Whilst Kinski is always essential viewing, the trouble isn’t the acting which is excellent, it’s just the turgid script that makes this a real Steve to get through. It is interminably tragic and slow paced. I’ve never read the book but this show has confirmed to me that I really don’t want to as a lot of the so called classics are just plain dull. Watched on DVD.

I was shocked to see this movie get an 81% rating. We found it tedious, the plot, ridiculous, and judging from what I've read about the book it veered away from the original Hardy version. I was sorry to have had to pay to rent it. We only finished it because we paid for it. We loved the Mayor of Casterbridge And watched this with the same expectation. The heroine's shy withdrawn personality, made her uninteresting and unsympathetic.

Although the cinematography is excellent, Kinski's acting is far from being emotive. Watch the Masterpiece Theater version.

This could easily have become a repetitive series of depressing events (which it almost does), but Polanski finds interesting themes among the misery and visual beauty in almost every scene (I think this film is tied with "Days of Heaven" for best use of the Golden Hour). Nastassja Kinski's performance has just the right blend of naivety and mystery for this role.

Tess had a lot going for it, a wonderful book and a director that was responsible for masterpieces like Chinatown, Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. Tess didn't quite live up to the promising potential it did have and I don't consider it one of Polanski's masterpieces. However it is a commendable film and adaptation(even if I do prefer the 2008 BBC series) and better on re-watch than when I saw it a couple of years back and didn't care at all for it. The film is overlong, and while the pace is purposeful considering the book's complexity there are times where it does get a bit too languid. On the other hand, visually it is stunning with evocative scenery and photography. The music is also resolutely haunting, the scripting thought-provoking and literate and the story having its necessary pathos as well as being devastating and powerful in equal measure. The denouncement with Stonehenge as the backdrop is just stunning. The characters are not as complex as in the book or the series but are still interesting and emphatic. Nastassja Kinski does have moments where she is a little flat, but on the whole it is a very moving performance. Peter Firth is suitably subtle as Angel Clare and Leigh Lawson's menacing Alec comes close to stealing the film. Polanski's direction is exemplary. All in all, has much to admire but falls flat of being a truly outstanding movie. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Based on the Thomas Hardy novel Tess of the d'Uberville's, Roman Polanski's adaptation proves to be unlike anything Polanski has ever tackled, an ambitious period piece set in late 19th century England, filled with complex themes and characters. Nastassja Kinski plays Tess, a young working-class girl with subtle aspirations of a better life, aspirations that ultimately lead to betrayal, deception and murder. Tess is Polanski's most visually stunning and artistic film, featuring beautiful cinematography, subtle performances, remarkable period details, and a languid pace that will mesmerize attentive viewers. On the down side, while Kinski is luminous to look at in the lead role, her bizarre attempt at a British accent can be distracting at times and the music score often feels like it overwhelms the phenomenal visuals. Despite this, Tess is a masterpiece that makes its faults easy to overlook.

The greatest 02 hours: and 50 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ale obleśny, stary zboczuch. Fajny, namacalny klimat. Momentami nudnawy

The screenplay extracted from the book's narrative would strike many as soapy television-tier melodrama romance however a very inspired younger Roman Polanski and company bring so much elegance, subtely and affection to the overall look, atmosphere and characters. It's hard to shake the spell being cast within the first act.

Tess is a stunning work that both shocks and enchants the viewer at the same time. When I first stumbled across this film I expected it to be more geared towards relationships and romance. Instead Roman Polanski directed it more towards a Spiritual enlightenment that develops and grows as time passes. Natassia Kinsky as Tess is the embodiment of innocence almost naive and completely oblivious to the world around her especially when it comes to the lack of knowledge of her own faith. Torn between an upbringing of Christian legalists and those who actually live by the faith, she looses her self worth in the process.It begins by being turned away at her Church gates after her indiscretions are made known.Everyone she turns to for help treats her poorly including the man she falls head over heels in love with. This causes immense disturbance between her faith for God and Zealot teachings. She is led to believe by the man she loves that whomever she shared past intimacy with was assumed to be her husband first until his death. Since divorce is considered Sin she takes this matter quite literally into her own hands unbeknownst to the real consequences. Tragedy escalates without her ever finding the Mercy and Grace she so craves through Jesus. Her belief becomes confused enough that she cannot even distinguish a pagan sacrificial site from a Christian prayer altar. Ultimately her hopes and dreams of happiness reach a dead end concluding her life with a strange inner peace. A true tragedy that left much more to be desired but alas it was meant to end that way.

