His characters begin with moments of utter desperation and then their lives get worse. Momentary happiness in a Hardy story is only an illusion soon to shattered by some unexpected, but plausibly cataclysmic event. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
Hardy novels are like that.
Although you don't read them to have a good time per se, you do gain a greater understanding of life and of your fellow man. Usually the press kits you get at the screenings are fairly honest, but this one did have a whopper of a claim. It is his direction that makes the film. The acting is good, but not on par with the direction. Actually, a cogent argument could be made that the real genius is in the photography, but more on that latter.