HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H01102 12/16/01 "THE CLAIM REVISITED"
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Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 10:06:45 -0800
From: Betty Cortus  <hardycor@owl.csusm.edu>
Subject: *The Claim*  Revisited
:   

     Early last year, when it was announced that a film production based on
_The Mayor of Casterbridge_ was underway, rumor had it that its setting
would be the nineteenth-Century American West, and that the role of
protagonist would be played by a woman.  This drew a few skeptical comments
from Forum members, myself included, premature though they turned out to be
in some respects--the Henchard character would not be played by a female
actor for one thing.
     Then, in May of this year after the film in question, The Claim, was
released in limited distribution, some members who had not yet had a chance
to see it expressed interest in hearing the opinion of anyone who had.
Goldie Morgentaler, the only one to report having seen it, praised it as a
very good film per se, but cautioned that, although it uses many of the
basic elements of Hardy's plot, it is definitely not an adaptation of _The
Mayor of Casterbridge_.
     I finally had an opportunity to see a video version of The Claim
myself last week, and wholeheartedly concur with Goldie.  Hardy's plot is
considerably pared down, and some of its parts altered enough to make it
almost entirely a separate work of art.  However, once this distinction is
made The Claim is indeed a beautiful film, touching, darkly opaline in its
shifting moods, and sensitively acted and directed.  There are, too, some
oblique allusions to the fate likely to befall the Henchards of this world.
To cite an example, in one rowdy bar-room scene a voice in heard in the
background reciting Shelley's "Ozymandias", subtly reiterating the
proverbial warning that pride precedes a fall.
     Ken Fox, reviewing the film for _The New York Times_ states that
Director Michael Winterbottom  "proves you CAN take Hardy out of his
country . . . but why on earth would you want to?"
 It could very well be asked with equal cogency, if you must turn to a
source from the past for a truly remarkable plot, why not go to the very
best?
      I imagine that by now many of you have seen The Claim, and I would
very much like to hear your assessment of this film.

Best Wishes,
Betty Cortus

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