Tess is a 1979 romance film directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It tells the story of a strong-willed, young peasant girl who finds out she has title connections by way of her old aristocratic surname and who is raped by her wealthy cousin, whose right to the family title may not be as strong as he claims. The screenplay was by Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, and Roman Polanski. The story takes place in rural Dorset, England, during the Victorian period. Its events are set in motion innocently enough when a clergyman, Parson... Tringham, has a conversation with a simple farmer, John Durbeyfield. Tringham is a local historian; in the course of his research, he has discovered that the "Durbeyfields" are actually descended from the d'Urbervilles, a noble family whose lineage extends to the time of William the Conqueror. It is useless knowledge, really, as the family lost its land and prestige when the male heirs died out. The parson merely thinks Durbeyfield might like to know his origins as a passing historical curiosity.
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| Release date: | October 1979 |
| Directed by: | Roman Polanski |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 190 Minutes |
| Producer: | Claude Berri |
| Editor: | Alastair McIntyre, Tom Priestly |
| Music by: | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography: | Geoffrey Unsworth, Ghislain Cloquet |
| Screenplay by: | Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, Roman Polanski |
| Estimated budget: | $25,000,000 |
| Adapted from: | Tess of the d'Urbervilles |