Lady Chatterley (2006) R - 3½ Stars

This movie is not for everyone. I didn't realize when I first watched the movie that it is actually based on a true story. It took a game of Trivial Pursuit where the answer was "Lady Chatterley" regarding a question about infidelity in the 1920's for me to realize it. Though the movie is slow in movement and though almost three hours long, the visual surroundings bloom along side of the seduction of the lonely woman who yearns to feel the closeness of love again. Set in England, 1921, where discussions on sexual betrayal were rarely common knowledge. The acting is pretty stiff and the sexual scenes are not all that romantically sexy to me. But that is also what makes the film seem more real to me. It's not your glamours stars portraying an visually exotic sexual love affair. It's two ordinary common looking people, coming together to fill each others emptiness, eventually turning to love. I did like their running naked in the forest rain, ending in the mud.

Sir Clifford Chatterley (Hippolyte Girardot), is a wealthy British nobleman who has returned home from war paralyzed. He is many years older than his lovely bride Constance (Marina Hands) and she finds herself now playing the role of care giver. The two live lavishly in a large country estate in the forests of England. Constance finds herself overwhelmed at times and takes many journeys, by foot ,exploring the beautiful surroundings they live on. Their only neighbors are the servants and the gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coulloc'h).

Parkin has a shed on the property for fixing things and raising pheasant for the couples dinner meals. Constance appears are the doorsteps of the shed, inquisitive about the role Parkin has on the property. Parkin, being a loner, prefers his solitude and when Constance asks for a set of keys to be able to come to the shed at any time, he reluctantly produces a set of keys for her. As he doesn't fell comfortable with her presence and their social differences, he does eventually accept her persistence at sharing in his solitary world. The two will find this outlet, a way of escape for both of them.

As they become more conversational, they find themselves inside the shed, as she exists on their sharing a sexually encounter. Though this proper lady has no idea how she should be responding to the sensation, she soon learns she can not be without his heavy grasp of touch. A trip away with her sister only strengthens her attachment to Parkin. The problem is, the more the two discover about themselves and their sexual love need for each other, the small town is also learning of their secret.

2007 - Lady Chatterley - French Academy of Cinema - Best Picture
2007 - Lady Chatterley - French Academy of Cinema - Best Cinematography
2007 - Lady Chatterley - French Academy of Cinema - Best Actress
2007 - Lady Chatterley - Tribeca Film Festival - Best Actress in a Narrative Feature

Kino Film
Director: Pascale Ferran
Writers: Pierre Trividic, Pascale Ferran, Roger Bohbot
Producer: Gilles Sandoz

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