FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD Featurette: "Boldwood"
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2015
- Meet William Boldwood (played by Michael Sheen), a wealthy bachelor smitten with the fiery Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan). Will Bathsheba choose a life of comfort at his side?
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD is out now in select theaters, and expanding this Friday! For tickets, visit: bit.ly/FFMCTix 
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As women we all encounter at least two of these men throughout our life time, I think.
Boldwood may seem romantic at first glance. His hopeless love for Bathsheba might seem, at first glance, beautiful even. It’s very unhealthy though, and it really stands in sharp contrast to Gabriel Oak’s selfless love. Boldwood wanted her to marry him even if it made her terribly unhappy to do so ( this is more apparent in the book I think). He wants her for himself even if this means that she herself will not be perfectly happy with him. His love is more guided by his own loneliness than anything else, especially since he fell for her very much in a kind of “Cinderella’s slipper” kind of way. In the book he falls in love with the woman who sends him the valentine. He begins to build castles in the sky imagining how this woman looks and is. He is half in love before he even knows it’s Bathsheba and seems determined to marry whoever “fits” the Valentine, very much like the prince with the slipper. We all, I think, find a Boldwood in life, and it’s terrifying. You feel this sense of gratitude over the affection being offered, and also this foreboding dread that this love is a cage that will crush you alive if you accept it.
Troy is selfish, self-serving, and is merely attracted to her. His love is pure Eros, nothing but passion. The attraction is both physical and monetary. His love has nothing of the almost Angelic purity of Gabriel’s or of the absolute staunchness of Boldwood’s. He is with her for convenience and sees in her beauty the only thing in Bathsheba that causes him pity and affection. I think Troy is one of the men that most of us girls come across, and sadly, just like in the book, he’s the one we tend to run off after.
Gabriel is pure Agape. This man is the unicorn of men. The one that most of us either don’t find or don’t notice. His love is purity itself. Self sacrificing generosity and devotion fuel his affection, and a desire to see her happy even if this means that he has to be removed from the picture. Gabriel is more afraid of her pain than his, of her good name being in any way compromised than his. He wants to see her well, even if that means giving her up to Boldwood knowing that at least with him she would be safe and protected. Gabriel loves Bathsheba for who she is. He loves her freedom and independence. He doesn’t want to take any of that away unlike Boldwood. He also, unlike Boldwood, has a clear image of her faults. He doesn’t idolize her, and often tells her where he thinks she is doing wrong. His love is sober, and that is why it’s so calm and steady.
Unlike Troy, Gabriel, though attracted to Bathsheba, sees her as a person not as a thing to be had. He wants to protect her respectability and would never do anything that compromises her good name. This desire to protect is extended to her property, and unlike Troy who takes and ravages through her farm and money without any sense of conscience, Gabriel is concerned with the farm’s success because he wants her to be well, not because of any kind of gain o. His part.
Gabriel is the elusive, kind, generous, true love most of us don’t find. And I think that if this book ( and movie) taught me anything, is that alluring as Boldwood’s love can seem, and attractive as Troy’s can appear neither one could make a girl happy. We’re much better off single and hoping a Gabriel Oak comes along than settling for a love that either crushes us under its weight or breaks us with its coldness.
but you gotta admit that Mr. Boldwood is a madman
This was so absolutely beautifully written. Everything I thought of this movie you have managed to write.
I honestly never felt bad for boldwood because she made it perfectly clear she was not interested. He used her financial troubles as a way to trap her. He never truly loved her.
Completely agree that we should remain single until we can find our Gabriel. No other love will bring us true happiness.
I love your commentary. It's very insightful.
By the time Boldwood came along .i had began to realize just how great a guy Gabriel realky was and did not want her to choose Boldwood..but feared she might and would of understood if she did..but she thank God realized she didnt want to lose Gabriel a second time and be a fool..cause she knew that he was the man who loved her and i think she loved him too. Wow...❤
Michael Sheen. Just. Michael Sheen. That is all. 🥰
Perfect hero of this story
Absolutely not a perfect hero. Sheen says it himself. Boldwood was obsessive and unstable, unbalanced. He wanted to own Bathsheba. Gabriel was the perfect hero in this story.
I loveee❤❤
I’m sorry Miss Everdeen but I’m built different there would be no hesitation
Middle aged man? Not really - old man. People didn’t live long past 50 back then. You could argue Bathsheba is middle aged if you want a true representation of the casting of this movie. Women were quite often married before they were 17. Bathsheba looks 25 in this!
Wealthy people could live long into their 70’s and 80’s at this time.
Handsome. Kind-hearted. Faithful. Sensitive. Settled. Rich. (...) Not to mention a beautiful voice and an accent that I'm dying for. Maybe I have a father complex, but I'm 25 and I want him. He would treat me like a princess. :D
I know I probably sound like a teenager, but please marry me. 😀