Lady Chatterley (1993)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Excellent but underrated film

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I just happened to come across this on Netflix. I found it to be OK, however for a woman pining and longing for some male heat, the cottage dweller wasn't that good at it and lacked variety in his sexual performances. Maybe she didn't know any different. A lot of face grabbing and pressing bodies against things. The woods where some of the action happened was pretty. The guy in the wheelchair was kind of bi-polar, and said his parts were mutilated, yet his devoted nurse claimed they were intact when she bathed him down there. She seemed very excited about the whole thing. I never read the book, but some of these earlier English films cast the wrong actors/actresses for the part. I didn't think the actress was all that great, for someone wanting passion she was very bland, but very beautiful.

I agree that this is a very good adaptation indeed of the novel and the closest in spirit to what Lawrence was writing about in my view. If there is one stereotype however, that Ken Russell (and Lawrence before him) perpetuates beyond reason, it is that a woman can only be sexually stimulated and fulfilled by penetration. It seems ludicrous even for that day and age (when the sexual hypocrisy of Victorian and Edwardian England was still in play), that a man so apparently sophisticated and sexually aware as Sir Clifford does not even consider cunnilingus or manual stimulation of his wife. Sex is therefore reduced to a raw gratification of mutual lust between Lady C and Mellors. Where is the beauty, the sensuality and the giving of true sexual love in all that?

This movie was very enjoyable as well as instructive. It was enjoyable because it was so faithful to the most popular version of the story and instructive about how people conducted their lives after WW1 in England. Joely Richardson is a new actress for me and I find her convincing as Connie. Sean Bean is a familiar handsome actor who has a long career I've followed. I feel these actors portrayed Mellors and Connie as reluctant lovers. They were strangers at first and only knew they needed what everyone needs, tenderness in their lives. It felt like I was watching two people desperate in their search, almost helplessly drawn to find happiness against all odds. I personally don't care if Sean Bean did not appear completely naked, and if the lovemaking was wooden at first, it felt right given the circumstances. These actors are bringing characters to life for us and it should not be forgotten this is not a view into an affair between the actors, it is the portrayal of characters brought to life by good acting and believable direction.

D. H. Lawerence wrote some of my favorite books of all time, including Lady Chatterley's Lover, so at first, I was afraid to watch these short little missives. I was not disappointed, however. It held true to quite a few aspects of the "Sir John Thomas and Lady Jane" version of the book than the original publication, but Lawerence never seemed to be quite satisfied and was always changing. Joely Richardson was a beautiful Lady Chatterley, and Sean Bean seemed the perfect Mellors. James Wilby was so convincing as Clifford that by the end of this movie, you just wanted that horrid wretch to be left alone, wallowing in his misery, because like everything else in his life, Constance was a possession, not a human being. This movie is a timeless treasure for anyone who loves the idea of being in love!