Find Movies & TV
Home
Live TV
On Demand
Discover
Explore
Movies & TV Shows
Most Popular
Leaving Soon
Categories
Action
Animation
Comedy
Crime
Descriptive Audio
Documentary
Drama
En Español
Horror
Music
Romance
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Western
Explore
Browse Channels
Featured Channels
Dateline
BritBox Mysteries
Oxygen True Crime Archives
Categories
Hit TV
Drama TV
True Crime
Comedy
News
Sports
Reality
History & Science
Movies
Sci-Fi & Action
Classic TV
Food & Home
Lifestyle
Nature & Travel
Daytime TV
Game Shows
Kids & Family
Anime+
Chills & Thrills
International
En Español
Music
Sign In
Tess
Directed by
Roman Polanski
PG
1979
2h 52m
Drama
,
Romance
7.3
81%
77%
Add to Watchlist
A strong-willed peasant girl 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, but is left traumatised from her experiences.
More
Where to Watch Tess
Criterion Channel
Subscription
Amazon Video
Rent $3.59
Buy $14.99
Apple TV
Rent $3.99
Buy $14.99
Fandango At Home
Rent $5.99
Buy $14.99
Cast of Tess
Nastassja Kinski
Tess Durbeyfield
Peter Firth
Angel Clare
Leigh Lawson
Alec d'Urberville
John Collin
John Durbeyfield
Rosemary Martin
Mrs. Durbeyfield
Carolyn Pickles
Marian
Richard Pearson
Vicar of Marlott
David Markham
Reverend Mr. Clare
Pascale de Boysson
Mrs. Clare
Suzanna Hamilton
Izz Huett
Caroline Embling
Retty
Tony Church
Parson Tringham
Lesley Dunlop
Girl in Henhouse
Sylvia Coleridge
Mrs. d'Urberville
Fred Bryant
Dairyman Crick
Dicken Ashworth
Farmer Groby
Patsy Rowlands
Landlady
John Barrett
Old Dairy Hand
Patsy Smart
Housekeeper
Brigid Erin Bates
Girl in Meadow
Jeanne Biras
Girl in Meadow
John Bett
Felix Clare
Tom Chadbon
Cuthbert Clare
Maryline Even
Girl in Henhouse
Jean-Jacques Daubin
Bailiff
Jacob Weizbluth
Yokel at barn-dance
Jacques Mathou
Harvester
Véronique Alain
Harvester
Anne Tirard
Old Dairy Hand
Josine Comellas
Mrs. Crick
Arielle Dombasle
Mercy Chant
Gordon Richardson
Parson at Wedding
Jimmy Gardner
Pedlar
Reg Dent
Carter
John Gill
Landlord
Forbes Collins
New Tenant
Keith Buckley
Postman
John Moore
Postman
Graham Weston
Constable
Peter Benson
Religious Fanatic (uncredited)
Roman Polanski
Director / Writer
Gérard Brach
Writer
John Brownjohn
Writer
Thomas Hardy
Writer
Claude Berri
Producer
Tess Ratings & Reviews
Washington Post
Judith Martin
This is cinematography at its best -- film used to present a view, in motion, of a reality that has been artistically ordered to reveal a greater-that-literal essence.
Washington Post
Gary Arnold
Watching this long, placid maddeningly subdued movie, you can't help wondering what became of Hardy's stark chronicle of crimes of passion.
TIME Magazine
Richard Schickel
One emerges from [Roman Polanski's] endless version of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles with a sense that one could have read the book in a shorter span and had more fun too.
Arizona Republic
Michael Maza
Tess is a beautiful film -- three hours (including an intermission) of perfectly lit, mood-evoking shots on locations that make us feel as if we've traveled through time as well as space on this tour of the English countryside.
Boston Globe
Bruce McCabe
This film is one of those rare treasures that restores one's faith in the efficacy of the cinema.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It is a beautifully visualized period piece that surrounds Tess with the attitudes of her time -- attitudes that explain how restricted her behavior must be, and how society views her genuine human emotions as inappropriate. This is a wonderful film.
Chicago Tribune
Gene Siskel
Polanski's Tess is the rarest of contemporary movies, an old-fashioned kind of romantic drama that commercial Hollywood hasn't made in years.
Detroit Free Press
Jack Mathews
Though its approximate three-hour run (intermission included) may seem to pass more slowly than an evening with the book itself, it is a soothing spectacle.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
Larry Swindell
Polanski has in Tess an accomplishment that is dazzlingly atypical and altogether unexpected, not only for the picture's theme and subject matter but for Polanski's cinematic approach. He's never told a story with his camera quite this way before.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
Perry Stewart
Polanski's realization of mood and milieu is remarkable, and much of this obviously is due to the superb photography of the Hardy Country locations.
New York Magazine/Vulture
David Denby
[Tess] is extraordinarily well crafted but a little too placid for the true Hardy spirit. Polanski gets Hardy's feeling for the Dorset countryside and the passing of traditional rural customs, but misses the anguish seething under the surface.
Newsweek
David Ansen
The magnificent cinematography... achieves more than mere loveliness. The beauty of Tess hurts, evoking a world of natural splendor that mocks Hardy's benighted characters like a cosmic jest.
New York Times
Janet Maslin
A lovely, lyrical, unexpectedly delicate movie... Without Mr. Polanski's name in the credits, this lush and scenic Tess could even be mistaken for the work of David Lean.
Newsday
Joseph Gelmis
It's odd because of Polanski's artistic restraint. Tess isn't the typical kinky film for which Polanski became infamous. Yet it's disappointing because, though he's made a picturesque, sensitive and serious film, it's feeble as entertainment and art.
New York Daily News
Rex Reed
I found myself sinking hypnotically into the projected atmosphere [Roman Polanski] creates with the aid of two great cameramen, and for the most part, his Tess is an honorable piece of work, well worth investigating. Too bad about Kinski, though.
Orlando Sentinel
Sumner Rand
Director Roman Polanski has translated Hardy's preoccupation with fate and Victorian morality into the best realization on film yet of any of the novelist's works.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Desmond Ryan
Roman Polanski has the advantage of starting with a work of genius. Even so, there is a kinship in approach that goes beyond the sumptuous visual experience... [An] astonishing and deeply moving film.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Joe Pollack
It's a superior motion picture, filmed with love and care. Every scene is beautifully set up, every shot carefully composed and lighted, every minor part perfectly cast.
Slant Magazine
Budd Wilkins
Tragedy has never looked more ravishing than in Roman Polanski's elegiac epic.
The New Yorker
Pauline Kael
[Polanski's film] is textured and smooth and even, with lateral compositions subtly flowing into each other; the sequences are beautifully structured, and the craftsmanship is hypnotic. But the picture is tame.
Watch Tess Videos
Don't Be So Coy (English Dubbed)
Don't Be So Coy (English Dubbed)
Scene
Take Plex everywhere
Watch free anytime, anywhere, on almost any device.
See the full list of supported devices
Home
Live TV
On Demand
Discover
