80
A brave, powerful, far from comfortable and distinctly English affair that bears all the hallmarks of a labour of love rather than an example of intellectual folly.
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25
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
The basic plot of Thomas Hardy's great novel "Jude the Obscure" comes through accurately enough, but its sublime irony and sardonic wit apparently got lost in the misty English countryside.
88
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
This is a film of tremendous scope and emotional depth that uncovers the soul of a novel and brings it to life on the screen.
90
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Michael Winterbottom's handsome, uncompromising film. Jude glows with Eccleston's and Winslet's performances and with those in supporting roles.
60
The New York Times by Lawrence Van Gelder
With Christopher Eccleston as Jude and Kate Winslet of ''Sense and Sensibility'' as his great love, Sue Bridehead, and with convincing evocations of 19th-century England from locations in Edinburgh and the north of England, Jude remains a handsome if gravely flawed film.
75
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
It's worth seeing this stark adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure just for the extraordinary performance of Christopher Eccleston as Jude Fawley, the stonemason in turn-of-the-century England whose dreams of university scholarship are thwarted. And British telly director Michael Winterbottom sustains a fine atmosphere of dank misery.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Stack
Jude is knockout Hardy, filled with stormy visual poetry and accompanied by a gorgeous yet simple score.
90
A careful, finally powerful film.
75
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Together [Christopher Eccleston, Rachel Griffiths and Kate Winslet] stake a difficult story and make it into a haunting film.
67
Austin Chronicle by Steve Davis
Director Winterbottom and screenwriter Hossein Amini could have given the story a bit more resonance, particularly in character development, if they had allowed some of the scenes to go a little longer.