The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Karel Reisz

Writers:

John Fowles (novel)
Harold Pinter (screenplay)

Release Date:

August 1981 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

She was lost from the moment she saw him.

Plot:

A film is being made of a story, set in 19th century England, about Charles, a biologist who's engaged to be married...

Plot Keywords:

Love | 19th Century | Melancholy | Tragedy | Film In Film

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Meryl Streep	...	Sarah / Anna
Jeremy Irons	...	Charles Henry Smithson / Mike
Hilton McRae	...	Sam
Emily Morgan	...	Mary
Charlotte Mitchell	...	Mrs. Tranter
Lynsey Baxter	...	Ernestina
Jean Faulds	...	Cook
Peter Vaughan	...	Mr. Freeman
Colin Jeavons	...	Vicar
Liz Smith	...	Mrs. Fairley
Patience Collier	...	Mrs. Poulteney
John Barrett	...	Dairyman
Leo McKern	...	Dr. Grogan
Arabella Weir	...	Girl on undercliff
Ben Forster	...	Boy on undercliff
Catherine Willmer	...	Dr. Grogan's housekeeper
Anthony Langdon	...	Asylum keeper
Edward Duke	...	Nathaniel
Richard Griffiths	...	Sir Tom
Graham Fletcher-Cook	...	Delivery boy
Richard Hope	...	Assistant #3
Michael Elwyn	...	Montague
Toni Palmer	...	Mrs. Endicott
Cecily Hobbs	...	Betty Anne
Doreen Mantle	...	Lady on train
David Warner	...	Murphy
Alun Armstrong	...	Grimes
Gérard Falconetti	...	Davide
Penelope Wilton	...	Sonia
Joanna Joseph	...	Lizzie
Jude Alderson	...	Red-haired prostitute (as Judith Alderson)
Cora Kinnaird	...	Prostitute #2
Orlando Fraser	...	Tom Elliott
Fredrika Morton	...	Girl
Alice Maschler	...	Girl #2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harriet Walter	...	(scenes deleted)
Georgina Hale	...	Actress at wrap party (uncredited)
Vicky Ireland	...	(uncredited)
Janet Rawson	...	(uncredited)
Clare Travers-Deacon	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Karel Reisz

Writing credits
John Fowles		(novel)
Harold Pinter		(screenplay)

Produced by
Leon Clore	....	producer
Geoffrey Helman	....	associate producer
Tom Maschler	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Carl Davis

Cinematography by
Freddie Francis

Film Editing by
John Bloom

Production Design by
Assheton Gorton

Art Direction by
Allan Cameron
Norman Dorme
Terry Pritchard

Set Decoration by
Ann Mollo

Costume Design by
Tom Rand

Makeup Department
Sue Barradell	....	makeup artist
Simon Thompson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Chris Burt	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hoult	....	assistant director
Peter Kohn	....	second assistant director
Mathew Simmons	....	third assistant director
Paul Tivers	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Andy Aitken	....	plasterer
Mark Fruin	....	stand-by propman

Sound Department
Don Banks	....	sound camera
Bill Rowe	....	sound re-recording mixer
Don Sharpe	....	sound editor
Ivan Sharrock	....	production sound mixer
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Alan Bryce	....	special effects
Nobby Clark	....	special effects (as Nobby Clarke)
Paul Corbould	....	special effects
Ricky Farns	....	special effects
John Humphreys	....	sculptor
Garth Inns	....	special effects
Michael White	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Nick Wass	....	optical cameraman (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Connor	....	still photographer
Gordon Hayman	....	camera operator
Roy Larner	....	gaffer
John Matthews	....	best boy
Jim Dawes	....	grip (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Brenda Dabbs	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Jeremy Hume	....	assistant editor
Chris Kennedy	....	assistant editor
Chris Ridsdale	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Carl Davis	....	conductor
Brian Gascoigne	....	music arranger: additional arrangements (uncredited)
Christopher Palmer	....	music assistant: Carl Davis (uncredited)

Other crew
Barry Beckett	....	location manager
Kay Fenton	....	continuity
Kay Fenton	....	script supervisor
Mon Mohan	....	title designer
Mark Mostyn	....	runner

Production Companies

• Juniper Films

Distributors

• United Artists (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1982) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Argentina Video Home (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Cinefex Ltd.  titles
• DRG Records  soundtrack
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Mayflower Recording  adr recording

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:S | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R (certificate #26244) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Borough Market, Borough, London, England, UK

Company:

Juniper Films

Trivia:

An attempt to adapt the novel was made in the 1970's, to star Vanessa Redgrave, but a satisfactory script couldn't be written, and funding was a problem.

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the film, as Charles is going on to the jetty to warn Sarah, his cape changes in how it is buttoned from shot to shot.

Quotes:

Sarah: I have set myself beyond the pale. I am nothing. I am hardly human any more.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: The Fast Show (#4.1)" (2006)

A multi-chambered Nautilus shell fossilized in stone.

This movie opens with a scene of an archaeologist chipping at a multi-chambered Nautilus shell fossilized in stone. The image is apropos, as the story itself opens from chamber to ever larger chamber as it weaves two seemingly disparate stories with a clever ending.

Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep are impressive as the leads in two different time lines. In one, Streep is a woman of poor reputation who ensnares a gentleman (Irons) in the black hole of her own guilt and loss. In the other, they are the romantically involved actors making a movie about a woman of poor reputation who ensnares a gentleman. And if that sounds a little too clever, it nonetheless has more creativity and insight than typical plot-twist moving, including the most contrived and overrated movie of all time, Memento (not good enough to be called bad).

There is a scene, in which Streep and Irons are rehearsing a scene from the movie, and, according to the story, it just isn't working. Then, all at once, Streep gets a look on her face, and we are transported into the past time line with a single glance from the greatest working actress and second only to Katherine Hepburn as the greatest actress of all time.

The cinematography, costumes and set designs are legendary, and come from the same team that gave us The Count of Monte Christo, which featured Guy Pearce, who was in the above-mentioned Memento (it still stinks, but how's that for six degrees?). And speaking of legends, the screenplay was written by none other than Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, and it shows.

It is a sublime movie experience to watch the delicately chambered story open up, and there are scenes that are so memorable, like Streep on the misty pier, that you would swear this movie comes from the Golden Age of cinema, not the go-go eighties. The movies is emotionally draining, and Streep gives a typically high concept performance. Irons lacks something, but it's not clear what, but in the end it helps support the story by making him appear flawed enough to have been trapped in the intricate web of The French Lieutenant's Woman.