I had doubts about going to see Far from the Madding Crowd this weekend, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel of the same name. It's my favourite novel, but following The Great Gatsby (coincidentally another favourite novel of mine), and being rather unimpressed with Baz Luhrmann's handling of the source material; especially with Carey Mulligan's portrayal of Daisy, I wasn't expecting great things.

With a novel as stylistically rich as Hardy's I thought it would fall into the trap of countless other big screen adaptations of his novels. Invariably, the intricacies of character and narrative are lost in the translation from page to screen. However, with Thomas Vinterberg's adaptation of Madding Crowd, I found an exception to the rule.

In brief the film tells the story of a young, sprightly woman called Bathsheba Everdene (Mulligan), who is caught in a love triangle of three suitors, all of different status and notoriety.

By filming in the hills of Dorset, Vinterberg captures the atmosphere of Hardy’s novel. The cinematography effectively conveys the endemic and bucolic nature of the country, yet underpins this with a sense of starkness and foreboding. Instead of showing a Wessex idyll, the landscape is realistic and it is this same naturalism that Hardy channels throughout his novel. In addition, the musical score continues to add to the atmosphere, and is in fact my favourite element of the whole film. Composed by Craig Armstrong, it seems to fill up the empty space between dialogue and silence, and acts as a cohesive force to bring the various scenes and plot twists together.

No doubt the plotline is complicated, based on the inconsistencies and incompatibilities that exist between love, friendship, marriage and infatuation. Yet in Vinterberg's hands this does not make the narrative tiring to follow. Instead the depths of the characters seamlessly integrate into the narrative, driving the plot forward. Mulligan is a perfect Bathsheba; her looks no doubt contributed to her suitability for the role, but her joint sense of innocence and allurement make her fit into the shoes of the heroine from Hardy's pages with little effort.

What ultimately makes this film a success is its suitability to today. Bathsheba would have been the type of young woman to walk these streets, taking everything in her stride with a mind-set and determination to strive for what she wants regardless of the expectations, and the criticisms, of others. She stands out from the Victorian society of the film and, perhaps more powerfully, the society of today as reminder of what women can do. That they don't have to subscribe to any pre-set ideals get on with their own life and in their own way.

Far from the Madding Crowd is currently showing in cinemas across Cambridge and the UK