Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British period drama directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Frederic Raphael adapted from Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel of the same name. The film stars Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch; Nicolas Roeg handled the cinematography and Richard Rodney Bennett composed the score, weaving traditional folk songs into various scenes.

Set in rural Victorian Wessex, the story follows the independent-minded Bathsheba Everdene, who ignores the era’s restrictions on women and resolves to run an inherited farm herself, upending the lives of three suitors — the shepherd Gabriel Oak, neighbouring landowner William Boldwood and Sergeant Frank Troy. Schlesinger’s fourth film and his third collaboration with Christie, it marked a stylistic departure from his earlier studies of contemporary urban life, and it was the first 70 mm film shown on the 75-foot screen of London’s new Odeon Marble Arch. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score and two BAFTA nominations.