Tess

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Tess

PG,

1979,

2h 50m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

81%

74 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

74 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In Roman Polanski's take on "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," impressionable young Tess is sent by her alcoholic father to visit her rich relatives and apply for a job. She's taken in and immediately seduced by her cousin, Alec, who leaves her pregnant. She keeps it to herself and, after the child dies, begins a relationship with a respectable farmer, Angel. They marry, but when Angel learns of her checkered past, he's not sure if he can live with it.

Critics Consensus

A reverent adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess marries painterly cinematography and unhurried pacing to create an epic ode to perseverance.

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Judith Martin

Washington Post

Jun 17, 2022

This is cinematography at its best -- film used to present a view, in motion, of a reality that has been artistically ordered to reveal a greater-that-literal essence.

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Gary Arnold

Washington Post

Jun 17, 2022

Watching this long, placid maddeningly subdued movie, you can't help wondering what became of Hardy's stark chronicle of crimes of passion.

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Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Jun 17, 2022

One emerges from [Roman Polanski's] endless version of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles with a sense that one could have read the book in a shorter span and had more fun too.

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Richard Freedman

Newark Star-Ledger

Jan 12, 2026

A haunting, richly rewarding recreation of one of the towering masterpieces of English fiction.

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Lorien Haynes

Radio Times

Nov 11, 2025

4/5

Not as good as the novel, but still has much to recommend it, not least the evocative Oscar-winning photography.

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Scott Sublett

Washington Blade

Jun 17, 2022

It does not shout and it does not speed; it rolls along effortlessly, at an even rate, like a country brook, and when it ends one wishes for more.

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Kylo S

Nov 29, 2018

This is one of the most beautifully shot films ever. It is like watching a moving piece of art. Everything about the production is A#1. Peter Firth is wonderful and Ms. Kinski was OK although I was a bit put off at times detecting something less than an authentic English accent.

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Hermione W

Jun 11, 2018

Roman Polanski's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles about the innocence of the eponymous peasant girl defiled in English Victorian society of the late 19th century is a visually sweeping and beautifully melancholic romantic epic.

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Luke S

Mar 31, 2018

im not usually the love story type of guy, but i liked this movie. its just such a beautiful looking one that i was entranced by it. its incredibly long too. i think that polanski was one of the greats

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Luke L

Mar 17, 2018

Hard to keep your eyes off Kinski, but after all these years, that's about all this movie has going for it

Harry S

Mar 1, 2018

In many ways, a masterpiece - especially cinematographically - and a stunning debut for Kinski. Ironically, this film is current, the Hardy story about how men, rascals & robed, and hypocrites, impact & harm young, hopeful women's lives - and this op-ed from a senior man. A good and involved father is probably the best vaccination. But alas, Tess doesn't have one. | ~ Norm de Guerre

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Harry S

May 6, 2017

O filme, como sua fonte, está cheio de fatalismo pessimista, mas não poupa piedade pelos instrumentos do destino [...] O que, se alguma coisa, isso significava para Polanski permanece incognoscível.

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Roman Polanski

Director

Nastassja Kinski

Tess

Peter Firth

Angel Clare

Leigh Lawson

Alec d'Urberville

John Collin

John Durbeyfield

David Markham

Reverend Mr. Clare

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Synopsis

In Roman Polanski's take on "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," impressionable young Tess is sent by her alcoholic father to visit her rich relatives and apply for a job. She's taken in and immediately seduced by her cousin, Alec, who leaves her pregnant. She keeps it to herself and, after the child dies, begins a relationship with a respectable farmer, Angel. They marry, but when Angel learns of her checkered past, he's not sure if he can live with it.

Director: Roman Polanski
Producer: Claude Berri
Screenwriter: Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, John Brownjohn
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Burrill Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 25, 1979, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 19, 2017
Runtime: 2h 50m
Sound Mix: Surround

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