Lady Chatterley (2006)

The most frankly sensual movie in memory, (Los Angeles Times) Pascale Ferran s intelligent, deeply moving, and exquisitely photographed Lady
Chatterley brings D.H. Lawrence s most celebrated and notorious literary work to the screen in a way that feels bracingly fresh, vital and modern
(New York Times). Robbed of intimacy by her blueblood husband s war injuries, Constance Chatterley (Marina Hands The Barbarian Invasions) longs for the emotional fulfillment and physical passion that her marriage lacks. When she espies the gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo ch) unselfconsciously bathing, stripped to the waist amidst the beauty of nature, she experiences a sexual awakening unlike anything she has ever dared to desire. Though separated by the boundaries of social convention, rough-hewn Parkin and high-bred Lady Chatterley unite in a love that is simultaneously innocent and erotic, a spiritual connection that transcends personal inhibitions and class prejudices. Product Description

French version of the Lady

After reading all the rave reviews of this French version of D.H. Lawrence's classic novel, I decided to check it out. It seemed to me to be very long and the French director has a bad habit that all French filmmakers have in common--they tell us what is going on within the passage of time!! Being almost 3 hrs in length, I found this to be a trial but Marina Hinds was perfectly cast as the Lady and the gamekeeper, although a little stocky and beefy was just fair as the gamekeeper so this saved the film at least. I know the French have done this story earlier in a notorious '50's or 60's version with Daniele Darrieux but I don't believe it's been released on video. Anyway, if you haven't seen the Just Jacklin version with the wooden Sylvia Kristel and the hunk, Nicolas Clay or the BBC version with Joely Richardson & Sean Bean, this is worth a look. But if you like Lawrence also check the film versions of "Sons and Lovers" and "Women in Love" which are far better than this film. May 26, 2008

A New Adaptation of Lawrence's Most Famous Novel

Director Pascale Ferran's award-winning film of D. H. Lawrence's famous-- or infamous novel, depending on your point of view-- is extremely well done and for the most part a joy to watch. The plot is familiar: Lady Chatterley (the perfectly cast Marina Hands) is reduced to taking care of her husband, Sir Clifford (Hippolyte Girardot), a casualty from World War I, in a marriage that is less than perfect on every level. One day she glimpses the gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo'ch), a masculine, humpy man not in her class, naked from the waist up bathing himself. The rest is, as they say, herstory. Lady Chatterley spends the rest of the over-two-hour film having sex with Parkin whenever possible. What begins as clothed passion eventually becomes naked, abandoned love.

All three main characters are well cast, complex and believable. Sir Clifford, for all his coldness and upper class snobbery, is a sympathetic figure as evidenced in the scene when he stalls out his motorized wheel car and has to depend on the help of both his wife and Parkin as well as when he confronts Constance with her own drawing of class distinctions.As difficult as love may be between classes, particulary in this time in British history, we are left in the end of this beautifully filmed movie believing that it just may be possible. Parkin and Constance engage in some of the most torrid sex scenes you are likely to see.

The film is a little too long and at times gets a little too much like "Elvira Madigan" with all those trysts in the meadows. And I kept wondering why Sir Clifford's nurse didn't know what Lady Chatterley was doing when she was so often not at home but always out in the fields with her man. Finally the director shows passage of time with captions on the screen, a tad distracting.

"Lady Chatterley" is still, however one beautiful film to watch and not to be missed.

March 30, 2008

Very beautiful film

it is very slow. But, I think that's deliberate. It was very beautiful, but, it was very slow and too long. Enjoy! March 19, 2008

Love and class structure

D.H. Lawrence is known for his sensual (if not scandalous) novels of forbidden love, infatuation and attraction. "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was one of the books that in its time was considered scandalous. I was expecting that French director will produce a film that is sensual and erotic. However, the film feels strained. It is almost unnatural when French actors have English names. Film editing feels forced and choppy at time. Prolonged 120 minute production is not helping either. We do manage to like the two seemingly unlikely lovers who manage to build their relationship well beyond their oposing social standings. We like them in the purity of their relationship that has no prejudices and to both of them comes natural as the surrounding of forrests, birds, rain and flowers. Theirs is a romantic love that builds slowly but steadily. Both are starved for affection and love that changes them both in the ways neither one of them expected it. March 10, 2008

Lady Chatterley Has Issues ...

