Typically tragic (and drawn-out) retelling of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel. Innocent teenager Tess Durbeyfield (Arterton) is dispatched by her hardscrabble family to claim kin with the wealthier D'Urbervilles and is soon seduced by her 'cousin' Alec (Matheson). A disgraced Tess flees and eventually takes a job on a farm where she meets the priggishly noble Angel Clare (Redmayne). Things go from bad to worse for poor Tess when Angel abandons the lovelorn girl after discovering her sordid past and an obsessed Alec finds her again.