Carey Mulligan is a feminist way before her time (1870s rural England) as a farm owner who can’t walk across her own damn field without getting proposed to in Far From the Madding Crowd, yet another entry from the Thomas Hardy factory. Her suitors include Matthias Schoenaerts (hot), Michael Sheen (old) and Tom Sturridge (a-hole, so of course the one she marries). A beautifully shot, oddly edited, portentous melodrama from Thomas Vinterberg, Madding Crowd would be a lot more effective if Mulligan’s feminism didn’t disappear to create plot points. But it is suitably well-acted and hits you right in the romance bone. Age of Lovetron.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.