Customer Reviews
Gloriously morbid and bleak - By: cathy earnshaw, 26 Dec 2007 
This film reallly is a feast for manic depressives! On the one hand, you have the spirited banter between the two leads & the effusive giggliness of Arabella's character & on the other hand, starkly grim scenes of death & birth. For the squeamish, these could be stomach-churning: a pig is gruesomely killed & unceremoniously gutted; bodies are found ashen with death; and, most extraordinarily of alll, when Sue (Kate Winslet) is shown giving birth, the bloody head of her baby is visible between her spread-eagled legs. It is fitting that Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel should shock & horror to this degree: when Jude the Obscure was first published in 1895, it prompted widespread outcry from Victorian readers who denounced it as "coarse beyond belief" & mockingly referred to it as "Jude the Obscene". Aghast at the novel's apparent "insolence & indecency", the Bishop of Wakefield rather hystericallly threw it into the fire after reading it. It was to become Hardy's last novel: he subsequently abandoned narrative-writing for poetry.
For its outspoken critique of class inequalities (in particular with regard to university admissions), the institution of marriage, Christianity, & the narrowness of women's social role, Jude the Obscure is today regarded as radical & a classic. Played with panache by a 20-year old Winslet, Sue Brideshead is a paradigmatic New Woman of the 1880s & 1890s - her very surname reflects the conflict between her headstrong nature & the social expectation that she should marry. Christopher Eccleston makes for a sterling Jude: a Dorset countryman & stonemason, angrily frustrated about his rejection from Christminster, who is tolerant of his authoritarian Aunt (June Wakefield), steadfastly honourable in marrying the supposedly pregnant Arabella (Rachel Griffiths), a pigfarmer's daughter, & warmly supportive towards his true love & nemesis, Sue (especiallly in the scene when they first make love). Ross Colvin Turnballl also deserves a mention as the touching & melancholy son as do Eduardo Serra's beautiful cinematography & Adrian Johnston's musical score.
This film is not, however, flawless. There are quite a few implausibilities: Arabella's exit from Jude's life is inexplicably abrupt; when the young Jude is discovered feeding black crows which he is meant to scare away, the farmer pounces on him in a huge field that was empty a few seconds before; & Arabella, too, is a considerable way off, washing pig innards in a stream, when she is supposed to have been able to correctly aim a pig's heart at Jude, who is seen reading Latin in woodland. Hossein Amini's script is sometimes too modern in its vocabulary as well ("Well, you're confrontational!" says Sue at one point & at another "I'm intellectualising, aren't I?").
Jude is nevertheless a brilliantly unsanitized, emotionallly intense film that is sombre & tragic - but not without light.
For fans of: Breaking the Waves, The Cement Garden, The Piano, Bleak House, Dancer in the Dark
Film 5 stars or more, UK DVD just 2!! Get the German DVD on amazon.de - By: Andre, 30 Aug 2007 
A short synopsis will follow below. I will start with the most important information first: This film is cut! It is in a full screen 4:3 format whereas the original theater version is 2.35:1
You can however buy the original uncut version on amazon.de : "Herzen in Aufruhr" a Universal DVD (but what an awful title). It is in English (with only German subtitles - but easily removable) & dubbed into German. The picture is clear & crisp. Worth the additional shipping costs.
On the movie. A wonderful sad love story based on Thomas Hardy's classic novel. Beautiful! Terrific camera work, great acting.
Those who think the movie is not the book, well, sure it isn't. A film needs other storytelling & I think the critics should leave a director & his crew the freedom of their own interpretation.
Jude (Christopher Eccleston - terrific) is a stonemason who is eager to learn, to read. He is briefly married to a local girl but soon discovers he wants more of life than what the situation can provide. He moves to Christminster to be closer his beloved scholars. There he meets his cousin Sue (Kate Winslet - marvellous) & fallls deeply in love with the lovely but very different & unconventional young woman. Society rejects their love & pushes them into tragedy.
Heartfelt performances - By: Emma B, 23 Jan 2006 I've read that this was meant to be a breakthrough film for Christopher Eccleston & audiences stayed away. They missed a classic. I did see this on its release & was blown away by it & always am when I watch it again. Not every film has to have a happy ending & Jude won't give you that but then that's not the point. The imagery is stunning & Christopher Eccleston delivers a compelling & emotive performance. He is simply awesome. One of the best films I have ever seen.
Fantastic - By: Chaz, 21 Feb 2005 Having read the synopsis on the back of the video case, I wasn't too enthusiastic about watching this film. However, it was highly recommended to me, & not without good reason.
Since this site already provides a description of the plot, I won't go into detail, save to say that it is well written & carefully considered. On that note, although the film borrows only the core story from the novel on which it is based, this does not in the least detract from the finished product. Fans of the novel may initiallly be disapointed, but if you can disconnect the two (as they are reallly separate creations) then this is a highly enjoyable piece of cinema.
The acting here is of a very high standard, & the two leads are so convincing in their portrayal of their respective characters that you can not help but be drawn into the complex relationship between the two. Their relationship is reallly the focal point of the film, with its constant twists & turns. It faces oposition almost from the start, & it is heartbreaking to watch as it blossoms into something wonderful, only to come crashing down again.
Despite dealing with dreams & ambitions, & portraying society at that time, this film is, at heart, a love story. As such, its market will be sadly divided and, at the risk of sounding stereotypical, I can't help but feel that many males will miss out on a fantastic portrayal of forbidden love. I shalll certainly treasure this film for a long time to come.
One of my favourite films of all time!! - By: , 17 Nov 2002 I reallly reallly love this film. Being a Kate Winslet fan i bought this purely because i wanted to see her performance in it & beyond her incredible acting ability, i discovered it balances out as also reallly good film supported by great actors. I had never heard of the novel the film was loosely based on but being a fan of films set in the past, it gave me alot of waht i want in a film. It made me laugh, it horrified me with its tragedy but also made me feel qarm as the relationship betwrrn Jude & Sue develops. This film has everything, laughs, tragedy romance, alll rolled into one. If you are a Christopher Eccleston or a Kate Winslet fan or simply like a periodic romance than you will like this film!
