I can't give your child a Christian burial. His name's Mr Angel Clare.
Forgive him, Lord, he knows not what he does.
You're a billow warmed by the sun.
That's very pretty.
If I seem like that to you.
Marry me, Tess. Be my wife.
If you are sure it'll make you very happy.
I should hate you. I want to hate you.
I met Alec D'Urberville. Sinister. I didn't like him.
I can never be happy until I tell you the whole truth. There has been a most terrible mistake.
We can both confess after the wedding. We can take it in turns.
Dearly beloved,
we are gathered together here in the sight of God
and in the face of this congregation
to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony,
which is an honourable estate,
instituted of God in the time of man's innocency,
signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church.
If either of you know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony,
ye do now confess it.
Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour,
and keep her in sickness and in health?
And, forsaking all others,
keep thee only unto her so long as ye both shall live? I will.
With this ring, I thee wed, with my body, I thee worship.
And with all my worldly goods, I thee endow In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Now be sure to remember everything I've taught you!
And write to us, soon as you are settled, tell us where you are.
Where is Retty?
I wanted to say goodbye. She has taken it rather hard, Tess.
She'll come round, in time.
We all will. Oh, Izz.
But Tess, we are so pleased and proud of you.
Izz, Marian.
Farewell, and thank you.
Marian, be good!
Please try.
Now walk on, Tom.
Goodbye!
Where are we going?
It's a surprise.
It's your ancestral mansion, Tess.
The house of the D'Urbervilles.
I've taken rooms for a few days, before we travel on to London.
You are amused, aren't you?
Fires is lit in the bedroom.
Should be dry enough, and there's water up there too.
Thank you, Mrs Baxter, that's very kind.
Lady Henrietta. Your relation, Tess.
Do you see the resemblance?
I hope not.
No, neither do I.
I can't tell which are my fingers and which are yours.
They are all yours.
I think it's some sort of meat.
I am so sorry!
Don't be sorry, Angel.
What if we starve to death, Tess?
Angel, I'm very happy.
So long as I'm with you.
Wait here. Remain exactly like that.
It's for you.
Delivered by hand.
All very mysterious.
Can you open it for me, please?
You must open it. It's addressed to you.
It's from my parents.
It's my grandmother's diamonds.
"Left in trust for your wife, as a mark of her affection for you and whomsoever you should choose."
Indeed they are.
Put them on, Tess.
So beautiful.
But the gown, it's not right.
They should lie next to your skin.
May I?
It must be Jonathan,
No. Keep them on. Stay exactly as you are.
It's Retty.
Two fishermen found her in the mill pond.
She was half dead from the water and the cold.
They managed to revive her, but she's very sick.
It's all my fault, Angel. No, hush, don't say that.
I promised her. I swore I would never marry.
I broke my word and now I must pay.
No, shush Tess, that's enough.
Do you remember what we said this morning about confessing our faults?
Tess, I do have a confession to make, and I should have told you before,
but I was afraid, I might lose you, the great prize of my life.
But now, seeing you so sombre, I feel like I must tell you, but in the hope you can forgive me.
I do! I do forgive you.
I'm afraid you must hear the confession first.
I am, I hope you know, a moral man,
and like my father, I love goodness and I hate impurity.
And yet when I found out I could not enter the church or university,
I went to London, like a lot of young men.
And I was lost,
and confused.
And there I met a woman.
A woman?
Much older than myself and... How do I put it?
Not of good moral character.
It was a trap, of course.
And, young as I was, I stumbled in blindly.
And the affair, it lasted 49 hours,
and it was 48 hours of dissipation that I regret with all my heart
but not least for the pain it might cause you.
I take it you forgive me?
Yes!
Yes, yes, oh, yes.
You seem almost glad.
I am!
Because now you can forgive me!
I have a confession too, you remember?
Ah, the famous confession!
The wicked deed!
It is serious, Angel.
No more serious than mine, I'm sure.
No, it isn't.
It can't be.
I will tell it now.
You remember when we first met?
The May dance, where I wanted to dance with you, but you chose another?
I remember.
Soon after that day, I met a man.
His name was Alec.
Alec D'Urberville.
Say something, Angel.
Please?
What would you have me say, Tess?
