All period films should feel as urgent as Thomas Vinterberg’s “Far from the Madding Crowd.” Though the story might take place in Victorian England, none of the characters ever feel preserved in amber. This adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel illuminates present-day issues faced by women as they seek agency and independence through a heroine, Carey Mulligan’s Batsheba Everdene, who bristles with the norms of her time.
You would think, in the 140 years since the novel’s publication, that the world has progressed some in respecting the dignity of women. But alas, two chauvinists sitting next to me served as a potent reminder of just how necessary this story continues to be. In their eyes, any decision Batsheba made that did not lead her down a path of submission or domesticity evinced that she was a reckless whore.
Bathsheba never aligns herself as opposed to the institution of marriage; at one point, she memorably remarks that she would be a bride if she didn’t have to get a husband. Her needs are rather peculiar due to a unique set of circumstances that grants her ownership of a sizable portion of land in the English countryside. Rather than surrender the property to an able-bodied man, Bathsheba possesses enough self-confidence to run the farm herself.
Marshall and the Movies 
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