Beautiful gorgeous countryside. Looks like England or France or maybe even Italy. Great wide angle shots. Jesus Christ almighty, Nastassja Kinski is probably one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She has perfect facial features and structure. What a sight for sore eyes. Holy shit what a shot, with the sun setting in the background and everybody dancing. The costumes are impressive. Makes the whole time period feel that much more believable. Nastassja was so mesmerizing to look at. Her eyes alone are so pretty, expressive too. Only 18 years old in this movie. So innocent looking, virgin almost, and shy. WTF, kind of crazy how they basically sell her off, Tess, to their rich family counterpart so they can make money. That horse carriage ride scene with Tess and her cousin was so well done. The way the carriage rocked unstably and how unsettled she looked and felt. That's amazing how Nastassja had to actually grab a live chicken and the thing was flailing around lol. I get that the old lady is blind, but did you have to make her cross eyed too? Lol. Some of the shots in these movies are practically paintings, they're incredible. Very similar to the way Kubrick did with Barry Lyndon, Polanski is doing the same with this film. That was quite brilliant the way Polanski masked the rape scene with smoke, a fog machine. I feel like one of the main reasons he forced himself onto her was so that she could continue his and their families lineage. Holy shit, did she end up killing her baby? Wtf happened? How'd her baby die? Man, Tess is on another level of consciousness. When she's speaking at the dinner table and goes into the dialogue about how our souls can leave our bodies when we lie on the grass and stare off into a bright star. We can feel ourselves falling into the sky. That was beautiful the way she explained it, like poetry. That scene where Angel, the cool farmer dude, picks up the four girls to take them across the water was so good. That was the moment that I realized how perfect the casting was for this movie. Jeez, that was pretty harsh what Angel said to Tess once he found out about her past, but I understand where he's coming from and his point of view. I'm actually very surprised of his reaction, I thought he would be more understanding or forgiving. It is a shock though. The problem here is the difference in social classes and upbringing. Tess is too timid and almost submissive. I feel really bad for Tess though having to sleep in the forest and roam around with no place to go. I will give it to her though, she's super strong willed and independent. Movie got pretty dark towards the end. Like why did Angel have to be so cruel and go off and leave her to fend for herself like that? When I saw her all dolled up on the stairs, I already knew. So sad and almost too real. That was so sweet how she came back to him on the train. I love Tess' character so sweet. I'm so glad the movie didn't end with her staying with the rich douche. That would have left such a bad taste in my mouth. It sucks that the only way she could feel free was by killing the rich cousin. Gorgeous looking movie and with an epic and grand scale. Rich in color and texture. I feel like I could smell, taste and feel everything. The film locations were breathtaking along with the set pieces and costumes. The film score was just as beautiful. I thought it was fucking brilliant the way Polanski adapted this novel into a movie. This movies about Tess' transition into becoming a woman from the shy innocent and virgin girl she was. A pretty heartbreaking and sad tale but also a really sweet one about love and full of beautiful moments. I loved every minute of it, all 2 hours and 50 minutes of it. Masterpiece of a movie. I'd watch it again in a heartbeat, and everyday just to be reminded of Nastassja's natural beauty. A must own.

