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Lady Chatterley's Lover
Lady Chatterley's Lover
	French theatrical release poster
Directed by	Just Jaeckin
Screenplay by	Christopher Wicking; Just Jaeckin;
Adaptation by	Marc Behm
Based on	Lady Chatterley's Lover; by D. H. Lawrence
Produced by	Christopher Pearce; André Djaoui;
Starring	Sylvia Kristel; Nicholas Clay; Shane Briant; Ann Mitchell;
Cinematography	Robert Fraisse
Edited by	Eunice Mountjoy
Music by	Stanley Myers; Richard Harvey;
Distributed by	Cannon Films (U.S.); Columbia Pictures (non-U.S.);
Release dates	29 June 1981 (France); December 1981 (United Kingdom); 21 January 1982 (West Germany);
Running time	104 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom; France; West Germany;
Language	English
Budget	$1.5–2 million (est.) or $3 million
Box office	1,134,750 admissions (France)

Lady Chatterley's Lover is a 1981 erotic romantic drama film directed by Just Jaeckin, based on D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel of the same name. The film stars Sylvia Kristel and Nicholas Clay.

Plot

After a Great War injury leaves her Baronet husband Sir Clifford Chatterley impotent and crippled, his new wife, Constance Chatterley (called Connie) is torn between love for her husband and her own sensual desires. With her husband's consent, even encouragement, even to the point of bearing him an heir, she is open to means of fulfilling her physical needs. She clandestinely observes their gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, washing himself at his hut, and is immediately attracted, and uses that image to masturbate in bed that very evening. As she later approaches him at his hut openly, he shows disdain for her prying, due to class differences, he being a common laborer, and she a middling aristocrat.

During a later visit to his hut, ostensibly to view newly hatched birds, she sobs at their condition, and Mellors gently takes her in his arms, whereupon they begin a physical relationship. The physical affair between Connie and Mellors grows into love, and they both desire that she should have his child. Gradually, Sir Clifford begins to suspect the affair. After several more clandestine rendezvous, the lovers agree that Connie should spend an entire night at his cottage. It is on this night that Clifford painfully pulls himself to her upstairs bedroom, only to find an empty bed. When Connie returns to the mansion at daybreak, Sir Clifford awaits her. He is shocked and angry that his wife should descend to bedding a member of the lower classes. He sends his wife off to Venice, and fires Mellors. Connie, discovering that she is pregnant, attempts a return to Sir Clifford, only to be rebuffed, as no child of a commoner shall be an heir of his. She remains in the mansion, while Mellors awaits the finalization of a divorce from his first wife, who never appears in the film.

Cast

Sylvia Kristel as Lady Constance Chatterley
Nicholas Clay as Oliver Mellors
Shane Briant as Sir Clifford Chatterley
Ann Mitchell as Ivy Bolton
Elizabeth Spriggs as Lady Eva
Pascale Rivault as Hilda
Peter Bennett as the butler
Anthony Head as Anton
Frank Moorey as the priest
Bessie Love as Flora
John Tynan as Roberts
Michael Huston as footman
Fran Hunter as maid
Ryan Michael as gigolo
Mark Colleano as gigolo

Production

At one stage, Ken Russell had considered filming the book, but lost the rights. When he heard who was making it he said, "unless the director has turned over a new leaf, Lady Chatterly's Lover is going to be a glossy facile romp in the woods, romp after romp after romp."^[4]

Star Kristel said she was ". . . sad that some people may feel the film was 'soft porn'. Just Jaeckin and I have been persecuted by this soft porn criticism. I don't want to go through the same nightmare as I did after Emmanuelle."^[4]

"We are not making an X-rated picture", said executive producer Yoram Globus. "This will be a cult film. Nudity depends on how you shoot it."^[4]

Reception

The film was not as popular as the filmmakers expected and Cannon Films ended up recording a loss.^[1] However, the film later became more popular in the home video market, as well as constant late night showings on premium cable channels such as Cinemax and Showtime in the mid to late 1980s.

References

^ ^a ^b Yule, Andrew (1987). Hollywood a Go-Go: an account of the Cannon phenomenon. Sphere Books. pp. 19, 24. ISBN 978-0-7221-9389-1.
^ Moses, Antoinette (Fall 1982). "British Production 1981". Sight & Sound. Vol. 51, no. 4. London. p. 258.
^ Soyer, Renaud (30 May 2010). "Box office Sylvia KRISTEL". Box Office Story (in French). Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mills, Nancy (26 April 1981). "D.H. Lawrence Comes Back in Vogue". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. p. n3.