Jude the Obscure
by Hugh David
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DVD details
Actor: Alex Marshall, Daphne Heard, Fiona Walker, John Franklyn-Robbins, Robert PowellDirector: Hugh David
Brand: Koch International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Color, Content/Copy-Protected CD, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 270 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Koch Vision
DVD Reviews of Jude the Obscure
DVD Review: Jude the Hermit
Summary: 4 Stars
Like the other reviewer, I finished this two-DVD mini-series in one sitting. I was also clueless what I was getting, but my passion lasted 'til the very end.
It was VERY difficult for me to understand the heavy provincial British accent at the beginning, and there was no close-captioning in this production (something DVD production company should have thought about). However, I was very determined to watch it and I succeeded. Fortunately I was able to understand 90% of the story toward the end (and I'm a veteran of BBC period dramas).
Do not let the language issue deter you though, because the story is very rewarding and very timeless, not only for the production value like the other reviewer pointed out, but the story itself transcends the time period it is set (which is Victorian England, early Victorian, I presume).
The other reviewer already mentioned something about Jude's marriage life. I must mention there is another tragedy (a counterpoint) in Jude's life that I personally relate well. The early focus of the story was on Jude's impotence to fulfill his personal goal. He wanted to be a scholar at an university. However, his financial status as well as social status prevented him so (this was Victorian era where people must know their places).
To solve the financial obstacle, he saved money by working as a mason. However, he still met his obstacle to be admitted to a university, for he was a mason. He was ridiculed as too educated for his trade. He felt betrayed by the society. The upward mobility in Victorian England wasn't very good. A self-made man was not rewarded.
He later wandered through series of vocational changes. However, after each new dream shattered on him, he was back as a mason.
While he was wading through the journey of vocational identity, he also had an emotional journey of value. He was a man with tradition. His acquaintance to his cousin Sue soon turned into a taboo love affair. The problem was not they were close kins, but a legal problem. He was a married man.
She also couldn't make up her mind between her own cousin and her betrothed. Instead, she masked her non-commitment as a break of trivial social convention. Her free-spiritedness disgusted him at first but at the end of the story, we see a reversal of values.
Sue, on the other hand, after their wedlock children hanged themselves, she believe it was a punishment of her sin. It led her to remarried her original husband.
The ending was very tragic. It was most befitted to be Thomas Hardy's most controversial work.
The story is very melodramatic, which succumbs me once a while as a guilty pleasure (*nervous laughter*). It also reminds me of Scarlett Letter, except with a male lead. Jude must face the world's slight opinion of him, both his trade and his value, and bitter end of his own family.
It's a very modern story.
DVD Review: A powerful production not to be missed
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't usually review DVDs and CDs but after reading Claire Tomalin's excellent new biography of Thomas Hardy I decided to rent a couple of films based on his novels. "Jude the Obscure", a mini-series delivered in 1971, was my first choice and what a choice it was! Set on two DVDs (six episodes of forty-five minutes each) I came away dazzled not only with a greater appreciation of Hardy but of this particular group of actors.
Jude is a character of great sympathy who is in constant conflict between his marriage to one woman and his passions for another. Leading this strong group is Robert Powell (the entire cast is British, of course) and he delivers a tour de force in the title role of Jude. The supporting women, (Fiona Walker as Jude's cousin and real love and Alex Marshall as his wife) express a range of emotions that plays true to Hardy's work. This mini-series became so engrossing as I got into it that I watched the entire series in one sitting. It's a drama-packed production, wonderfully directed and photographed and not for one minute seeming to be outdated. I highly recommend it.
DVD Review: Lover Jude
Summary: 5 Stars
I consider this movie an excellent example of the cause and effect of life. Perhaps some of us dont have the same degree of emotions as others and problems arise where "love" is contemplated on both sides of the divide
Is Love enough? or is there some other emotion that can span the two emotional divides. Jude the obscure does not answer the question but it has certainly moved from cause to effect.
DVD Review: Good acting, bad cinematography
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure". The story tells of two cousins, Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead, who fall in love. Lots of controversy rises because of their love for each other, and throws them into a whirl of events that leads into a tragic ending. The acting is very good, but the cinematography is not that good. Watch this movie if you have nothing better to do.DVD Review: Very dramatic
Summary: 3 Stars
I read the novel "Jude the Obscure" before I got the movie. My favorite actor, Robert Powell, was in it as well, so I decided to get the movie. The acting is very good, and the movie is very dramatic- however, I was dissapointed with the cinematography. The story is about a man named Jude, a stonemason who wants to become a priest. He meets his long-lost cousin, Sue, and the two fall in love. It causes lots of controversy in their town, and they suffer a lot of hardships because of their position. If you're one who enjoys the drama of a movie and doesn't focus on technical points, then I think this is a movie for you.
Description of Jude the Obscure
Jude Fawley is a poor stone carver who is tricked into a lovelessmarriage and ultimately forced to give up his dreams of a universityeducation. After his wife deserts him he begins a scandalousrelationship with his cousin Sue Bridehead./System Requirements:Running Time 278 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC:?741952635994 Manufacturer No:?KOC-DV6359Thomas Hardy's bleak final novel tells the story of Jude Fawley, a country boy with intellectual aspirations who--like many of Hardy's tragic protagonists--is eventually crushed by forces beyond his control. Jude is an orphan, raised by an aunt who frequently warns him that Fawleys are not made for marriage. He is inspired by a local schoolmaster who teaches him the rudiments of Greek and Latin before leaving for the University at Christminster (Hardy's version of Oxford).
When he is old enough, Jude trains as a stonemason, but his ambition is to become a scholar. This alone would be an enormous challenge, given the rigid Victorian class system, but Jude's problems are compounded when he is tricked into marrying a local girl. When his wife deserts him he is able to go to Christminster, where he meets his cousin, Sue Bridehead. Like Jude, Sue feels trapped by her position in society, and the two kindred spirits struggle together to achieve their ambitions.
Like much television drama of the period, Jude the Obscure was shot on video and feels a little studio bound, a marked contrast to the lavish location filming of more recent versions. However, the relative simplicity of the production focuses attention on the performances, especially Robert Powell's intense, complex Jude. With a running time of close to five hours, this film is able to do justice both to the subtlety of Hardy's novel and its tragic power. --Simon Leake
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