Was there ever a heroine so gloriously tragic as Tess Durbeyfield? The beleaguered and beloved title character of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" remains so stalwart and true despite a life of perpetual betrayal that she makes Little Nell look like a character in "The Shield."
"Violated by one man and forsaken by another" is how the good folks at PBS put it on their website promo for the new BBC adaptation that premieres Sunday night on "Masterpiece Classic," and that's not the half of it.
Used and abused by pretty much every man who meets her, the perilously lovely Tess was Hardy's way of protesting the sexual double-standard of Victorian England, while, of course, reaping the benefit of it. Tess herself never considers protesting her own plight because she believes that, as a woman and therefore the natural embodiment of sexual temptation, she deserves it.
She is the sacrifice that brings about revolution, rather than the revolution itself.
As those who have read the book or seen any of the film adaptations know, "Tess" is not for the weak of heart. It is, in virtually any incarnation, what one might call a sobfest. With a four-hour run time, a lead actress who never looks as lovely as when she is blinking back tears and camera work that continually offers gorgeous vistas you know will only turn eventually to ash, this BBC version should be approached with caution.
Do not, for instance, watch it, as this reviewer did, all in one go, unless you have enough vacation accumulated to take to your swooning couch for a few days, waving away all offers of aid from family and friends, swathed in romantic misery, nasal congestion and the softest blankie you can find.
Noble lineage
We meet Tess (Gemma Arterton) in virginal white as she and her friends greet spring with a traditional outdoor dance. Lovely beyond all reckoning, she catches the eye of Angel Clare (Eddie Redmayne), who ditches his snobby brothers to join in the festivities. Alas, her joy is to be short-lived; in a chance meeting, the local parson has called her father "Sir John," explaining that the poor and rather dissolute Durbeyfields are actually descendants of the noble D'Urbervilles.
Tess' parents urge her to take her pretty face to the local branch of the family. Proud girl, she refuses -- that is until being involved in an accident that kills the family horse. Off she goes to the manor house, where she meets Alec D'Urberville (Hans Matheson), one of literature's most villainous libertines.
