TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES
Author : Thomas Hardy
Genre : Classic
Rating : 4/5
I just completed a re-reading of ‘Tess of d’Uurbervilles’. As i recall,the last time i read this novel when i was in high school.All i can say is that this has to have been one of the most intense novels that i believe that i’have ever read.I picked the novel up a second time because ‘Tess’ has been on my mind for awhile now,I just had to read her story again. ‘Tess of d’Urbervilles’ is generally regarded as Hardy’s finest novel.A brilliant tale of seduction,love,betrayal and murder.Reading this book rivals the literary and emotional experiences i have had with ‘Tolstoy’s masterpiece ‘Anna Karenina’.In my opinion ‘Tess of d’Uurbervilles’ is one of the monumental literary achievements of the entire Victoria Era.A stunning novel.
Tess Durbeyfield is a 16-year-old simple country girl,the eldest daughter of John and Joan Durbeyfield from Marlott,in a region of England called Wessex.Tess is a very pretty girl and very womanly for her age.The story opens when John Durbeyfield,the drunken farmer,finds out he is descended from an old family named d’Urberville who used to be strong and powerful in the English countryside.Although the money and power are long gone and the line is almost extinct. Durbeyfield decides this discovery of this ancestry is just the break his family needs,so he sends his daughter ,’Tess’ to meet and possibly get money from a family named d’Urberville,presumably related,who live on an estate in a nearby town. Durbeyfield needs the money because he is too busy drinking to make his own.’Tess’ doesn’t really want to go,but does so out of love and duty for the family.Once there,she learns that they aren’t really cousins,as they adopted the d’Urberville name to give them prestige.And she meets ‘Alec d’Urberville, a young man and a scoundrel,who convinces her to come live on the family’s estate so he can try to woo her,and when that is unsuccessful he rapes her.’Tess’ goes home and is of course pregnant.She has the baby,but the baby gets sick and die soon after.’Tess’,now a scandalized woman for having had a baby out of wedlock,even though she was freaking raped,leaves town and goes to work on a dairy farm where she meets the love of her life,’Angel Clare’,the son of a preacher man.They fall for each other and get married,even though ‘Tess’ is horrified of her secret past,and has been tortured about whether she should tell him or not.On their wedding night ‘Angel’ tells her he has a secret and he feels bad for not telling her.seems like some point in his past he got horny and fucked someone.he hopes ‘Tess’ can forgive him.Of course she can,and then ‘Tess’ feels safe and tells him her secret that she was raped and had a baby that died. ’Angel Clare’ is mortified and shocked and says how can he love her now that he knows she is not virgin.so he leaves her and goes abroad to seek his fortune in Brazil.Tess is heart-broken,and wanders from job to job,trying to leave her problems behind her.But her problems keep finding her.’Alec’ came to see her.He asked her to marry him.He told that her husband ‘Angel’ wouldn’t come back.Then they married. Angel’s farm in Brazil failed and he decided to came back.He realized that he made a wrong decision to leave his wife.He searched for ‘Tess’ , and he found her as the mistress of ‘Alec’.’Tess’ said that it was too late.’Tess’ asked him to go away and never come back again.’Tess’ went back to her room and was very sad.She knew that ‘Alec’ had made her lose her love and hurt her for a second time.Then she decided to kill him.’Alec’ was stabbed and died. As the dejected ‘Angel’ leaves town, he finds ‘Tess’ following him.She admits that she has killed ‘Alec’,and the two continue along together to escape.Then ‘Tess’ who realizes that she will inevitably be captured.She asks ‘Angel’ to marry her sister , ‘Liza-Lu’,after she is gone.However , The police finally found ‘Tess’ and arrest her for Alec’s murder.’Tess’ is executed for her crime,while ‘Angel’ does her bidding and presumably marries ‘Liza-Lu’.
‘Tess of d’Urbervilles’ is a very strange and wonderful combination of heart-hardening pessimism and sweet,dashing romance and this is one of the best works of ‘Hardy’.The English which is used is old English.Readers of this book can learn much about old English style.The vocabulary is very specific in context.Therefore,this book is good to improve your vocabulary.Hardy’s writing style cannot be essentially called simple.The complexity in his work arises from his extensive use of imagery and symbolism.This book delivers the story by a good narration.The story brings readers in to an imaginary world and sometimes to old England,where social rule and norm were still strong.Readers can learn about life from this book.This book tells us that life has much probability and trap,something which is shiny is not always gold.The ending will not be to everyone’s tastes, but i was pleasantly satisfied.I would recommend this book to all those who enjoy a good tragedy.
Director : V.K Prakash
Producer : Anand Kumar
Story,Screen play,Dialogues & Lyrics : Anoop Menon
DOP : Jomon T John
Music : Ratheesh Vega
Editor : Mahesh Narayanan
Art Direction : Ajayan Mangad
Designs : Old Monk
Banner : Yes Cinema Company
Release Date : 2nd Dec 2011
Cast : Jayasurya,Anoop Menon,Meghna,Aparna Nair,Nandu,Tini Tom,Jayan And Others
Few films make Malayalis whole heartedly get up and give a standing ovation to a film these days.Malayalam film 'Beautiful' directed by V.K Prakash is one such film, and what makes the surprise even more pleasant is the fact that it comes in the wake of '3 Kings' which could be considered the director's worst film to date.’Beautiful’ is beautifully written by Anoop Menon with right balance and has shown exceptional skill in creating wonderful scenes and even better dialogue.Simply ‘Beautiful’ lives up to its name as we soak in the splender of a world that is extremely beautiful and this movie indeed a must watch.
Stephen Louis (Jayasurya) is a paraplegic millionaire who does not allow his physical limitations to undermine his state of mind and loves to live life positively finding beauty in every small thing while his relatives are after his life to get access to his enormous wealth.He spends most of his life on a wheel chair and knows that the people around him only care for his wealth but reckons that his wealth ensures that he has nothing to worry about.He does not ask for any sympathy and is content to enjoy the beauty of life in his own style.A chance encounter with a struggling artist John (Anoop Menon) in a restaurant draws Stephen to him.When Stephen Louis (Jayasurya) notices singer John(Anoop Menon) whose voice reminds him of his late friend,he makes an offer to John to be a friend for him and sing for him everyday,in retuurn for a fat paycheck every month.John needs money to finance his music album and sister’s education and he is willing to play the role of a singer-cum-friend but soon,they manage to cement a deep friendship.There enters a sensuous and seductive home nurse Anjali (Meghna) to take care of Stephen (Jayasurya).Their idyllic life goes on without ripples until the beautiful Anjali (Meghna) appears on the screen and there is tension in the air.’Beautiful’ tells the story of what happens later.
Anoop Menon is a brilliant writer he developed the beauty of friendship between two leading men and that is the backbone of the movie.Another master stroke by the writer is the constant referencing to the movies which Stephen keeps watching on television.He gives a fitting tribute to Johnson Mash through the ‘Thoovanathumbikal’ scene near the interval.V.K Prakash, the director done a fabolous job translating Anoop Menon’s fantastic script to the screen.He should easily be up there with the big directors after this movie.After the Amazing performance in ‘Cocktail’ Jayasurya is back with his wonderful performance as the paraplegic Stephen in beautiful.Meghna was the surprise package of the film , as the jock that is doing the rounds now, nobody noticed her face so far in films and it is the first time that people actually sat down and took notice of the girl’s talent.Great casting choice.Nandu, in an important role after ‘Thirakadha’, is brilliant.Tini Tom is really nice as Jyasurya’s overfriendly cousin.Jayan another brilliant actor also pitches in a great performance.The rock band including Venu,Aparna Nair,Medul and Deepak Nair (His Calicut accent was superb) are really good and a welcome change from the usual people seen in such roles.The rest of the cast do their bits quite well.This film is shot brilliantly by Jomon T John.The awesome cinematographer who debuted with ‘Chappa Kurishu’.Editor Mahesh Narayanan who keeps the film crisp,fine and simple.His skill is really visible in the song sequences and interrogation scene in the climax.Art director Ajayan Mangad has done up the different spaces in the movie really well.Ratheesh Vega’s music, especially the ‘Mizhineer Thullikal’ track became a sensation even before the movie’s release.Which is probably one of the best song of the year.
Born out of Jyasurya’s leg injury and an inspiration from a true incident in Anoop Menon’s childhood, this movie reinstates our belief in good cinema and keeps the new moment of this year alive.’Beautiful’ is yet another new generation Malayalam movie, continuing the trend of Traffic,Salt N’ Pepper and Chappa Kurishu- Movies that are creating a new grammer in Malayalam cinema.
Rating : 4/5