Customer Reviews

Lady Chatterley's Lover

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A mainstay on HBO around 1982-83, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" is a soft-core romance, but not a sleazy one. It wasn't successful in theaters, maybe because nobody knew what audience it was targeted to (surely not literature addicts or art-house filmgoers; maybe Sylvia Kristel/"Emmanuelle" fans). Consequently, it was popular on cable and video, where viewing privacy can elicit whatever reactions necessary (mostly giggles). It isn't very well-made, but the acting is decent and the passion is convincing. The editing is sloppy, with some sequences, and the ending, cut short, but it does have a few steamy scenes, frisky nudity, and good location filming.

One of the most important elements of this film is the sense of real life sensibilities it captures. The qualities of longing and frustration are beautifully captured by Sylvia Crystal as Lady Chatterley, the wife of a dashing but complex husband played by Shane Briant with combinations of bravado and self centeredness beneath a handsome figure who is logged into his class background and behavior patterns allowing little room for natural love and responsiveness. While Lady Chatterley holds firmly at first to her devotion to her husband she cannot withstand the raw sensuality of Nicholas Clay as the gardner on the estate. Nicholas Clay likes to show his butt and I am reminded of another film, "Evil Under The Sun" where he tittilates the viewer with his rather voluptuous posterior while walking on the beach. This aside, he more than captures the "real world" personality of his class and attitudes juxtaposed with Lord Chatterley's strict upperclass ones. I felt the "eye brows" of Lord Chatterley were a bit "over stated" in make up and this had the effect giving him a drama queen demeanor and somehow a little "campy." But all in all I thoroughly enjoyed the film for its showing nudity where nudity seemed perfectly called for without teasing and overly gauzy effects which is sometimes such a bore . Maybe the film is not what one would call a "religious experience" but why should all films be that anyway. It is beautifully filmed and the production values are first rate and it makes a sometimes complicated story line believable without too much contempt for the viewer, especially with D. H. Lawrence's reputation. Above all I felt it captured the anguish and fear which contibute to decisions that drastically alter the people that make them.
And I like looking a Nicholas Clay's butt.

This 1981 (not '82 as suggested) film adaptation of the D. H. Lawrence classic is an enjoyable B-ride if only for its panoramic scenery of foggy London and the sexually-charged engaging performances of its stars. Indeed, Sylvia Kristel (Emmanuelle) and the late Nicholas Clay (Excalibur) bring nothing but skin to their characters of an unlikely duo engaging in a torrid affair. Over an ultra-syrupy score (by Richard Harvey and Stanley Myers), and a fine use of camera work by Robert Fraisse, the two go at it with all their splendor, leaving nothing to the imagination except to wonder if the movie would have been better had a talented cast been involved. Since it isn't but remains enjoyable despite its flaws, this LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER is superficial enough to be camp classic material, which is, as we all know, an important factor for lovers of such films.-----Martin Boucher

Slyvia Kristel, wife of the disabled Lord who after a war injury is not able to have sex is devoted but restless. Lord suggests she take a lover.
Very needing love, she sees a farm hand washing himself fully naked and
has an organism being so struck. Later on they formally meet and start having regular encounters. Lord, seeing his wife less interested engages a medical therapist who becomes his dear friend and adoring companion.
Catching her after their first night together, he sends Kristel abroad
and fires her lover. Greatly lonely and in despair, she returns only to learn of the dismissal. Pregnant, she defies the lord, gives up her
position and finds her lover far off working at a dirty factory. They unite. Lord embraces his companion and closes the door on Krystal.

The nudity and love making enhance the movie and make it much more
realistic. The scenery is breath-taking and the sound track appropriate.
I am going to see the new Hands version and try to compare the two. Krystel's beauty is heavenly and spunk admirable. Excellent acting.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED..

I am a D.H. Lawrence fan, but I purposely didn't re-read the book just before seeing this, because I wanted to judge the film on its own merits. I was a bit unsure about the role being handed to Sylvia Kristel, but she showed she's more than just Emmanuelle eye candy; she can actually act, and the movie comes across very well as literature-with-small-L as well as erotica. Highly recommended.

