Coming Through (1988)

Celebrated actor and actress Sir Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet) and Dame Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect) star in this movie by award-winning playwright Alan Plater about one of the great love ... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Barber-Fleming

Writer:

Alan Plater

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh, Helen Mirren, Alison Steadman

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Kenneth Branagh	...	D.H. Lawrence
Helen Mirren	...	Frieda von Richtofen Weekley
Alison Steadman	...	Kate
Philip Martin Brown	...	David
Felicity Montagu	...	Jessie Chambers
Fiona Victory	...	Alice Dax
Norman Rodway	...	William Hopkin
Alison King	...	Sallie Hopkin
Lynn Farleigh	...	Lydia Lawrence
Malcolm Storry	...	Arthur Lawrence
Robin Paul Bassford	...	Young Lawrence
Benjamin Whitrow	...	Ernest Weekley
Sebastian Rose	...	Weekley Child
Liz May Brice	...	Elsa Weekley (as Elizabeth Brice)
Camilla Aspey	...	Weekley Child

Storyline

Celebrated actor and actress Sir Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet) and Dame Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect) star in this movie by award-winning playwright Alan Plater about one of the great love affairs and greatest scandals of the twentieth century, D.H. Lawrence's passionate relationship with Frieda Weekley.

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Plot Keywords:

affair | extramarital affair | older woman younger man relationship | writer | seduction | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 February 1988 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

El triomf de l'amor

Company Credits

Production Co:

Central Independent Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Acting debut of Liz May Brice (Elsa Weekley).

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Quotes

Frieda von Richtofen Weekley: Lawrence, would you like to stay with me tonight?
D.H. Lawrence: Here?
Frieda von Richtofen Weekley: Yes.
D.H. Lawrence: I'd like that very much.
Frieda von Richtofen Weekley: Good.
D.H. Lawrence: But I won't.
Frieda von Richtofen Weekley: O why not?
D.H. Lawrence: Because I know the difference between appetite and desire.
Frieda von Richtofen Weekley: You must explain.
D.H. Lawrence: It's the difference between wanting to go to bed with a woman, and wanting to spend the rest of your life with her.
[...]

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Connections

References Effi Briest (1974)

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Soundtracks

Allegretto in C Minor, D9
(uncredited)
Written by Franz Schubert

User Reviews

Fine performances... for Lawrence, Branagh fans

Hi, I agree with the first reviewer. I have actually watched this film several times; I own it. I do not regret buying it at all. Get the film if you like fine performances and if your are a fan of Kenneth Branagh's. His wonderful recitation of the poem "Violets" will not leave you disappointed and is worth the price. This is Lawrence's well known "dialect" poem and Branagh does it flawlessly...the words and the subtle expressions facially are terrific. How he does it is beyond me, and showed a real spark of brilliance in his early acting career. Helen Mirren is great, as usual. The film is worthwhile to see if you are an avid reader of D.H. Lawrence, and familiar with his real life story and his poetry. However, I would certainly agree that the secondary story (modern day) greatly paled with the actual Lawrence story, a pity really considering that this could have been a wonderful opportunity to reveal more about the great author and his life. I sometimes watch this film and fast-forward to scenes set in the past. There is some wonderful stuff there. Sometimes the repetition of the soundtrack, which is quite poignant and sad in tone, annoys me, but the acting is excellent...worth ignoring the soundtrack, which is not really bad. It is true that the film ends just when it could have become interesting...but it is just one segment in Lawrence's life and even had that time been explored more extensively it could have been a much better film. I still would recommend it to some.