Lady Chatterley (2006)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

"Lady Chatterley" is a tale of repression, lust and sexual liberation set in post-World War I France. Despite its title, the movie isn't an adaptation of "Lady Chatterley's Lover," the taboo-shattering D.H. Lawrence novel that scandalized the world when it was published in 1928. The film is actually based on a Lawrence work entitled "John Thomas and Lady Jane" that came out the previous year. But the theme and storyline are just about as erotic and provocative as what we find in its more famous successor.This version features Marina Hands as the beautiful young wife of an aristocratic mine owner who's been rendered wheelchair-bound and impotent by injuries he sustained on the battlefield. Deprived of sex, Constance begins to fantasize about the husky gamekeeper who lives in the woods on the estate, and it's not long before the two of them have consummated their relationship. Jean Louis Coulloc'h is a particularly interesting casting choice as Parkin, for his scrappy features, thinning hair, linebacker's build and non-matinée-idol looks remove the story from the realm of dime-novel romance and into the arena of sheer physical attraction and lust. At least for awhile, that is, until the almost inevitable rush of feelings begins to overtake the couple, and the harsh realities of sexual mores, marital bonds and class distinctions that so define the era in which they live begin to make themselves felt.Co-written by Roger Bohbot and director Pascale Ferran, the movie is long (two-hours-and-forty-one minutes, to be exact!), episodic and deliberately paced, but the lush setting, understated human drama and moving performances keep us riveted for the duration.

I agree with everyone who thought this was a masterful film. Marina Hands is the most beautiful woman I've seen in some time. Her portrayal of Constance was remarkable. Her loving kindness was more authentic than any performance I can remember. Jean-Louis Coullo'ch and Hippolyte Girardot are perfectly cast as lover and husband. The only false note in the film was the home movies of her trip abroad. They were filmed in color (as was the rest of the film) and I don't believe that color film was available just after World War I. On the other hand, the fact that everyone is English and they are all speaking French was not a distraction. The photography of Julien Hirsch and Pascale Ferran's direction are superb. My favorite line is when Constance says to Parkin, "Just keep your heart gentle". At 2 hours and 40 minutes, with little action other then a "whole lotta love", watching this film requires a gentle heart.

Six times this film has been made. This is the first with a woman as director (Pascale Ferran). It won five Césars (French Oscars), but surprisingly none for Ferran. The Best Director award went to Guillaume Canet for Tell No One, which also featured Marina Hands. She returns the following year in the Oscar nominated The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.She starred in this film as Lady Chatterley, a woman whose husband (Hippolyte Girardot) was confined to a wheelchair.The film was originally short of three hours, but this is the Director's Cut, and it runs 3 hours and 21 minutes.It features outstanding cinematography of the French countryside, and beautiful music. In fact, as Lady Chatterley likes to take long walks in the woods, we get to see a lot of scenery.She decides she wants to stop and rest in the gamekeeper's (Jean-Louis Coullo'ch) hut. He is not too thrilled with this, as he is a loner.A loner and a lonely woman. Will events transcend social status? Soon, the hut becomes more than a resting place, as she starts to plant flowers. She is visiting almost every day. It is the gamekeeper that makes a bold move that results in sex. One would not think that a Lady would be interested in sex on a hard wooden floor with nothing but a blanket, but she does. It is hard to believe she was happy as the foreplay was nonexistent and he finished in less than a minute, but she said she'll be back.The second meeting was the mirror of the first, and it was on the third time in the woods that she finally got satisfaction.The running naked in the rain and doing it in the mud was special. Afterwards, back in the hut, he decorated her with flowers. She looked like a wood nymph. She crosses the line here declaring her love for him.She takes a vacation with her father and sister and her whole world changes. But, the love they had for each other doesn't change and the expression at the end was magnificent.

Lady Chatterley wasn't what I've been expecting: I went to this film with very modest hopes, and I found myself enjoying it immensely. The film, albeit slow at the beginning, keeps growing on you, thanks to the performances of Jean-Louis Coullo'ch and Marina Hands. Let me tell something about Jean-Louis: he blew me away. A rustic, magnetic Marlon Brando look-a-like, he gives such a nuanced, complex performance that he almost steals every scene he's in and his character comes across as a true force of nature. Forget big stars chewing scenery, this guy is an Actor with a capital "A" and brings one of these true-to-life performances that you don't really see on screens for a while regarding movies. Once in a while, a true Daredevil comes along and ignites the screens with fire, in a performance for ages, and Jean-Louis is one of these guys like Albert Dupontel: you've never seen the guy before, but after the picture is over, you have true respect for the actor and will also never forget the name of the guy. Nowadays, films tend to be a product, a project made to earn producers big money, and Lady Chatterley is the opposite of the Hollywood crap. The film's major setback is running time. There are moments that the film comes to a sudden halt, just to pick up later, but that's fine. Marina Hands was a revelation, and as the film progresses you really testify the depth and moving changes her character goes through, as a lovely woman who really gets to develop a beautiful affection for the troubled and wounded keeper, opening him to a new, big and bright world. There are two outstanding moments that left me speechless SPOILERS AHEAD the crane shot of the leafs and trees, at first wet and gray, slowly turning into a bright and full of life sky, as a great, thrilling piece of music starts to play, then a panoramic shot of the fields and a flying bird, and all of a sudden it's one of these larger-than-life magic movie moments that will live forever. The other moment was the ending, Jean-Louis's lines about discovering a new world with her and how he will do everything to be with her forever, and then the camera shows Marina's face, crying with emotion and happiness, men, that part really stayed with me and choke me up. Lady Chatterley is a must-see!