That you forgive me.
He took you by force.
I was compelled.
But you said it was against your wishes. It was.
I was young and confused.
And he seduced you.
I didn't understand!
You allowed yourself to be seduced.
I felt beholden to him for the help he had given to my family.
Your virtue was his reward, payment.
No!
Why are you twisting my words like this?
It wasn't like that, not at all.
Angel, please say you forgive me, as I have forgiven.
I forgive you.
Yes, you do.
But you do not forgive me?
Forgiveness does not apply. You were one person, and now you are another.
Angel, please don't say this.
Look at me, Angel!
I am the same woman who has been hoping, longing, praying to make you happy.
I know that.
And I thought that you loved me too!
I love you forever, in all changes, in all disgraces, because you are yourself.
Then how can you, my husband, stop loving me?
I repeat. The woman I loved is not you.
Who? Another woman in your shape. You are an impostor.
I am Tess, the woman you held and loved in your arms.
I cannot stay in this room with you. I need to think. Leave me be! Angel, please don't go.
What have I done? What have I done, Angel?
I have not said anything that changes my love for you.
You bore his child, Tess!
Who's to say you're not more Mrs D'Urberville than mine?
How can you say that?
How can you be so cruel?
I was a child when it happened!
I knew nothing of men.
And you were more sinned against than sinning, I am sure.
Then why can't you forgive me?
I do forgive you!
And love me?
It happens all the time. My mother says, a woman has a past,
and her husband doesn't mind or grows used to the idea.
Do not presume to debate with me!
Different worlds, different manners. You are a dairywoman, you know nothing of society.
I am a peasant by position, not by nature.
So much the worse for you!
That parson, who unearthed your pedigree would have done better to hold his tongue!
Go back to your mansion, Tess.
Please don't follow me again.
I've made breakfast.
Thank you.
Tell me it's not true.
There is a last way out for you.
A last way?
You could always get rid of me.
How, Tess?
You could divorce me.
How can you be so simple?
I thought my confession... You do not understand the law.
This occurred before we were married.
The law will not allow it. We are chained together.
I was mistaken.
We were both mistaken.
You're not going to live with me any more, are you, Angel?
I cannot,
without despising myself or, what is worse, perhaps despising you.
How can we be together while this man lives?
But if only we two knew, or if we went somewhere far away.
No, this man knows my father, Tess!
Imagine the shame if my family knew.
Or in the future if we had children, and this matter became known?
And it will become known, Tess, no matter where we go.
If I stay here,
if I continue to look upon that face, I will change my mind.
And that's why I must go away from you.
We will part in the morning.
The diamonds belong to you.
I will place them in the bank for safekeeping.
In the meantime, it's best you don't try and find me.
Unless you come to me I may not come to you?
Just so.
May I write to you?
Yes,
if you are ill or in need.
Otherwise I will write to you.
Here is some money.
£25.
It should suffice for a year or so,
by which time I will let you know of my plans.
All I ever wanted was to go through the world with you and be always at your side.
At least kiss me goodbye, Angel.
Goodbye, Tess.
Tess, my child!
Married!
Really and truly this time!
Did you get the gift? The cider?
The whole hogshead of cider! Your father's idea, not mine...
Yes, mother.
Where's your husband then?
I want to meet my handsome son-in-law!
He's gone away for a time.
You told him.
Oh, you little fool.
You silly little fool!
To go blabbing such a thing as that,
after all I told you, after I made you swear...
I thought he would forgive me!
He is such a good man...
He is a man, Tess, just like the other one.
He isn't like that!
He has always been so good and true,
it would have been a sin to deceive him...
And yet you sinned enough to marry him!
Because I wanted him!
I loved him, mother.
If you could only half know how much I loved him,
love him still...
Course they'll laugh at me at the Pure Drop Inn.
'This is your mighty match is it, Sir John?
'This is your getting back to your true level of your forefathers?'
A man of my stature with a vault at Kingsbere,
to be laughed and jeered at!
I can't bear it, Joan.
I can't.
We thought it best not to attend the wedding in person.
It would have embarrassed us and given you no pleasure.
Your brothers were most insistent on the point. Were they now?
Angel, there is no irritation in our minds against you for this marriage,
but we thought it better to reserve our affections for your wife till we could see her.
