697 Tess

[swo17]

Tess



This multiple-Oscar-winning film by Roman Polanski is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED EDITION:

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Roman Polanski, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Once Upon a Time . . . "Tess," a 2006 documentary on the film
• Three programs on the making of the film—From Novel to Screen, Filming "Tess," and "Tess": The Experience—featuring interviews with Polanski, actors Nastassja Kinski and Leigh Lawson, producer Claude Berri, costume designer Anthony Powell, composer Philippe Sarde, and others
• Interview with Polanski from a 1979 episode of The South Bank Show
• Forty-five-minute documentary shot on location for French television during the making of the film
• Trailer
• One Blu-ray and two DVDs, with all content available in both formats
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Colin MacCabe

[domino harvey]

I guess I'll still hold onto my copy of Sony's DVD since it actually came with a copy of the novel

[knives]

It seems only the costume design video isn't duplicated from the BFI disc with the Once Upon a Time doc and the French thing new making this on paper as the superior package.

[TMDaines]

That's a lot of video for one Blu-ray though. Might be tempted to switch to this from the BFI all the same.

[Dylan]

In many ways I feel like this was the last time Polanski made something truly spectacular (to date - I've liked a number of his films since & he still has many more films left in him, but it's tough to imagine him surpassing this). An absolutely gorgeous film & a perfect adaptation of Thomas Hardy. And his collaborators are doing career-best work for this - every single shot is gorgeous, what a breathtaking score by Philippe Sarde (definitely one of the greatest scores of the '80s), and Nastassja Kinski is brilliant. The old DVD looked great, so a new restoration will probably blow our socks off.

[Cronenfly]

I don't regret getting the BFI: I would be very surprised if the transfers are appreciably different, the BFI was pretty cheap, and a rental/library visit should suffice for the handful of new supplements.

[MichaelB]

The old DVD looked great, so a new restoration will probably blow our socks off.

Both the French and British editions have already achieved perfect scores on Blu-ray.com for AV quality - and this will undoubtedly have been sourced from the same master.

[RossyG]

For visuals alone, the BFI Tess is probably the best Blu-ray I own (out of two hundred or so). It's breathtakingly gorgeous to look at.

And, of course, the film itself is brilliant, too.

[SeanJoyce]

Does Tess look nearly as good or better than Barry Lyndon? It's often discussed in conjunction with what I feel is Kubrick's supreme achievement. If the visual sumptuousness is even comparable, this is a guaranteed blind buy.

[MichaelB]

Both films won Oscars for Best Cinematography (and the films they bookended were Bound for Glory, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Days of Heaven and Apocalypse Now, to give you some idea of the late-70s standard).
Geoffrey Unsworth shot 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as Tess.

Does that help?

[FrauBlucher]

Quite a package....Blu-ray.com

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver