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Visitors Review

2012-05-19 06:56:51

Lady Chatterley's Lover

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) Amazon.com provided me with a beautiful DVD rendition of a novel now almost a hundred years old. The 2006 film was directed by a French woman who changed the English midlands into a stirring panorama of lawns, trees and flowers accompanied by soft, quieting music. Having seen two other renditions, this Lady Chatterley's Lover is the best.

2012-05-18 20:20:02

LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER

I PRESUME THIS IS THE FIRST PICTURE OF SYLVIA KRISTEL WHERE WE CAN SEE HER CHANCE OF ACTING, AS AN ACTRESS, NOT ONLY A WOMAN WITH BEAUTIFULL BODY. THE OTHERS ACTORS ARE ALSO VERY CONVINCING IN THEIR ROLES, AND THE LUXURIOUS AMBIANCE OF THE LATE HYPOCRITE BELLE-EPOQUE IS EASILY PERCEIVED. I THINK THAT THE REAL MOTIVE OF GREAT SCANDAL CAUSED BY THE BOOK OF LAWRENCE- FROM WHAT THE MOVIE IS BASED-IN HIS DAYS, , WAS THE FACT THAT A LADY, ARISTOCRAT, TAKE A PEASANT AS HER LOVER, AND NOT BY HAVING A LOVER, VERY COMMON IN ANY SOCIETY.

2012-05-17 07:27:42

loyalty to love

Enjoyed watching the movie after a long time. quality of the dvd is good.shipped on time.

2012-05-17 00:01:40

UN CLÁSICO DEL CINE ERÓTICO

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) Excelente adaptación de la novela de Lawrence.Visualmente impresionante, destaca la fotografía de los hermosos cuerpos de ambos protagonistas.

Dirtymoviedevotee 2012-05-15 08:29:24

Connie Loves Ollie...

Though D.H. Lawrence's scandal-fueling 1928 novel, which was notlegally available in its country of origin until 1960, has been adaptedfor the screen on many occasions since respectable stick in the mudMarc Allégret made a first attempt as long ago as 1955 with less firethan ice Danielle Darrieux, it wasn't until the equally non-BritishPascale Ferran shot a highly literate version with the magnificentMarina Hands critics consensually agreed the book had been donecinematic justice. While a considerable commercial success whentheatrically released in the early '80s, Just Jaeckin's much-malignedrendition has rarely been deemed worthy of comment since. Large part ofthe problem for high-minded reviewers remains the fact that so manyinvolved on both sides of the camera are just so…disreputable ! Ratherfitting for a film based on literary material so long slandered aspornographic and since that took three decades to rehabilitate, perhapsthe movie might expect a similar fate by now ? Produced by the Cannon Group, effectively Israeli-born schlock-meistersMenahem Golan and Yoram Globus, and directed by the guy who drew hugecrowds yet public disdain with such up-market porn as EMMANUELLE andHISTOIRE D'O, it had some major hurdles to overcome if it wanted tobecome a critic's darling. While the Go-Go Twins, a nickname coined byMichael Winner, probably couldn't care less about such fate, this wasclearly more of a concern for Just Jaeckin, craving respect in the wakeof top-grossing titillation. Alas, it was not meant to be. CastingDutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who – like Jaeckin – could not escape thecurse of EMMANUELLE, in the lead role didn't help. Though dubbed inplummy British dulcet tones, she's actually quite good playingconstricted Constance Chatterley, deeply in love with war-paralyzedhusband Clifford (a rather unctuous Shane Briant, who had made animpact in Hammer's DEMONS OF THE MIND and CAPTAIN KRONOS, VAMPIREHUNTER) but physically yearning for the satisfaction only hunky groundskeeper Oliver Mellors (the late lamented Nicholas Clay) can supply.Movie's actually a lot closer to the book, a "hot property" if everthere was, than those who have never read it assume. An intimatelydetailed account of romance as product of overwhelming sexualattraction, it didn't exactly need "juicing up" to qualify as sourcefor an overtly erotic film. Initially intended to be made by theoutrageous Ken Russell (who wound up doing a disappointingly bland TVversion with Joely Richardson and Sean Bean a decade later) with SarahMiles and Oliver Reed slated to portray the single-minded protagonists,the eventual outcome was quickly written up as a sell-out to crasscommercialism by the kind of ivory tower print journalists who are nowreceiving their just desserts courtesy of the Internet. They did notpay attention to the faithful screenplay provided by Jaeckin, regularHammer scribe Christopher Wicking and American author Marc Behm, whowrote "The Eye of the Beholder", filmed by Claude Miller (as MORTELLERANDONNEE) and Stephan Elliott under the original title. They casuallyoverlooked Shirley Russell's sumptuous costumes, dating back to when itwas still her husband's project no doubt, and the splendid sets by athen fledgling designer named Anton Furst, who had the last laughgarnering well-deserved kudos for his outstanding work on Neil Jordan'sCOMPANY OF WOLVES and Tim Burton's BATMAN. Pressed for praise, theywere willing to concede that the efforts of cinematographer RobertFraisse (Oscar-nominated for Jean-Jacques Annaud's THE LOVER) andcomposer Stanley Myers worthy of minor consideration, though both werethought of as "slumming" it.Okay, this is where I discard all pretense of professionalism andpossibly, where part of my respected readership's concerned, take leaveof my senses. Having made a convincing case for the defense, I feel, Imust admit that I profoundly love this movie for reasons that areentirely personal. Picture if you will, an anxious 14-year old boystruggling with his sexual identity – I have since come out to myselfand the world, thank you – being taken by his beloved and now sadlydeparted mother to see this film at the sort of humongous picturepalace pre-dating the multiplex culture we know today. The extremelyphysical romance unspooling before my gazing eyes filled me with joyand longing as few films have managed since. Stuck in a lovelessmarriage, for which I don't blame my late father as they proved a poormatch from the start by all accounts, my mom relished the vicariousthrill the flicks provided her with. Needless to say, we both adoredthis one, so much in fact, and I can't believe I'm making this publicbut you will soon find out I have no shame, that we would call eachother "Connie" and "Ollie" ever since until her untimely passing inFebruary 2003.I developed a major crush on Nicholas Clay. He had caused a stirring inmy loins playing Lancelot in John Boorman's magnificently overblownExcalibur but now the lid was off entirely. As a starry-eyed gay teen,I vowed to keep myself chaste until we could be together. Oh, myresolve weakened – or was weakened for me – within a couple of weeks orso and I grew into the slut beloved by many to this very day ! So, thismovie's all about coming to terms with my growing attraction to members(ha !) of the same sex. It's also about my mother, invariably the mostimportant woman in most gay men's lives. Six and a half years since herdeath and still not a day goes by that she's not in my thoughts. I loveand miss her very much and watching this film – praise the Lord for DVD– makes me feel that little bit closer to her whenever I need to, justlike this particularly odd review is my perhaps wrong-headed attempt ata tribute. Go softly into the night, my Queen, and God bless…

