Bathsheba's hair
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Foxxyx — 18 years ago(December 06, 2007 08:09 AM)
She is blonde, but they seem to have given her a load of kohl eyeliner in most scenes, making her eyes look darker. However I think that her skin should be a lot paler (like in the TV adaptation of FFTMC) to make her look more devilish, rather than the orangy colour that Julie Christie seems to have (was she wearing 1960's fake tan? LOL).
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that_ealing_feeling — 17 years ago(December 13, 2008 08:05 AM)
Actually, the film might be more plausible than the book about hair colour: in the "Wessex" area of the south of England, no doubt for various historical/genetic reasons, there is a noticeably large proportion of light-haired people. Perhaps Hardy had a specific dark-haired original in mind for Bathsheba? Whatever, it's a great book and a very good film!
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bmoore-13 — 17 years ago(April 27, 2008 07:20 PM)
Agreed. I like Julie Christie just fine otherwise (I've read before that she has/had very little ego, was ambivalent about being a "movie star"attention you young Hollywood actors!), but I think she was badly miscast. I don't know enough about young British actresses of the time to give a better suggestion. Nowadays I suppose Keira Knightley would suffice (tho' she seems to be in every other big movie these days). Hardy liked those dark women. Julie C. is/was beautiful, but she hardly fits Hardy's description.
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Noirdame79 — 17 years ago(September 18, 2008 11:03 AM)
I find it interesting that people remark about Chrisitie's hair (which is actually a light brown here, nowhere near the blonde shade she sported in "Doctor Zhivago"), but no one says anything about Nastassja Kinski's hair in Polanski's "Tess" (1979), which was almost the same color as Christie's in this film. It is true that most of Hardy's main heriones have dark hair and eyes - and that later adaptations of these two films, (with Paloma Baeza, Justine Waddell and now Gemma Arterton), the actresses chosen have more the coloring described in the novels. Catherine Zeta-Jones as Eustacia Vye in 1994's "The Return Of The Native" is an example of perfect casting (appearance-wise) of a Hardy herione.
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Sheila_Beers — 15 years ago(October 07, 2010 09:28 PM)
In Hardy's novels, the earthy women and temptresses have dark hair, and the innocent ones are blond. Examples are Eustacia Vye (brunette) and Thomasin (blond) in "The Return of the Native." The belief that (1) dark-haired, dark-complexioned people being evil or experienced (having a dark side) and (2) fair-skinned blond people being good and innocent is based on ideas of evil and good formed in the Middle Ages, if not on Old Testament incidents. Remember how Moses was criticized for marrying the Ethiopian woman? Characters have been created with this idea in mind throughout literature and especially in the writings of William Shakespeare. Remember when one woman in "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" called the other "Ethiope"? Also think of the title character in "Othello" and the way other characters disliked him or were suspicious of him because he was dark, being a Moor. It is good that readers notice when a film is different from the book because the color of the character's hair often denotes whether he/she is good or evil. In the case of "FFMC," Julie Christie's acting ability is so superb it makes the viewer forget that she does not look like the heroine Hardy
described in the book.
Sheila Beers -
ducdebrabant — 17 years ago(December 13, 2008 02:45 PM)
For the privilege of seeing Julie Christie in this part, I can do without a couple of the book's details. Besides, Terence Stamp is so saturnine (in a hot way) in the movie, and Bates has black hair as well, and you do need a contrast. There's really no reason (other than the fact that Hardy obviously had a woodie for raven-haired women) for Bathsheba to look like a bad girl out of a Roger Corman film. Hardy had his tastes, and we are allowed to have our own.
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rob-949 — 17 years ago(March 14, 2009 01:13 AM)
Doesn't bother me in the least. I liked Julie Christie in the part. But what was up with the wig in the scene where Frank comes back? It's clearly darker brown than her hair in the rest of the film in that scene.
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jelovatt — 16 years ago(February 10, 2010 05:22 PM)
You're so right! Julie Christie is perfect in every way (except perhaps the eyeliner but in those days they weren't so fussy about period detail. This is just one of the most wonderful films ever made and surely it makes you want to visit Dorset and Hardy country, doesn't it? Especially if you're an American, right?
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themill — 16 years ago(March 10, 2010 08:33 PM)
You know, I'm not usually bothered by details like this, but it really did bug me. Not only is she blonde in this film, it was a dirty, brownish blonde. If her hair wasn't going to be black, it ought to have been striking in some way at least. Like I said, I hate getting hung up on things like this & am fully aware that every filmed version of a novel is a reinterpretation but, in this case, I really think the filmmakers should have cast an actress closer to Bathsheba's physical type. Julie Christie was too old for the role as well. Haha, well, I risk being flamed by her fans, but you'll see what I mean if you read the novel!
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themill — 15 years ago(July 08, 2010 06:50 PM)
@MycroftHolmes: I'm surprised. She was a pretty mature-looking 25. I have the impression Bathsheba couldn't have been older than 20 or so, just based on the fact that she was newly marriagable in rural Victorian England. I can't help thinking of Natassja Kinski in Polanski's "Tess" as an example. Very youthful-looking & seemed to fit better.
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angharad83 — 15 years ago(May 15, 2010 01:55 PM)
agree with the OP - the hair is terrible. It also doesn't look in the least Victorian, more like a sixties model for a hair dresser's magazine.
I have only seen excerpts from the film, what happens when she finds the blonde hair of Fanny in her Husbands watch? It's supposed to be shocking because the colour is obviously so different from her own hair! Or did they change this scene? -
OnceUponATimeInTheWest — 15 years ago(July 28, 2010 04:37 AM)
I am posting this here so some of you will be alerted to a screening coming up
On TCM 08/02/2010 from 5-8pm est which includes 24 hours of Julie Christie as TCM does their annual Summer under the stars. -
OnceUponATimeInTheWest — 15 years ago(July 28, 2010 04:55 PM)
I am posting this here so some of you will be alerted to a screening coming up
On TCM 08/02/2010 from 5-8pm est which includes 24 hours of Julie Christie as TCM does their annual Summer under the stars. -
OnceUponATimeInTheWest — 15 years ago(August 01, 2010 05:37 AM)
http://www.tcm.com/2010/suts/index.jsp#/juliechristie/5
here is a link for Julie Christie (summer under the Stars) click on video to watch the trailer. Enjoy!