Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981)

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

Director:

Just Jaeckin

Writers:

Marc Behm, Just Jaeckin

Stars:

Sylvia Kristel, Shane Briant, Nicholas Clay

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sylvia Kristel	...	Lady Constance Chatterley
Shane Briant	...	Sir Clifford Chatterley
Nicholas Clay	...	Oliver Mellors
Ann Mitchell	...	Ivy Bolton
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Lady Eva
Pascale Rivault	...	Hilda
Peter Bennett	...	Field
Anthony Head	...	Anton
Frank Moorey	...	The Priest
Bessie Love	...	Flora
John Tynan	...	Roberts
Michael Huston	...	Footman
Fran Hunter	...	Maid
Michael Ryan	...	Gigolo (as Ryan Michael)
Mark Colleano	...	Gigolo

Storyline

A film adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel. After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

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Plot Keywords:

dysfunctional marriage | adulterous wife | male frontal nudity | nudity | voyeur | 

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Taglines:

She was beautiful and sensual, trapped in a loveless marriage. He was her husband's servant. Born into worlds as far apart, they found a passionate world of their own.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ken Russell was considered for director but was committed to other projects. Russell had previously directed the filmed adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love (1969) and would later direct another Lawrence adaptation, The Rainbow (1989). Ironically, about twelve years after this film was made, Russell ended up directing another version of "Lady Chatterley's Lover", entitled Lady Chatterley (1993), which was also released theatrically in some territories such as Australia.

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Goofs

The film is supposed to be set during the early 1920's but when Lady Chatterley is sent away by her husband, a brief scene is shown of a steam locomotive travelling towards the camera. The Standard Class 4-6-0 is number 75043 - this number was not allocated until nationalisation of the four big railway companies and the formation of British Railways in 1947.

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Quotes

Sir Clifford Chatterley: If ever there's another man, who you absolutely want, to make love to you, take him.

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Connections

Version of Young Lady Chatterley (1977)

User Reviews

Good-looking but dull

Lady Chatterley's Lover is understandably controversial but it is also a compelling read, though not a personal favourite. This film is not exactly terrible as there are some good things to see on display but the maligning it has gotten is as understandable as the book being controversial. The photography mostly has a nostalgic quality to it while the costumes and sets are exquisite in colour and detail. The score is seductive and hauntingly beautiful, Sylvia Kristel is a real beauty, the second half is an improvement over the first half with some appropriately steamy moments and Nicholas Clay as well as being astonishingly handsome and sexy is quite good as Oliver. Unfortunately Kristel's acting talents do not translate here, throughout she is very wooden and bland, while on the other side of the scale Shane Briant's hammy over-acting grates after a while. The supporting cast, and there are some talented actors here, are unable to do much with characters that are written to caricatures(blander than that in some cases). Some of the sexy moments are sensual but too many and most of them verge on lowbrow and too much like a porn film, the book is an explicit one but it's not that trashed up. The script is very underwritten and banal, it is difficult to take seriously anything that the actors say, while the storytelling is really dull with non-existent passion in the first half, the main reason being that while the basic story of the book is intact, the prose, characterisations and passion(mostly) are barely scarce. Some of the editing looks hastily-put together too. All in all, Lady Chatterley's Lover looks good but it is dull and underwritten, and takes the sexual nature of the book to extremes, well at least to me it did. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Details

Country:

UK Israel

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 May 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Filming Locations:

Wrotham Park, Barnet, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cine Artist Film GmbH, Cine-Source, London-Cannon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1