"TAKES MY BREATH AWAY" LOVE FILMS by Timothy J. Verret I'm as drawn to love films as a beautiful and majestic horse is drawn to water. I create so much about and from the notion of love that it sometimes is hard for me to take a decent, deep breath. Here are 10 (actually 11) films about love (or the lack thereof) that "take my breath away" and heal my still-sometimes-very-broken heart (BOTH!): 1. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998): This would indeed be my all-time favorite love film because it's got Shakespeare and it's got that message: "Love is the ONLY inspiration." This film is inspired by a great and awe-inspiring love for acting, writing, directing, and how passion engages all of these things in one love film. Even if this film was not an ode to why Shakespeare wrote sonnets in the first place, the scene where Viola is onstage in a staged production of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET and William is lovingly looking at her from the wings is more than enough of a reason why I adore this love film. Viola loves William, William loves Viola, and the music takes us away to just this one moment of two looks and two smiles all looked and smiled in the name of a beautiful, all-encompassing love. That scene alone "takes my breath way" every time I see it. Even though this film is #10 on my all-time favorite films' list, it is solidly #1 on my all-time favorite love films' list (I guess you could say, "so the last shall be first, and the first shall be last" [Matthew 20:16]). 😉 2. SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973): Swedish director Ingmar Bergman is not known for gushy and silly love films, but this film IS a very serious love film because Bergman gives us both the glory and grime of a marriage dissolving. In true and typical Bergman fashion, each scene of this film is a very serious "take my breath away," because the truth and turmoil at the heart of this marriage ending are about as real as my hand in front of my face. Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson as Marianne and Johan give towering performances. I will never forget the scene where Marianne and Johan go to the lawyer's office to sign the divorce papers and literally get into a fist fight. After the fight (and the marriage) is over, they both with their tattered hair and hearts sign the divorce papers. This film is as stunning as it is sacrificial. Marriage IS sacrifice and when that's not there, stunning is any marriage's dissolvement. I probably could have listed a handful of Ingmar Bergman films that explore the theme of this kind of intense love, but I have to keep this list as brief as possible.😉 3. MARRIAGE STORY (2019): Very much like SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, this film is haunting and often horribly uneasy to sit through. Scarlett Johansson as Nicole and Adam Driver as Charlie give exceptionally riveting performances as a married couple with way too big egos (she is an actress and he is a theatre director and if that's not "way too big egos," I don't know what is). I will never forget the scene where Nicole goes to Charlie's apartment and they are in the throws of so much anger and so much hurt that the walls of Charlie's apartment are about to come down. Johansson's Nicole delivers to Driver's Charlie the line that is THE line where love hoped to save this marriage and love can't save this marriage intersect, "You're so merged with your own selfishness, you don't even identify it as selfishness anymore!" That line "took my breath away" because I totally identified with it. A marriage on its way to a divorce is all about selfishness unidentified anymore. The proclaimed egos of both partners "win out" and when ego "wins out," everything is "lost in" a marriage war of two "way too big egos." 4. THE DANISH GIRL (2015): It's so cool that this film is #4 on this list, as #4 is my spiritual number. It's also cool that this film is #4 on my all-time favorite films' list, as well. The story of Gerda and Einar (Lily) Wegener is what love films should always be about: The sacrifice one partner needs to make for a marriage to survive (often times in a marriage, both partners have to make sacrifices). Gerda makes the ultimate sacrifice by accepting that her husband, Einar, believes he is a woman and wants to have an operation to become Lily, the woman he always was on the inside. Anyone else that I can think of in Gerda's position would have said in response to this, "no way, no how….this marriage is OVER!" Gerda loves Einar so much that she is willing to do just about anything (and she does) to keep their love alive. Alicia Vikander (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress) is an absolute and complete revelation in her performance as Gerda, and Eddie Redmayne completely and totally seals the deal in his performance in this film to make him my all-time favorite actor next to Joaquin Phoenix. I swear I could go on and on about how this film "takes my breath away" at every twist and turn where love is concerned but, once again, I'm needing to be brief here.