Lady Chatterley's Lover ranks up there as one of the most erotic films about true romantic love ever made. Nicholas Clay as Mellors and the stunning Sylvia Kristel as Connie are perfectly matched in this highly charged love story of a woman, whose bourgeois, aristocratic, whiny, insufferable and sadistic husband becomes paralyzed after serving in WWI (even after that it's still impossible to find sympathy for this stuffy clod who is stupid enough to tell his wife to "go find a lover" and subsequently pushes her away emotionally and who is verbally abusive to her as well). Connie winds up finding lust and love with the estate's gamekeeper, played brilliantly by the late Nicholas Clay (tragically, he died of cancer in 2000 at the young age of 53). Clay was arguably one of the most exquisite men to ever grace the silver screen and reveals all to us in this movie (and I am so grateful he does because everything he has is shockingly gorgeous - I rented this movie and after seeing the first scene with him in it I think I cleared the couch in one leap to get to my PC to buy this movie from Amazon). Well-acted with an intense intimacy that most of us will never experience because we are too frightened of it, we are able to feel it all here and drink it in with reckless abandon and without being afraid. Wonderful, lush 1920s period costuming and bucolic English countryside with a Vaughn Williams-esque music score draw you into the story of these lovers, and left me wanting more. From their first spontaneous, lustful encounter (I think my legs actually went numb when I first watched it) to their eventual "courtship," I was engrossed. This story gives me hope that real love between two people, no matter their background or socioeconomic status, does truly exist.

Connie changes because of her interaction with Mellors, and so finds true intimacy with an at first unlikely partner, and the superficial things that once seemed important to her melt away and no longer matter. She discovers who she is through her relationship with him, whereas Mellors already knows who he is. She can truly be herself around Mellors, so it is not surprising that he is a much better match for her than her rich, prissy husband. Mellors is the representation of what I consider to be an example of true masculinity: Clay's remarkable portrayal shows the unbearable pain of falling in love with someone who can only partially commit; he is physically strong and powerful, but shows remorse and disgust after being forced by Connie's husband to beat up poachers he caught on the grounds. He goes from cradling a baby chick in his hands to comforting her to decorating her hair with flowers, to making wild passionate love to her inside the secluded work shed, or in the woods against a tree out of sight from the main house. The searing contrast of Clay and Kristel's fully clothed and writhing bodies on the dirty floor of the work shed as they are overcome with lust and passion for each other will be forever burned in my mind. The only distraction in the film is the dubbing - every piece of dialouge was dubbed, so just be ready for it. It is a certainty that Clay was underrated as an actor, and it would have been nice to see him in more leading roles over the years, but I am grateful that he will be forever immortalized in the great film work he did accomplish, such as in this film, Evil Under The Sun, Lovespell, and Excalibur. I highly recommend them all.

First read the original book in the 70s and now saw the movie in the 80s. Bought the DVD and the book again and it still has a hold of me. It ...to me is one of the most rewarding movies to watch and to read the book is a pleasure and as age it has matured like good wine. DH Lawrence I salute you

I saw this many years ago when I was about 14 on a cable movie network. Thank you god. (I have watched a certain scene with Oliver at least fourteen times since I received my DVD a few weeks ago just to make up for lost time!) I like the Gothic qualities of this film. The relationship portrayed between Oliver and Connie in its beautiful intensity of sexual discovery and the relationship between Clifford and the Nurse in its mutual dependency are engaging to watch.

Excelente adaptación de la novela de Lawrence.
Visualmente impresionante, destaca la fotografía de los hermosos cuerpos de ambos protagonistas.

This version of Lady Chatterly's Lover is one of the better versions of D.H. Lawrence's novel. It was a little long (over 2 hours) for my short attention span, but it is engaging and the protagonists are likeable. While it is a good adaptation, the relationships between the characters are different from the relationships in the novel. It's worth watching if you enjoy a good love story that's a bit dramatic.