Tess
By: Janus Films ; Pathe! ; Renn Productions presents a Roman Polanski film ; screenplay, Gerard Brach, Roman Polanski, John Brownjohn ; executive producer, Pierre Grunstein ; produced by Claude Berri ; directed by Roman Polanski ; Burrill Productions
Contributors: Kinski, Nastassja, 1960- actor; Firth, Peter, 1953- actor; Lawson, Leigh, 1945- actor; Collin, John, 1931-1987, actor; Martin, Rosemary, 1936-1998, actor; Pickles, Carolyn, 1952- actor; Pearson, Richard, 1918-2011, actor; Markham, David, 1913-1983, actor; Boysson, Pascale de, 1932-2002, actor; Hamilton, Suzanna, actor; Church, Tony, actor; Dunlop, Lesley, actor; Coleridge, Sylvia, 1909-1986, actor; Rowlands, Patsy, actor; Smart, Patsy, 1918-1996, actor; Sarde, Philippe, composer (expression); Guffroy, Pierre, 1926-2010, production designer; Powell, Anthony, 1935- costume designer; Unsworth, Geoffrey, 1914-1978, director of photography; Cloquet, Ghislain, director of photography; McIntyre, Alastair, film editor; Priestley, Tom, 1932- film editor; Stephens, Jack, art director; Lefton, Sue, choreographer; Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928; Bragg, Melvyn, 1939- interviewer (expression); MacCabe, Colin, writer of supplementary textual content; Janus Films; Pathé cinéma (France); Renn Productions; Burrill Productions; Criterion Collection (Firm)
Edition: Dual-format edition.
Series: The Criterion collection -- 697; Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) -- 697.
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Format: [videorecording] /
Number of pages: 171
ISBN-13: 9781604658279
Subjects: Drama; Young women; Social classes
Other titles: South Bank show (Television program)
Description: An exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge. With its earthy visual textures it is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.
Notes: Based on the novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1979.

Special features: Ciné regards (Forty-five minute documentary shot on location for French television during the making of the film); Once upon a time ... "Tess" (a 2006 documentary about the film); On the making of Tess: From novel to screen, Filming Tess, Tess: the experience; The south bank show (host Melvyn Bragg interveiws the director about Tess and his career in this 1979 episode); Trailer. All special features available on both formats. Booklet features an essay by critic Colin MacCabe.

Music, Philippe Sarde ; production designer, Pierre Guffroy ; costume designer, Anthony Powell ; photography, Geoffrey Unsworth, Ghislain Cloquet ; editors, Alastair McIntyre, Tom Priestley ; art director, Jack Stephens ; choreography, Sue Lefton.

Nastassia Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin, Rosemary Martin, Carolyn Pickles, Richard Pearson, David Markham, Pascale De Boysson, Suzanna Hamilton, Caroline Embling, Tony Church, Lesley Dunlop, Sylvia Coleridge, Fred Bryant, Dicken Ashworth, Patsy Rowlands, John Barrett, Patsy Smart.

CHV rating: PG ; OFRB rating: PG.

DVD: region 1, widescreen presentation; 5.1 surround.

Subtitled for the deaf or hard of hearing.

Academy Award winner for Best cinematography, Best art direction-set decoration and Best costume design.