Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and is romantically pursued by three very different men.
Roger Ebert wrote, "Thomas Hardy's novel told of a 19th century rural England in which class distinctions and unyielding social codes surrounded his characters. They were far from the madding crowd whether they liked it or not, and got tangled in each other's problems because there was nowhere else to turn. It's not simply that Bathsheba (Julie Christie) was courted by the three men in her life, but that she was courted by ALL three men in her life." This is an interesting point. What he is essentially saying is that this upper class does not have to deal with the lower classes, but due in part to their limited numbers, they are forced to deal with each other. One supposes this could be said of the royal families in ages past -- marriages could be based on love, but it would be a limited love due to its bracketing of certain options.
Roger Ebert wrote, "Thomas Hardy's novel told of a 19th century rural England in which class distinctions and unyielding social codes surrounded his characters. They were far from the madding crowd whether they liked it or not, and got tangled in each other's problems because there was nowhere else to turn. It's not simply that Bathsheba (Julie Christie) was courted by the three men in her life, but that she was courted by ALL three men in her life." This is an interesting point. What he is essentially saying is that this upper class does not have to deal with the lower classes, but due in part to their limited numbers, they are forced to deal with each other. One supposes this could be said of the royal families in ages past -- marriages could be based on love, but it would be a limited love due to its bracketing of certain options.