Lady Chatterley (film)

Lady Chatterley
Film poster
Directed by	Pascale Ferran
Produced by	Gilles Sandoz
Written by	Roger Bohbot Pascale Ferran
Starring	Marina Hands Jean-Louis Coullo'ch Hippolyte Girardot Hélène Alexandridis
Music by	Béatrice Thiriet
Cinematography	Julien Hirsch
Distributed by	Ad Vitam Distribution (France)
Release dates	1 November 2006 (2006-11-01) (France)
Running time	168 minutes 220 minutes (extended European edition)
Country	Belgium France
Language	French

Lady Chatterley is a 2006 French drama film by Pascale Ferran. The film is an adaptation of the novel John Thomas and Lady Jane, an earlier version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D. H. Lawrence. It was released in France on 1 November 2006, followed by limited release in the U.S. on 22 June 2007 and in the UK on 24 August 2007.

The film won the 2007 César Award for Best Film and stars Jean-Louis Coulloc'h and Marina Hands.

Plot

In a brief autumnal cold opening scene, Lady Constance Chatterley (Marina Hands) farewells a burly visitor of professional appearance who drives himself away from the manor house in a 1932 Peugeot. We then see the conclusion of a formal Christmas dinner, ironically accompanied by the ghostly music of the Danse macabre. The host, baronet Sir Clifford Chatterley, relates how he was wounded in World War I and returned paralyzed from the waist down. Though he is both sexually impotent and emotionally distant, Lady Constance tries to be a good wife to him, though their marriage is dreary and unhappy. One day Constance is tasked with going to the gamekeeper, Parkin, to request a brace of pheasants for the kitchen. She is aroused by the sight of Parkin bathing himself. Afterwards Constance falls into a depression where she can barely move or leave the house. One day, while walking in the grounds of her home and picking daffodils, Constance goes to Parkin's work cabin and rests there awhile. She asks Parkin for a key and though he initially appears reluctant to give her one, he eventually does. Constance begins going there every day to work side by side with Parkin.

One day Constance begins crying while holding on to a baby chick that has just been born. Parkin comforts her and the two kiss, eventually having sex. Though Parkin is initially uncomfortable afterwards, believing that Constance will feel she has lowered herself, Constance is happy and willingly continues the affair.

Clifford confronts Constance about rumours that exist that she is pregnant. Constance denies them but the two talk about the possibility of Constance having a child that the two will raise together with Constance insinuating that she will conceive the child during her upcoming vacation with her father and sister.

Parkin and Constance grow closer. Before she leaves Constance suggests that she might buy a farm for him so that he would no longer have to work for her husband. While with her sister and father she receives a letter from Clifford's nurse, Mrs. Bolton, that informs her that Parkin's wife has returned after being thrown out by the man she was living with although Parkin wants nothing to do with her and quickly begins divorce proceedings. Upon her return from her vacation Constance learns that Clifford has managed to move around with the use of crutches and Parkin has had to leave because of the situation with his wife.

Constance and Parkin meet and she informs him she is pregnant. Parkin is devastated because Clifford will raise the child and he can no longer live alone on the grounds but with his mother in the mining village near the estate. Though he wants to move to Canada and be independent he decides to accept Constance's money. He tells her he will wait for her and willingly accept her if she decides to leave Clifford.

Cast

• Marina Hands as Lady Chatterley
• Jean-Louis Coulloc'h as Parkin
• Hippolyte Girardot as Sir Clifford Chatterley
• Hélène Alexandridis as Madame Bolton
• Hélène Fillières as Hilda
• Bernard Verley as Sir Malcolm
• Sava Lolov as Tommy Dukes
• Jean-Baptiste Montagut as Harry Winterslow
• Fanny Deleuze as Tante Eva
• Michel Vincent as Marshall
• Colette Philippe as Madame Marshall
• Christelle Hes as Kate
• Jade Bouchard as La jeune bonne
• Joël Vandael as Field
• Jacques de Bock as Le médecin
• Jean-Claude Leclère as Winter
• Ninon Brétécher as Emma Flint
• Léopold Cannon and Jade Greil as Bébé Flint
• Anne Benoît as La mercière
• Nathalie Eno as La cliente de la mercière
• William Atkinson as Un mineur
• Jean-Baptiste de Laubier as Duncan Forbes
• Jean-Michel Vovk as Albert Adam
• Marina-Aymée Philippe as Bertha Parkin

Awards

• Louis Delluc Prize
• César Award
  • Best Film
  • Best Actress – Marina Hands
  • Best Cinematography – Julien Hirsch
  • Best Costume Design – Marie-Claude Altot
  • Best Writing - Adaptation – Roger Bohbot, Pascale Ferran and Pierre Trividic

External links

• Lady Chatterley at IMDb
• Lady Chatterley at AllMovie
• Lady Chatterley at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lady Chatterley at Metacritic