Continuing his mission to do strange and interesting things with Thomas Hardy novels, here's a trailer for Michael Winterbottom's **Trishna{
Following his reasonably straight adaptation of **Jude **the Obscure, and The Claim, which turned The Mayor of Casterbridge into a Western, Trishna stars Freida Pinto as the titular primitive creature of the heath (or its Rajasthan equivalent), who gets into relationship difficulties with Riz Ahmed's Jay Singh. Trishna goes to work for him after an accident destroys her father's jeep (it's a horse in the book) but the pair's love is complicated by the clash between Trishna's rural roots and the urbanity and education that Jay represents.
That's the official plot summary at least, which doesn't cover Tess' rape and the lengthy aftermath which forms the core of Hardy's novel. There's no trace of that in the trailer either, which appears to go the star-cross'd lovers route. Jay would seem to be Angel Clare, and it's unclear if there's an Alec d'Urberville at all, but Hardy's theme of a beautiful traditional world versus the evils of modernity definitely seems to be front and centre.
The dreamy soundtrack, to which it looks as if there will be much dancing, is by Shigeru Umebayashi, with original songs by Amit Trivedi, and Trishna will be seeking distribution at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it premieres on September 9.