Tess (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)

This multiple-Oscar-winning film by Roman Polanski is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With it's earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers-Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)-Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.

Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin, Tony Church, Brigid Erin Bates, Jeanne Biras, John Bett, Tom Chadbon, Rosemary Martin, Geraldine Arzul, Stephane Treille, Elodie Warnod, Ben Reeks, Jack Stephens, Lesley Dunlop, Maryline Even, Jean-Jacques Daubin, Sylvia Coleridge, Jacob Weisbluth, Peter Benson, Jacques Mathou, Veronique Alain, Richard Pearson, Fred Bryant, John Barrett, Ann Tirard, Carolyn Pickles, Suzanna Hamilton, Caroline Embling, Josine Comellas, Arielle Dombasle, David Markham, Pascale de Boysson, Gordon Richardson, Patsy Smart, Dicken Ashworth, Jimmy Gardner, Reg Dent, John Gill, Forbes Collins, Keith Buckley, John Moore, Patsy Rowlands, Lina Roxa, Graham Weston