And you will, father, but not yet.
Well, can you at least describe her to us? Is she pretty?
She's beautiful.
Deep red lips, a fine figure.
Large brown eyes,
dark and expressive.
And you were her first love?
Yes. Of course.
Who can find a virtuous woman?
For her price is far above rubies.
She riseth while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household.
She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms...
In the name of the father and of the son, and of the holy ghost. Amen.
Angel, you are not yourself.
No, father. I am not.
Have you quarrelled with your wife?
Not quarrelled, but there is a difference.
Angel, I am sorry to ask this.
Is she a young woman whose history will bear investigation?
Father, she is spotless.
Then I'm sure all will be well.
Where's your fine gentleman, Tess?
Sir John has been telling us all about him, hasn't he Mary?
He's been called away. On business.
What, and left you in Marlott?
Only for a moment. I'm expecting to hear from him any day now.
She's at her mother's,
just temporarily, until I'm established.
Established where?
I'm going to Brazil, as soon as possible. There are excellent opportunities out there.
When I'm ready I will return to get her. You can meet her then.
We were meant to have a new roof.
Father sold the horse to pay for it.
But since he heard you were marrying all he does is drink all day.
Mother too, sometimes.
Nothing's right when you're not here.
Say you won't leave us again.
I must, Liza-Lu.
I can't stay here. I can't bear it.
Will you go and find your husband then?
Will you take me with you? Please?
I can't, Liza-Lu, not this time.
Soon though.
One day I'll come back and take you away from here.
You promise?
I swear it.
It's £50, in case she is in need while I'm away.
Tess is very proud. So please don't make it feel like charity.
Do write. Let us know you're safe.
Angel. Mercy.
Your brothers say you are off to Brazil, to live among Roman Catholics.
The Catholics, and my close relations the apes.
Angel... How changed you are since you met this woman.
Your brothers tell me she is not with you at present.
Mercy, may I whisper something?
It's a secret.
It's all a lie. There is no God.
GIGGLING Mercy, I'm sorry.
That was a mean trick. Here, let me help you... Stay away from me!
You are a wicked man, Angel Clare! A wicked, wicked man!
Come on!
£25.
That's for the new roof, and a horse, mind, not the Pure Drop Inn.
Right you are, Tess. Father?
Ah, fair enough.
I'll keep you informed of my whereabouts, in case a letter comes for me.
Don't forget.
You promised.
I'm living with my mother now, a mile or so from here.
I left Talbothays. It's so dismal there without you and Tess.
And after what happened to Retty... How is she?
She's out of danger, but she's in a terrible state.
All thin and hollow-cheeked. She barely speaks.
And Marian?
Marian drinks, sir.
The dairyman says he must get rid of her.
Izz, I'm going to Brazil...alone.
I have separated from Tess for personal reasons.
I see. I thought as much.
Would you go with me...
instead of her?
You truly wish me to go? Yes. Yes, I do.
Yes. Yes, I will.
Do you really love me that much? I do.
I've said I do.
I've always loved you. More than Tess?
No, not more than she.
How's that?
Because no-one can love you more than Tess.
She would have laid down her life for you. I could do no more.
They weren't at home.
I've left a note.
I'll write them when we get there, let them know I'm safe...
No. No.
Forgive me, Izz.
I think that I've been quite mad.
It was a mistake to ask you.
A mistake? I have a loving wife already.
I know.
Perhaps I didn't know what I was saying either, when I agreed to go with you.
So we'll part friends.
You have saved me from an act of treachery and folly and...
I shall never forget your kindness.
Think of me as a worthless lover, but a true friend.
Promise.
I promise.
Goodbye, Izz.
Goodbye, sir.
And, sir?
You will send for Tess soon, won't you, sir?
Whatever she's done... she doesn't deserve this.
I'm looking for work for the winter. Do you know of anything nearby?
Poultry farming, I'll work in service, sewing...
Nothing hereabouts, not this time of year.
You might try out Flintcomb Ash way, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Tis hard, mean work. Folks tend not to stick it out too long.
Excuse me, miss!
I thought so. I thought it was you.
That was quite a blow your fancy man gave me that time.
