Overview
A passionate tale of love and longing set against the backdrop of rural England.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- passionate
- pastoral
- foreboding
- classic film night
- literary adaptation viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's exquisite rural reconstruction, landscapes, and Peter Finch's performance while finding its characters less fully realized and its pacing slow.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Bathsheba Everdene is pursued by Gabriel Oak, William Boldwood, and Frank Troy, whose contrasting forms of devotion drive the drama.
Nicolas Roeg's color photography and Richard MacDonald's detailed reconstructions emphasize the misty Dorset landscape and rural labor.
The story places its characters within Victorian English farm society, where class distinctions and unyielding conventions shape their relationships.
Bathsheba is characterized as passionate, emotionally controlling, and unwilling to accept anything less than complete devotion.
Films like Far from the Madding Crowd, and why
Tess
sweeping literary romance, rural social codes, and emotionally restrained period drama
The Go-Between
19th-century English setting, romantic entanglements, class pressures, and pastoral visual grandeur
Wuthering Heights
adaptation of a major English novel with intense romantic conflict and lush period cinematography
The Age of Innocence
period romance shaped by class, social expectations, and a strong-willed heroine
Movie Details
- Director
- John Schlesinger
- Release Date
- 1967-06-18
- Runtime
- 166 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (109)
Cast
- Julie Christie
- Terence Stamp
- Alan Bates
- Peter Finch
- Fiona Walker
- Prunella Ransome
- Alison Leggatt
- Paul Dawkins
- Julian Somers
- Freddie Jones
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Broadway HD Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Far from the Madding Crowd about?
- A willful Victorian landowner becomes the emotional center of three radically different men's devotion amid the beauty and social constraints of rural England.
- What is Far from the Madding Crowd like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Far from the Madding Crowd as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Far from the Madding Crowd violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Far from the Madding Crowd as moderate.
- What did critics think of Far from the Madding Crowd?
- Critics broadly praised the film's exquisite rural reconstruction, landscapes, and Peter Finch's performance while finding its characters less fully realized and its pacing slow.
- Which films are like Far from the Madding Crowd?
- Films with a similar feel include Tess, The Go-Between, Wuthering Heights, and The Age of Innocence.
- How long is Far from the Madding Crowd?
- Far from the Madding Crowd runs 166 minutes.
- Where can I watch Far from the Madding Crowd?
- In United States, Far from the Madding Crowd streams on Broadway HD Amazon Channel.
