Roland E. Zwick "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.

minnich This version of the often-shot story of Lady Chatterley is in French with English subtitles, and I found the "look" of many of the actors to be decidedly French (big surprise) rather than English. The plot development was decidedly leisurely in the first half of the film, but this was not a game-breaker as far as my enjoyment of the movie. However, compared to all the other versions on this story that I've seen, I found this French effort to bring an element of earthy realism (best way I can describe it) to the story that the others lacked. The scene where the gamekeeper and Lady Chatterley "decorate" each other with flowers and subsequently disport themselves outside in the field and woods is a particularly interesting and memorable sequence. One minor quibble: the film seemed to both begin and end rather abruptly...you'll know what I mean when you watch it.

evening1 Bored, inhibited Lady Chatterley is a woman of privilege who has a kinky fascination with lower-class men.When she indulges her curiosity and engages in wordless, clothed sex with her gamekeeper we are invited to share in the fantasy that an affair with one's servant can bring happiness.This fairy tale of a film kept me interested enough to watch it to the end. I'd never read the book, or I might have been more impressed with the story here. However, I never really cared about the protagonist's happiness. Her blase, totally conflict-free comings and goings seemed like narcissistic self-indulgence after awhile.And her chats with oafish Parkin toward the end of the film struck me as yuppyish anachronism. What's more, the film's ending was jarringly abrupt in the version I caught on Sundance Channel. I can't believe that with all the cinematographic efforts evident here, Parkin's eyes-in-the-headlights stare was what the director intended. Sheesh!

K R Lush, leisurely paced movie that shows that sex is not obscene or vulgar. It's as natural as the beautiful fields and streams where the two main characters spend most of their time together. Watching them in this setting, their eventual sexual encounters feel natural and normal unlike so many movies were sex is treated as something dirty and shameful. Unfortunately, the ending just does not work. After drawing the viewer in with several long, lush, sensual scenes, the movie screeches to a halt after a short 5 minute conversation. It doesn't work and there's a few other scenes as well (the one where Lady Chatterley's waiting in her chauffeured car for her husband at the mine) that go nowhere. With a different ending and little editing, this could have been a masterpiece.