Tess

Tess was supposed to be an opportunity for actress Sharon Tate to work with her director husband, Roman Polanski. She had read the novel, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and sent a copy to Roman while he was off filming another movie in England. He read it and agreed that it would make for a wonderful film and that she would be ideal in it. Unfortunately, before he could return home and begin work on it, she was murdered by the Manson Family in mid-1969 alongside her unborn child. In part to honor and memorialize her, he went forward with production on the film a few years later, and in 1979, the film Tess was completed and released to theaters. In the opening credits, a small memorial is seen which reads simply, “For Sharon,” a reminder of this tremendous loss of life.

Tess opens with a scene that clearly defines just how one moment can drastically alter the direction of a person’s life; something as simple as a passing greeting can have significant side effects in a person’s life. The events take place in Wessex during the 1880s, and it kicks off with the simple passing in the streets of a clergyman, Parson Tringham (Tony Church), and a simple villager, John Durbeyfield (John Collin). Tringham’s greeting of respect causes John to ask him what he means by it, and Tringham reveals that he has discovered through his research that John is a descendant of the d’Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage goes all the back to the time of William the Conqueror. This doesn’t amount to anything these days, though, as the line is considered broken after all the male heirs died out, and the land and prestige are all gone. Tringham considers the whole thing nothing more than a historical curiosity, but John becomes fixated on the idea of noble lineages and how he can better his family’s fortune with this knowledge. 

Nearby is a wealthy family named d’Urberville, and John and his wife (Rosemary Martin) send their daughter, Tess (Nastassja Kinski), to call on his presumed relations, seeking employment. There, Tess is greeted by Alec d’Urberville (Leigh Lawson), the lone son in the family who has an appetite for beautiful young women. Alec and his mother are fully aware that there is no relationship between them and Tess, as the family name and coat of arms were purchased as a means of elevating them in their social status. This is not revealed to Tess by either of them, but she eventually learns it from others in the employment of the family. Alec continuously makes romantic advances on Tess, which she rebuffs, but eventually he forces himself on her, leaving her pregnant. 

The baby is born sickly, though, and eventually dies. Meanwhile, Tess has left the d’Urberville household and found work elsewhere. In this new environment, she meets and falls in love with Angel Clare (Peter Firth), an aspiring young farmer who thinks the world of her. But on their wedding night, she confesses to him about the rape and her lost child. Distraught by this news, he leaves her, disillusioned and heartbroken. For years, she writes him, pleading for him to return to her, but her letters go unanswered. 

Tess, when we first meet her, doesn’t have much of a prospect in life. Her family is poor and hasn’t much to offer as a potential bride. We know not what would have become of her had the notion of nobility not come to her father through the innocent, yet damning, conversation held between her father and Parson Tringham. Perhaps she would have met Alec either way, having taken on the job that introduced them anyways. More likely, she would not have, though. But even if that were the case, the actions that led to their separation would not have occurred, and she could have had a happy marriage with him. Instead of that, though, the pursuit of nobility led to the loss of everything for her, even though it wasn’t even her pursuit in the first place but her father’s. 

Roman Polanski was rushed to release this film to theaters for the premiere in France, and this resulted in an unfinished edit that ran for 186 minutes. When it saw an American release in 1980, it had been refined down to about 170 minutes, tightening many scenes and generally improving the pacing overall. In subsequent releases, it was further cut down, some cuts coming in barely over two hours in length. These versions lose a lot of the heart of the story and essentially ruin what is an otherwise superb tragic romance. Roman was still hurting from the tragedy of losing Sharon Tate and their unborn child, and the bitterness of that loss can be felt in this production. It feels lacking in any of the shorter cuts that exist and those are best avoided. The final theatrical cut of the film is his preferred release and it is the best version overall. 

Perfectly cast in the title role is Nastassja Kinski. She is a face that would have been more known in her native Europe but not so much to American moviegoers at that time. This allows for less baggage brought to the role than if a well-known actress was cast. Kinski has a degree of innocence to her looks and mannerisms that instantly tells us that she is not world-savvy, and when Alec is offering her a strawberry, holding it out for her to eat it straight from his hands, she hesitates but does accepts the offer, letting him know she will be someone he can manipulate. Little things from the way she dresses and does her hair to this small scar on her cheek tell us a lot about her character and background. With the obvious exception of the imperfection on her cheek, these are all things she will eventually shed through years of unhappiness and a world of experience. 

What happens in the plot is ultimately not as important as the emotional ride we are to go on if we are to stay by her side. And stay, we must because the film rarely leaves her perspective except towards the end when Angel, having done some growing and maturing of his own, returns and tries to find her again. Ultimately, he will discover her now living as one of Alec’s lovers. This has ruined her chances for happiness, and, desperate to rid herself of him and rejoin her husband, she does something that seals her own fate and ends any chance of a happy ever after. We don’t see this act but our imaginations are far more powerful than anything that could be depicted on screen.

It would be far too easy to brand the end of this film as cynical. It could be seen that way, but the reality is it is truly a tragedy that is not written or performed to be cynical. Reverend Clare (David Markham) makes the remark that Parson Tringham would have been best had he kept his mouth shut, filling John Durbeyfield’s mind with ideas of nobility, and that is very much the case. What good does it do someone to fill their head with delusions of nobility? It only makes them further lament their current misfortunes and, in this case, costs the lives of a couple of people. Tess didn’t deserve the life she ended up with, and that, more than her ultimate fate, is the true tragedy of this story. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Claude Berri

Best Director: Roman Polanski

Best Art Direction: Pierre Guffroy (won)

Best Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet (won)

Best Costume Design: Anthony Powell (Won)

Best Original Score: Philippe Sarde

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Release Date: October 31, 1979

Running Time: 172 Minutes

Rated PG

Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, and Leigh Lawson

Directed By: Roman Polanski