The Mayor of Casterbridge

Another BBC masterpiece finally out on DVD. Hardy's world is shown in all its darkness, yet permeated by rays of hope. This rendition of the classic novel is brilliantly cast and well shot. You have to listen pretty hard to hear through the thick accents, but that patience is rewarded because nuances of the accents round out the characters.

Alan Bates is simply stunning as the heroic anti-hero Michael Henchard. A stupid decision made when he was a drunk 21-year-old comes back to haunt him 19 years later when the wife he sold returns to his town. The unfolding drama is about fatherhood, friendship, betrayal, and most importantly, the complexity of human characters. Bates is able to make you see inside his brain as he silently weighs courses of action between what his demons tempt him to do and what his angels urge him to do. Both sides win along the way as he redeems himself, only to then act rashly out of jealousy, embarrassment, or self-disgust.

The other characters are also well done, with Janet Maw playing the daughter who cannot understand her father until it is too late and Anna Massey playing the fallen woman who wishes to have her own life. Jack Galloway does a good job as the honest Scot, but I did not see any spark between Farfrae and Lucetta. The scenery and weather are always characters in Hardy's books, and here they enter the drama intermittently.

But this film in the end is all about Alan Bates. I love much of his other work but his Michael Henchard is the performance of a lifetime.

A thoughtful TV production, running over six hours, and a fine adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel, arguably his best Wessex tale. Casterbridge stands for the real-life Oxford, a town where dreams can happen and a man such as Michael Henchard can rise as high as man can climb, and fall as far as man can sink. He is a tragic hero, a towering tour-de-force of good and evil, fearlessness and folly, and is beautifully played by Alan Bates in this version.

In support, Anne Stallybrass and Anna Massey shine the most, with Jack Galloway going some way to give life to the dour and ambitious Scot Farfrae, but stopping short of illuminating his complexities as set out in the book.

The music and the settings of this adaptation are excellent, and the atmosphere of a farm town, not yet touched by anything beyond industrialisation, is richly drawn. Slow-paced, but satisfying, this drama's reputation has grown steadily, and it is well deserved.

Interestingly, the adaptor of Hardy's book is none other than TV's infant terrible, Dennis Potter, and it is interesting to compare 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' with the likes of 'Pennies from Heaven' or 'The Singing Detective'.

This brilliant adaption of a typically grim hardy novel was filmed in Corfe Castle, Dorset, but is set in Dorchester (aka Casterbridge). Given that it is 45 years old and it stands up well. Technically. Bates is of course the star. Sadly, Farfrae and Lucetta are poorly caste (the newer version being much better) but it is good to see the story told as written (mostly) and no one afraid to take a long time about it. It shows a man recovering from an early failure of character, who then does well. But then he lets himself down again and starts to fail. He makes a recovery of sorts, only to let himself (and others) down again. In short. This is a story about karma and how we control our own fortune. For those of us who are able to concentrate for an extended period of time it is well worth agonising over his life.

'Casterbridge' is Dorchester, not Oxford. You can still stand in the street in Dorchester where Michael Henchard's wife stood, opposite the hotel where he was holding court as the mayor.

Two lines stand out from this memorable movie, lines for which I suppose Thomas Hardy must take most of the credit.

Henchard's first words on meeting his wife after twenty years: 'I don't drink.'

And his wife's explanation, when speaking of the man who had bid five guineas for her and her baby at the fairground auction: 'I couldn't leave him, Michael. Not after he'd paid all that money for me.'

(Both quotes from memory, but I think they are accurate.)

10 is not a high enough rating for this masterpiece. Even as we see the gorgeous and extremely talented Alan Bates as the mayor, making mistake after mistake, acting like a fool, struggling with his conscience, and sometimes making things right only to screw up again, we are moved by him. We have pity for a man who cannot get out of his own way, who is his own worst enemy.

The acting is superb, the scenery/sets beautiful and fitting of the time and place. Often meanings are conveyed through looks, expressions, and not an excess of words. The score by Carl Davis is appropriate and adds to the feel of the series, enhancing the whole thing.

What luck that this is on DVD, complete with biographies on Sir Alan Bates and Thomas Hardy, among other things. Don't miss this gem.