Plot: Based on the classic D.H. Lawrence novel, a story well ahead of its time, we follow the life of Lady Chatterley, a woman born to a life of wealth and privilege, who soon finds herself married to a man that she eventually falls out of love with. Lady Chatterley engages in a torrid affair with a gamekeeper on their English estate, discovering more desire and intimacy than she thought possible. When she realizes that she has fallen heart and soul, she breaks all traditions of the day and seeks happiness with the man she loves.
Review: Whether you have read it or not, the reputation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover casts a huge shadow over the annals of literature. Written by D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover has been a commonly banned book due to its explicit sexual content, including some of the first uses of profane language in popular fiction. Adapted frequently over the years, few versions have adequately captured the erotic core of this tale of class structure and love in early twentieth-century British society. The latest version of the story from director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre is a sexually-charged and deeply authentic look at the forbidden relationship between a married woman and her working-class lover. An absolutely beautiful take on the source material, this is easily the best take on Lady Chatterley’s Lover since the novel was published and one that manages to capture that this is more than a story about sex.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover opens with the wedding of Connie Reid (The Crown’ Emma Corrin) to Baronet Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett). Connie, who has moved from a middle-class life including multiple somewhat illicit romances to the lofty title of “Lady Chatterley” is ill-prepared for her new husband to head off to fight in World War I. She is even less prepared for his return after suffering an injury that leaves him incapacitated and unable to have sex. Relocating to the country estate of the Chatterley family, Connie is left alone and isolated from her friends and her sister Hilda (Faye Marsay) while she nurses Clifford. When Hilda insists on hiring a nurse for Clifford, Mrs. Bolton (Joely Richardson) arrives and frees Connie’s time to roam the grounds where she meets groundskeeper and war veteran Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell). After Connie initiates a sexual relationship with Oliver, their romance begins to cause rumors to swirl that could destroy the Chatterley reputation as well as the lives of the lovers.
While the core story is not that different than countless other tales (a wealthy woman takes a manly servant as a lover), Lady Chatterley’s Lover never succumbs to the tropes or cliches of mass-market romance novels. Prior adaptations have long centered on the sexual relationship between Connie and Oliver, but they are also missing the multiple layers of this story that have earned Lawrence’s novel the recognition it deserves. Between the sex scenes, there are plot threads involving the evolution of Western society into industrial and factory-based work, something that further divided the workers from the elite. Both Clifford Chatterley and Oliver Mellors are veterans of World War I and saw equal horrors but their stations in the social hierarchy remain a barrier nonetheless. It is a powerful story that looks at far more than the main romance which lends this adaptation a richer context to savor the scope of the story.
That being said, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is still very sexy. Unlike the forced eroticism of films like Fifty Shades of Grey, this adaptation works because the chemistry between Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell results in a palpable heat. Without even saying a word, the physical intimacy on screen is maturely handled and very adult rather than going for any sort of shock value. It is equally as sexy in smaller moments between Connie and Oliver where they steal a fleeting kiss or their eyes linger on one another a little too long. This also amps up the tension we feel as we know these characters are doing something forbidden and wrong in the eyes of the world but we root for them anyway. Even when rumors begin about their relationship and the keen eye of Mrs. Bolton begins to put two and two together, we are invested in this romance working even though all the signs point to a doomed ending.
Much of the kudos for making this adaptation such a success goes to screenwriter David Magee. Known for his work on Finding Neverland and Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi, Magee retains much of the lyrical nature of D.H. Lawrence’s writing and stately prose. This is complemented by Clermont-Tonnerre’s direction and the cinematography of Benoit Delhomme. The film never uses static shots or carefully orchestrated angles but instead relies heavily on handheld cameras which accentuate the feeling of being a voyeur in this forbidden relationship. The natural lighting also lends the film a stripped-down style that turns many moments that would otherwise be considered workmanlike into beautifully framed sequences. The same goes for the score by Isabelle Summers which is just present enough to add to the atmosphere without overwhelming it.
Thanks to wonderful performances from Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell, this adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover eschews the label of being just about sex or the taboos that it has long been associated with and instead brings to screen the richness of D.H. Lawrence’s novel. It is a standout performance from Corrin who continues to demonstrate that she deserves all of the acclaim bestowed on her to this point. Lady Chatterley’s Lover succeeds in being sexy in spite of itself, reveling in the realism of the relationship between the main characters, both intimately and emotionally. This is a powerfully adult story in the best sense of the word and one that finally does justice to a tale whose meaning is far too often misunderstood.