I guess you could write all the live-long day about the number of times this D.H. Lawrence novel has been brought to the big screen, the small screen, or the direct-to-DVD screen, but I don't think LADY CHATTERLEY has been given such highbrow treatment before (though I admit I haven't seen the full BBC adaptation, which I hear is quite entertaining). I guess the entertainment industry's love affair with the classic novel enjoys the same lusty high and lows that the mylady does with the gamekeeper! For what it's worth, many others have made much ado about the film's pacing so I'll spare you my quaint concerns on that matter suffice it to say that I think director Pascale Ferran could've trimmed the 40 minute set-up just a wee bit to get to the juicy "first contact" and probably not sacrificed much story. Also, critics have been quick to praise "every frame of the film is bustling with life" (paraphrased), but that's certainly not the case with this DVD release as I found much of the picture quality poor to medium with some of the greenery of Clifford's (her invalid husband) estate to be lost to grain. And the use of colors and costumes (once sexually awakened, Constance Chatterley's fabric of choice seeming goes from flannel and burlap to elegant silky satins freshly colored in Crayola "Harlot Red") could be the source of endless discussion and fascination, but, in the end, any film exploration of the Chatterley affair inevitably always comes down to the matter of how the two lovers get it on.

And these two do get it on quite well. The DVD cover art boasts "the most frankly sensual movie in memory." I've read elsewhere that the coupling is intended to be as close to authentic as possible, and by authentic I can only assume that the critic politely meant to say that it's relatively short, subtle, and mostly not overtly HBO or Cinemax theatrical where the two last for hours only to end up in a huddled poised sweaty sculpturesque mess only fit for Victorian paintings. "Earthy" is a word that comes to mind for me. Their first coupling is awkward -- paced as though it was plucked from reality -- with mylady clearly not quite knowing what to do, what to think, or what to make of the experience while Parkin remains -- at all times -- largely servant-like. Afterwards, neither take a moment to bask in the awakening, per se; largely, they both desire to return to their lives, and it isn't until a few days later that they experience the real emotional awakening that comes from their attachment.

With each successive encounter, these two grow more and more adventurous and expressive until, finally, it's plain to see that they've committed to one another much more than their initial bonding, one that was clearly predicated on their employer/employee relationship. Constance -- at the talents of Marina Hands -- is deftly portrayed both in and out of the sexual experience, and her character becomes a bit more of a mouthpiece for defying the social conventions of the time -- speaking to her husband in favor of change; wanting to and talking about having a child to her husband who cannot give her what she wants; using her personal wealth to establish her lover at a time when men didn't live off the wealth of women -- but not much more of a mouthpiece than the character has had in previous screen incarnations.

So, in the end, we're given a film where the encounters do seem, feel, portray the physical relationship and the budding emotional one as arguably much more authentic than before, but that's about it. In the end, Constance has found love, and Parkin's accepted his place in the universe, and the film climaxes (a bad word, yes, but you knew it was coming ... ouch!) with perhaps the most curious moments that 50% of viewers would say cries out for a sequel ... but methinks D.H. Lawrence isn't around to take advantage of it.

I can't help but add that, come the conclusion, Constance is still governed by her issues. Her lust. Her desire. Her thirst for life and love. Her endless femininity. But, also, she's curiously weighted down just a bit by a free-spirited, globe-trotting sister who looks frighteningly like a young boy in awkward drag.

Such is life ... March 1, 2008

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