😉 5. YENTL (1983): Very similar to THE DANISH GIRL, this film is not your conventional love film. It's about a woman who loves this man who thinks a woman is a man, this man who loves another woman who is also a woman but since he can't have this other woman, the man asks a woman to marry this other woman so he can be close to this other woman, and a woman who this man thinks is a man marries this other woman, and if none of that "takes your breath away," I'm not sure what ever would! This film "takes my breath away" because it's simply about the lengths and heights and depths we find ourselves reaching for in the throes (or thrown) of love. And because I am a huge Barbra Streisand fan and this is Barbra's best film EVER, I can't think of any other love film that pleases and excites me more than this one. And never mind that it is mainly because of Barbra Streisand and my love for her that helped me to believe that I could ever be someone someday who could love someone someday. Now, that "takes my breath away." 6. WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966): While most in a million years would never call this film a "love film," I do because it's a film about the absence of love in a marriage, the absence that is SO common in a lot of marriages, and an absence so penetrable that the married couple in this film actually make up that they have a child to keep the marriage bearable. Edward Albee's play and Mike Nichols' film adaptation are what I love most about stories where love has flown the coop (if it was ever in the coop in the first place), i.e., the dissection and probing of the insides of people who are losing their identity because love has become nonexistent while brutality and mean-spiritedness are what's left to exist. Elizabeth Taylor, known for her striking beauty, goes from "riches to rags" in her physical beauty and gives us an "ugly" Martha, a force of nature who is as forceful as she is vulnerable. Taylor, Best Actress Oscar winner) gives what I consider the very best female performance ever captured on film. Richard Burton as George and George Segal as Nick are also excellent, but it's the other female performance of Sandy Dennis as Honey (Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner) that makes this love film truly one that "takes my breath away" every time I see it….and I've seen it a lot!😉 7. TESS (1980): If there can be any love film that is truly lovely to look it, it would be this film. Based on Thomas Hardy's classic novel of the same name, Roman Polanski directed this film that makes the novel come breathtakingly and beautifully alive. This film "takes my breath away" not just because it's pretty to look at but also because it is rapturous and daring to expose seduction between a man and a woman as actually rape, and how that one act of domination produces shame that stays with the victim. I know that one's shame is to be nailed to The Cross of Jesus but for some, death is the one way, and maybe the only way, to be rid of that shame. Nastassja Kinski as Tess might not be the best actress who ever lived, but Polanksi knew exactly what he was doing by casting her in the title role. Because Kinski was a relative unknown and maybe because Polanski knew she wasn't the greatest actress around, it was precisely these two very things that allowed Kinski to inhabit Tess as bright-eyed innocent, and naïve. A well-known and a great actress would have destroyed these precious traits, so thank God Polanski and Kinski didn't. There's one scene of a closeup of Tess with the brightest yellow sun behind her that to this day, every time I see a sun like that, it "takes my breath away," and I call it, "the Tess sun." LOVE THAT! ❤️ 8. THE WAY WE WERE (1973): It certainly makes sense that I would have two Barbra Streisand films on this list but even if I didn't love Streisand, this film would be on it anyway and probably most others' "love film" list. It's the ultimate love story of the girl over there and the guy over here and how there and here come together and we are all the better for being present to witness that. The odds are that two beautiful actors like Redford and Streisand couldn't possibly go wrong in a beautiful love film that ends with a closing scene that still "takes my breath away." Streisand's Katie and Redford's Hubbell are looking at each other after having separated when famous Streisand takes that famous hand and famously brushes away that famous hair from Redford's famous face. "See ya', Katie." "See ya' Hubbell." See me balling my eyes out.😥😥 9. CASABLANCA (1942): While not the film I would have included on my "take my breath away" love films' list, I'm including it because it's on the top of the list for two of my favorite people and because any film with an actor or actress with the last name of "Bergman" should be on any film list I compile (see #2 for that "other Bergman" film). That said, I have seen this film and I remember loving it very much. Many "love film" aficionado's are divided into two camps where this film's ending is concerned: One group wants Rick to let Ilsa board that plane to Lisbon with Laszlo for The Resistance, while the other group says, "C'mon! Rick and Ilsa forever! We're not talking about The Resistance here! We're talking about love!" This film reminds us that love doesn't always end as victorious as The Resistance, but what we cannot "resist" is that we loved in the first place. That is usually enough for any kind of love to take flight. 10. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) and SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980): I admit I was torn between which of these films to include to round out the top 10 "take my breath away" love films, until it dawned on me that both films have something very much in common: The element of time when and where love is lost and/or found. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT is simple enough to say love can happen one night, whereas SOMEWHERE IN TIME says one night is fine, but true love cannot be contained by the element of time. Love can happen one night, sure, and then more nights can happen after that, but sometimes you have to go "somewhere in time" to find that love again. Whether one night or "somewhere in time," love alters us to our very core and we do search time and space to find it, but there are no guarantees that the Jericho Walls (reference to the ending of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) will stay up or come down when love happens in just one night or "somewhere" outside of space and time for a lifetime. Now, I'm not currently in a love relationship (unless you count Jesus) but if I were, my partner would need to have seen AT LEAST one of these films. If not, watching AT LEAST one of these films is essential if any partner who loves me expects to "take my breath away." 😉❤️

