Tess

Roman Polanski

When Nastassja Kinski took part in Tess she was only 18. She was beautiful and an incredible actress. Roman Polanski saw the raw talent, the inherited talent in her and started to polish her. Para saber: Sharon Tate y en vocabulario: manor house, parried, unspoiled, toned down

Durbeyfield becomes fixated upon the idea of using his noble lineage to better his family's fortunes. Finding a wealthy family named d'Urberville living nearby; he and his wife send their daughter Tess to call on his presumed relations…

Tess is a 1979 drama film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Nastassja Kinski.  It is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

The story takes place in Thomas Hardy's Wessex during the Victorian period.

The events of the story are set in motion when a clergyman, Parson Tringham, has a chance conversation with John Durbeyfield, a simple farmer. Tringham is a local historian, and in the course of his research he has discovered the "Durbeyfields" are descended from the d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the Conqueror. The family lost its land and prestige when the male heirs died out.

Tess, poster

Durbeyfield soon becomes fixated upon the idea of using his noble lineage to better his family's fortunes. Finding a wealthy family named d'Urberville living nearby, he and his wife send their daughter Tess to call on his presumed relations, and seek employment at the manor house. At the manor house lives Alec d'Urberville and his mother.

Tess is a beautiful girl, and Alec d'Urberville has an appetite for women. Alec and his mother know they are no relation to Tess, for their family name and coat of arms had been purchased. Finding her naive, penniless and attractive, he sets about taking advantage of the situation. He tries to get her alone, and attempts to seduce her with strawberries and roses, but these efforts are parried by Tess. In time, he rapes her.

Tess returns home and soon discovers she is pregnant. She is angry with her mother for placing her at risk when she knew so little of the cruelness of the world. The baby is born sickly and dies. Sometime later, Tess goes to a dairy farm to work as a milkmaid. She meets Angel Clare, an aspiring young farmer from a respectable family. He believes Tess to be an unspoiled country girl, and completely innocent. The two fall in love, but Tess does not reveal her previous relationship with Alec until their wedding night. Disillusioned and heartbroken by the news, Angel rejects her…

Polanski was inspired to make the film by his wife Sharon Tate, who gave him a copy of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. She said it would make a great film and expressed interest in playing the part of Tess. It was the last time Polanski saw her alive, as she was departing back for America while he stayed on a while longer in Europe to finish working on a film. She was murdered by the Manson Family on 9 August 1969 while he was away. The film is dedicated to her ("To Sharon") at the beginning.

Polanski wrote the screenplay in French with his usual collaborator Gérard Brach, and then it was translated and expanded by John Brownjohn. The story line largely follows that of the book, although the role of the sexual predator Alec d'Urberville is toned down.

Set in Dorset, England, the film was shot at various locations in France. Polanski was living in Europe as he was wanted as a fugitive after conviction for sex with an underage girl in the United States. He had fled before sentencing and could have been extradited to the U.S. from the United Kingdom.

Polanski intended the film to reflect an ancient peasant culture, which he had seen in Poland during World War II after fleeing the Kraków ghetto.

Vocabulario

A manor house was the main residence of the lord. The house formed the administrative centre in the European feudal system.

Parry: ward off (a weapon or attack) with a countermove.

"He parried the blow by holding his sword vertically"

Unspoiled: intact, virgin.

If you tone down something that you have written or said, you make it less forceful, severe, or offensive.

Para saber

On August 9, 1969, Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by members of the Manson Family in the home she shared with her husband. At the time of her death, she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple's son.

TESS Excerpt

Tess arrives to the manor house to tell his “cousin” they´re relatives. Imagine the situation and the feelings of the girl. Nastassja looks incredibly beautiful and the image of her entering the immense house is stunning (just 3 minutes of worth watching scene)

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