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Actors: Christopher Eccleston, Kate Winslet
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Jude |
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Jude Fawley (Eccleston), a north country farm boy, has been inspired by his schoolmaster to try to get into Christminster (the university name Thomas Hardy substituted for Oxford). A quickie marriage to Arabella (Griffiths), a pig-farmer's daughter who thought she was pregnant after a roll in the barn, ended when she ran off to Australia. So Jude goes to Christminster and studies Latin, Greek, and other subjects on his own while employed as a stonemason. He meets his pretty cousin Sue Bridehead (Winslet) and falls in love with her, but since they believe marriage is out of the question, she weds his cold schoolmaster Phillotson (Cunningham). Jude is rejected by the university, but he and Sue cannot keep away from each other and Phillotson lets his wife go to the other man. The couple live in sin, take in his son by Arabella when she shows up again (she was pregnant, after all), and have two children of their own. But society's disapproval tosses the struggling family out of jobs and homes, and their life goes from hard to worse. The 1895 book _Jude the Obscure_ was Hardy's last novel -- so stringent and depressing that the public outrage against it caused him never to attempt another. This gorgeously filmed, ardently acted 1996 film does the book justice, but is hard emotional going for the viewer.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Loosely based on the novel "Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy, this movie follows the life, loves, and ultimate tragedies of the main character, Jude Fawley, a humble stonemason.
Jude, a farmer's son with relatively little life experience, is tricked into marrying a local girl by the claim that she is pregnant. After many months, it becomes apparent there is no child on the way. She leaves him, and Jude makes his way to the city where he meets his sophisticated cousin, Sue Bridehead.
Sue and Jude eventually fall in love, but Sue has apprehensions about marriage. They produce several children together. Because of the time period in which this story is set, this unmarried couple with children is shunned from society. They have trouble finding jobs, housing, and are generally outcast. The movie ends with a stunning tragedy involving this little family.
--Julie Angelos, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Jude |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 19th century
Romance/Love/Hugging
Yes
Kind of romance:
- romance (general)
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- blue collar common worker
Poverty story?
Yes
Poverty plotlets:
- coping with poverty (general)
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- blue collar
Age:
- 20's-30's
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
- (man) short/standard wavey
Body type
- (man) average
Unclothed?
- Chest and Buttocks
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
Unclothed?
- full frontal
How much in movie?
- 60%
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Farm/Ranch?
Yes
Farm/Ranch:
- farm
Misc setting
- school
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- depressed/sad
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- actual description of sex
- seeing breasts
- seeing nude female butt
- seeing nude male butt
- seeing full frontal--women
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- English
Subtitles?
- No
Any profanity?
- None
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Folk music
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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