Seems you ought to beg my pardon. Let me alone, please...
I was right, wasn't I? You're D'Urberville's tart!
I'm a married woman! LAUGHTER
So what are you going to do to make amends, eh? A kiss perhaps?!
Hey, hey!
I wanted to speak to the farmer.
I'm looking for some work.
Tess?
Is it really my Tess?
Tis swede-hacking mainly. You won't like it.
Paid monthly, and tis task work, meaning they only pay you for what you do.
Charge you for your lodgings too, and only take women and old folk, cos they're cheaper.
He'll take you on, because few care to come,
but tis a starve-acre place, Tess,
and the bailiff's a bastard, 'scuse my saying.
If you had anywhere else to go, anywhere at all... I don't.
Oh, Tess...to think you married him and still have come to this?
No pity.
No questions either.
Angel has gone away and...
..I have overrun my allowance, that's all.
And no Mrs Clare.
Plain Tess Durbeyfield, just as before.
On a clear day, you can see the valley where Crick's dairy lies.
Except there aren't many clear days.
To take the chill off. They all do it here.
I've tried to stop myself, but I can't seem to any more.
Don't talk! Work!
Well, well, well.
Izz Huett!
Marian.
Tess! Oh, Tess...
Lives with her mother, won't leave the house.
No-one will marry Retty now, poor love...
Oh... Ssh. Just be civil.
You got the better of me.
First time with your fancy man, and the second time when you bolted, now I've got the better of you.
to beg my pardon?
I think you ought to beg mine.
There's nothing like a winter afield for taking the nonsense out of a young woman's head.
Is that all you've done? Makes no difference to you.
We're only paid for what we do. But I want this barn cleared.
By tonight. Keep working.
All of you.
♪ Oh, the snow it melts the soonest
♪ When the winds begin to sing
♪ And the corn, it ripens fastest... ♪ THE OTHERS JOIN IN
♪ When the frosts are setting in
♪ And when a young man tells me that
♪ My face he'll soon forget!
♪ Before we part, I'll tell him now
♪ He be faint to follow it yet
♪ Oh, the snow it melts the soonest
♪ When the winds begin to sing
♪ And the bee that flew when summer shone
♪ In winter, he will sing
♪ And all the flowers in all the land
♪ So brightly there they be
♪ And the snow it melts the soonest
♪ When my true loves for me. ♪
Sunday will be New Year's Eve. Our first wedding anniversary,
and still no word from him. Write to him.
Tell him what's happened to you. I can't.
I promised I would wait for him. Then go and see his parents.
They're good people, and he wouldn't mind, if you were in need.
Tess, you must.
This place will kill you otherwise.
So beautiful.
He bought them for you?
For our honeymoon.
So...do I look respectable?
Well, today would have been his first wedding anniversary.
Not that there's much to celebrate.
I never see that nice girl without regretting his decision
to marry that milkmaid... if that's really what she is.
Poor Mercy.
Well, let us go and talk to her.
No news for months. The last letter was from Rio de Janeiro.
He seemed well enough, but that was some time ago.
Look here!
Thrown away by some tramp or other.
Or some impostor more like, coming into town barefoot to excite our sympathies.
They are excellent walking boots. We will hand them on
to some poor person more deserving of our sympathy.
Can we help you?
Beg pardon. Excuse me, can we help you?
Miss?!
..crucified among you. This only would I learn of you.
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish?
Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Thus was I once foolish, a creature of the flesh. I scoffed at the word of the Lord!
I wantonly associated with the reckless, with gamblers and drunks and women of loose morals,
until I met a man, a parson from near here.
Mr Clare of Emminster.
Whom I had grossly insulted...
..and whose parting words...
struck me like a knife in the heart.
Let us sing.
Hymn number 40. Excuse me.
CONGREGATION SINGS Tess! Tess, stop.
I tried to find you, but they said you'd gone away.
There's no-one I wish to see less this side of the grave than you! That is why you must hear me out.
Of all the people I grievously wronged, you are the most deserving. Deserving of what? To be saved!
I wish to save you from the wrath to come!
No amount of contempt that you can pour on me will equal what I have poured upon myself.
I have changed, Tess!
My mother died, and I found myself lost,
despairing in a way I never could have predicted, and I was drawn to him and his word.
