Tess is a wonderful adaptation from a great book(by Thomas Hardy)),Nastassja Kinski was perfect for the part,long hair,bright eyes,fine featured,I always thought that her power as an actress is in her face(through gestures and tics); the director of the film Roman Polanski,said that "Thomas Hardy links the girl to the rhythm of nature",for that reason,in some scenes, she looks different, in spring her beauty flourish like pink roses,when her fate follows her,the weather is cold and windy,Tess seems pale,sad and lonely like a ghost;Nastassia projects this with delicacy and tenderness;Tess is a complex character,"not a typical victorian lady",the movie works in different levels:as a romantic/tragic love story,as an accusation of the hypocrisy of that rigid society,and that controversial scene when she loses her virginity,Hardy describes the event with ambiguity...was she raped o was she seduced?;but in the movie shows Alec "cruel intentions"more clearly.I just love Tess because she still stays untouched after all the problems,she has an special dignity,visually, the film looks great,Cherbourg villages(north of France) are similar to Dorset;Philippe Sarde haunting music penetrates under your skin,and that is pure emotion.