Remarkable achievement in cinematography and Kinski shows remarkable range to complete the tragic story arc

Predictable melodrama with a strong performance from its lead.

Despite Roman Polanski's well publicized flaws as a human being he does have the ability to direct one hell of a movie and this film which fits into a genre I enjoy, the period literary adaptation, is one of his best. Adapted from Thomas Hardy's undisputed classic novel ‘Tess of the d'Urbervilles' this film does not fall into feeling like a direct translation from page to screen and instead the filmmakers have incorporated their own ideas and modern perspectives into their interpretation of the characters and their place in the world. For some the pacing of the film may be an issue as it does run on it's own time but the pacing is consistent and you quickly relax into the enveloping mood and tone of the piece. This is one of the best 1980s films I have seen and it was fascinating to see the conflicted social commentary in the novel made clearer and more streamlined in a beautifully constructed motion picture. In Victorian England, young Tess Durbyfield, Nastassja Kinski, is sent by her alcoholic father John, John Collin, to ask for work from her ‘cousins' the wealthy Stokes, who bought the aristocratic title, after John is told by local priests that they are descended from aristocracy. Durbyfield is seduced and then raped by her ‘cousin' Alec, Leigh Lawson, whom she then runs away from but is left pregnant by him. Years later her child dies and she is unable to get him a proper Christian burial while she returns to a working class job. She falls in love with her employer, the childish and immature Angel Clare, Peter Firth, while working as a milkmaid. She struggles to reveal her rape and dead child to him but on their wedding night she confesses and he leaves her because he is not emotionally intelligent enough to process the idea that she is not ‘pure'. She suffers after he abandons her and eventually returns to Alec so that she can support her family but with the return of Clare comes tragedy. What is most astonishing about the film is that it serves as a critique of male behaviors in terms of how they view women both as romantic and sexual partners. Alec desires Durbyfield sexually and is naked in his desire to sleep with her while the deceptively ‘nice' Clare wants a pliant, submissive wife with no romantic history or control over their sexual relationship. The evil of Alec is laid bare as we know immediately that his intentions with Durbyfield are impure and his raping of her is not shocking. There is sadness in seeing the intelligent but inexperienced Durbyfield manipulated by a man who sees her only as an object to be used for his own means but the greater concern is that society will not blame the predatory Alec but Durbyfield who, as a woman, is expected to resist his advances. The judgment of a backwards society comes in the form of Clare who despite having had a romantic relationship of a questionable nature himself is quick to turn on his new wife when he discovers that she is not the perfect, sexually pure virgin that he had imagined her to be. The horror of seeing a man blame a woman for having been raped is still sickening and our fears for this passive but thoughtful woman are increased as she is punished for the crimes of the men around her. Another astonishing element of the film is the exploration of the class system as the film critiques the upper class while presenting life as a lower class person as difficult but rewarding. Durbyfield is seen to enjoy her life most when she is working as a milkmaid or a domestic servant with supportive female friends and experiences that enrich her life. She is constantly tempted by the prospect of wealth and security with a man but these prospects never pan out and she finds only pain and suffering as the ‘fancy woman' of privileged men. Polanski lingers on shots of hay bails and the teats of a cow for extended moments as our protagonist's connection to nature and the earth grounds her in a way that the frocks she wears and carriages she rides when she has wealth does not. One of the major themes of Hardy's novel is successfully translated to the screen as Polanski finds ways to incorporate his ideas about social class into the visual medium. Finally, the film benefits from a strong lead performance as Kinski, saddled with a difficult role and spread across a nearly three hour run time, is able to make a quiet, passive woman repressed by the expectations of society compelling. She is particularly touching in scenes when forced to display her character's emotional turmoil as she cannot articulate her thoughts and feelings to her lovers. Of course it would be easy to become distracted by her incredible beauty and admittedly patchy Dorset accent, the German shines through, she crafts a tortured, complex character in place of a role that could have faded into the background. This film deserves it's Best Picture nomination as it is a superbly constructed film that contains excellent performances, writing and commentary on the treatment of women in the Victorian era.

This is one of the most beautifully shot films ever. It is like watching a moving piece of art. Everything about the production is A#1. Peter Firth is wonderful and Ms. Kinski was OK although I was a bit put off at times detecting something less than an authentic English accent.

Roman Polanski's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles about the innocence of the eponymous peasant girl defiled in English Victorian society of the late 19th century is a visually sweeping and beautifully melancholic romantic epic.

im not usually the love story type of guy, but i liked this movie. its just such a beautiful looking one that i was entranced by it. its incredibly long too. i think that polanski was one of the greats

Hard to keep your eyes off Kinski, but after all these years, that's about all this movie has going for it

In many ways, a masterpiece - especially cinematographically - and a stunning debut for Kinski. Ironically, this film is current, the Hardy story about how men, rascals & robed, and hypocrites, impact & harm young, hopeful women's lives - and this op-ed from a senior man. A good and involved father is probably the best vaccination. But alas, Tess doesn't have one. | ~ Norm de Guerre