about this film is the photography by the commensurate Nicholas Roeg (whose 'Don't Look Now' Julie would appear in later); I don't know where it was shot but it looks like the South Downs to me. Really gorgeous colours abound throughout: pastel springtime shades mixed with the earthy hues of autumn all conveyed through languid panning shots. I think this would be a perfect film for a Sunday afternoon when it's raining outside...there's even a happy ending (who would have thought that of Hardy!)
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