Jude

How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they've seen Kate Winslett? This gritty film of Thomas Hardy's novel plays at times like a cross between Masterpiece Theatre and The Way We Were, but the performances take this sad song and make it better. Christopher Eccleston stars as the humble born laborer Jude, who is determined to rise above his station by pursuing a university education. The luminous Winslett co-stars as Sue, his cousin, who defies convention and earns the wrath of the community by her willingness to live with Jude and bear his children out of wedlock (with the inevitable tragic consequences). Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)