Synopsis
In late 19th-century England, Jude aspires to be an academic, but is hobbled by his blue-collar background. Instead, he works as a stonemason and is trapped in an unloving marriage to a farmer's daughter named Arabella. But when his wife leaves him, Jude sees an opportunity to improve himself. He moves to the city and begins an affair with his married cousin, Sue, courting tragedy every step of the way.
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Cast
- Kate WinsletSue Bridehead
- Christopher EcclestonJude Fawley
- Liam CunninghamPhillotson
- Rachel GriffithsArabella
- June WhitfieldAunt Drusilla
- James NesbittUncle Joe
- Paul BownUncle Jim
- Paul CopleyMr. Willis
- Ken JonesMr Biles
- Emma TurnerSarah
Recommendations
- 90
Los Angeles Times
Michael Winterbottom's handsome, uncompromising film. Jude glows with Eccleston's and Winslet's performances and with those in supporting roles. - 90
Time
A careful, finally powerful film. - 88
ReelViews
This is a film of tremendous scope and emotional depth that uncovers the soul of a novel and brings it to life on the screen. - 80
Empire
A brave, powerful, far from comfortable and distinctly English affair that bears all the hallmarks of a labour of love rather than an example of intellectual folly. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Together [Christopher Eccleston, Rachel Griffiths and Kate Winslet] stake a difficult story and make it into a haunting film. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
It's worth seeing this stark adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure just for the extraordinary performance of Christopher Eccleston as Jude Fawley, the stonemason in turn-of-the-century England whose dreams of university scholarship are thwarted. And British telly director Michael Winterbottom sustains a fine atmosphere of dank misery. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
Jude is knockout Hardy, filled with stormy visual poetry and accompanied by a gorgeous yet simple score. - 67
Austin Chronicle
Director Winterbottom and screenwriter Hossein Amini could have given the story a bit more resonance, particularly in character development, if they had allowed some of the scenes to go a little longer.