Oh, Tess if you only knew the sense of security,
the certainty that a true Christian faith can bring.
Enough of this! I can't bear it when you know what you've done to me!
You, and all those men like you, who take their pleasure, while making my life black with misery!
To secure your own place of heaven, and then to talk of saving me?!
I despise it! You don't believe me? What don't you believe?
Your conversion, your religion, all this talk of goodness and redemption.
You're still a beauty, Tess.
I shouldn't look upon your face, it's too dangerous.
Goodbye, then!
How is it that you speak so fluently now?
I had a fine teacher. I have learnt many things in my troubles.
Troubles? What troubles, Tess? Tell me, so I may make amends. Make amends?!
I had your child, Alec!
I have a child?
He died. Soon after he was born.
A son. I...I had a son?
Oh, God. How did he die?
Did you care for him?
Of course you did. Forgive me.
Well, tell me about him. What was his name?
Sorrow. I named him Sorrow.
He is buried in unconsecrated ground.
A pauper's grave is all your good and noble church would allow him!
Why didn't you write? Why didn't you tell me that I had a son?
Answer me! I must see you again.
Never! I despise you, Alec!
And you must never, ever come near me again!
I will pray for you, Tess!
Some unbeliever has unsettled your mind, but I will pray for you!
No word from him at all? Not for months, they said.
You should still write to him. At least tell him where you are.
Who's this, then?
In private?
You refused my request not to come near me.
With good reason. Well, tell it. I have work to do.
Might we go somewhere more private? Here will do.
Very well.
When we last met, my mind was on your eternal soul.
Since then, I've found myself thinking of more worldly considerations.
This is a terrible place, Tess.
It's notorious.
Groby is a monster...
..and it's all my fault.
What I want to ask you is this...
Will you put it in my power to make the only reparation I can for the wrong I did to you?
What is it?
It's a marriage licence.
I'm asking you to marry me.
The sight of you has revived my love.
I wish to sanctify it.
Marry me, and make me a self-respecting man.
Oh, no, sir, no.
Why not? Because I love somebody else.
Somebody else?
Have you no sense of what is morally right and proper? No, no, no...don't say that.
Well, perhaps your love for this other man will pass... I have married him!
I did not wish to tell you. It is a secret here,
so would you please, please stop questioning me?!
We must be strangers now.
Strangers? After what has passed between us?
In the eyes of some, we are already married.
Where is this husband, Tess? Far away.
Far away from you? What kind of husband is he?
Do not speak against him! It is because of you he left!
But to neglect you and leave you to work in this place!
Does he write? Does he provide money?
Does he even know that you're here?
Don't walk away from me! Well, answer me, will you!
I was on my way to salvation when I saw you again.
Why then have you tempted me?
I was firm as a man could be until I saw those eyes, that mouth.
Good God, was there ever such a face, such a mouth?
I cannot preach any more, I cannot sleep!
I close my eyes to pray to God and all I see is you!
I must have you, Tess!
Found yourself another fancy man, have you?
There was a time when I would have knocked you down for speaking to her like that. Long time ago now.
I'm in charge here.
Now you're just a trespasser!
Know this one thing, Tess. I will have you.
Don't forget, you're still contracted here till Lady Day, missy.
Still three months to go.
Dearest Angel, my own husband.
I promised when we parted that I would not search you out,
that I would wait for your word,
but it has been more than a year now, Angel,
and I cling to you in a way you cannot think!
I am the same woman, Angel, as you fell in love with.
What was the past to me as soon as I met you?
I was a dead thing altogether.
When I met you, I became another woman, filled full of new life.
And now you are gone, I know not where and nothing is right with the world any more.
Can't you not come to me at once, before something terrible happens?
I long for one thing in Heaven or Earth or under Earth.
To meet you again, my own dear.
Come to me.
Come to me now, and save me from what threatens me!
Your faithful, heartbroken Tess.
Damn it, Tess. Have I not told you that I love you?!
Don't look like a preacher.
I heard your husband returned. I have no husband!
That is not my Angel. Not the one who went away.
marrying gentlemen, when this is where it leads us?!
You have it in your power to save your family. One kind word, Tess.
Synch: Supermauri