djensen1 2012-05-14 22:10:32

Typical Golan & Globus

Pretty typical Golan & Globus production with better than average artdirection and cinematography. The estate is beautiful--as is SylviaKristel--but the adaptation is flat and whole thing feels flabby.A bit of sex goes with the story, of course, and it's done well enough;but it's nothing like Kristel's soft core films. The acting iscompetent thruout, and the filmmakers take pains to maintain theessence of the English class struggle. But some of the jealousy andsocial indignation feels contrived.I loved Lord Chatterly's gas-powered wheelchair for zipping around thegrounds, altho why he didn't install an elevator in the mansion is amystery.

2012-05-06 18:47:35

Lady Chatterley's Lover

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) I wanted to see this movie again after many years from the first time, I enjoyed a lot, like it is the first time.

semioticz 2012-05-06 05:37:36

British Bourgeoisie Society & Double Standard for Women's Sexuality

1981 VHS & 2005 DVD are based uponby British novelist D.H. Lawrence'slast (1928). In it's time, "Lady Chatterley's Love" was (re)viewed as"sexually scandalous"; so much so, D.H. Lawrence suffered continuouslydue to charges of obscenity. Like the (1928) novel, the (2005) DVDcontains direct depictions of different-gender adulterous sexualintercourse. Many 'obscene' (at least for 1928!) sexual words are partof Lawrence's novel & the screenplay. As a result, the novel upon whichthe movie is based wasn't fully published in Britain, though it hadlong been available in other countries.During the 2nd half of the 20th century, in 1960, Penguin books boughtout the expurgated edition & was summarily prosecuted for violating theObscene Publication Act of 1959! Even the trial was scandalous; though,the publishers prevailed & were acquitted. Their acquittal has beenviewed by academic literary & cultural critics to this day as acatalyst for the new freedom of literature & artistic expression. Somecritics have regarded Lawrence as the greatest British man novelist ofthe early 20th century (Virginia Woolf, the woman).On to the film: it is equal to the novel in its sexological study of aparalyzed Sir Clifford Chatterley, who strongly advises his wife, LadyConstance Chatterley, to find a lover for herself in order to satisfywhat Sir Clifford cannot ever give her, or so he thought: sexualfulfillment. (That belief would seem quite naive now since a widevariety of sexually satisfying techniques do not require a man who isparalyzed to be fully functioning! What is sexual & what is sexualsatisfaction & pleasure has measurably changed since 1928).Lady Constance Chatterley reluctantly takes her husband's advice, beingquite young & beautiful. But, after beginning a very sexually intenseaffair with a proletariat man, Mellors, their butch & brawny countrygamekeeper, Lady Chatterley's affair shocks her husband who suggestedit & the high society in which they take part.It is definitely not a movie for children because the sexual content issteamy & blatant. By contemporary standards, it is still a story of ascandalous love affair with an interesting plot; but, certainly themovie is not pornographic or unusual ("Asylum" is somewhat similar, forexample). It is as much a sexology of 1920's British social class moresas anything else. Because it is a period piece that does examine an era& the moral standards of a particular class of a society, it is a morethan notorious for its history of scandal: "Lady Chatterley's Lover" isloaded with Lawrence's observations & remarks about the mixture ofmores for British bourgeoisie society & its double standard for women'ssexuality.

2012-04-30 04:52:26

"emmanuelle" is better.

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) if you are a sylvia kristel fan then this movie will disappoint you. the sexual part of the movie is too tame compared with the original sylvia kristel movie "emmanuelle" which is more erotic than this "lady chatterly's lover". the love scenes here are ridiculous and unbelievably stupid.

2012-04-29 18:05:35

This one was a long time coming...

A mainstay on HBO around 1982-83, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" is a soft-core romance, but not a sleazy one. It wasn't successful in theaters, maybe because nobody knew what audience it was targeted to (surely not literature addicts or art-house filmgoers; maybe Sylvia Kristel/"Emmanuelle" fans). Consequently, it was popular on cable and video, where viewing privacy can elicit whatever reactions necessary (mostly giggles). It isn't very well-made, but the acting is decent and the passion is convincing. The editing is sloppy, with some sequences, and the ending, cut short, but it does have a few steamy scenes, frisky nudity, and good location filming.

2012-04-29 07:38:11

Horrid Adaptation of the English classic

This version of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence is horrid. Poorly directed, mediocre acting, although Kristel tried, an actor can only do so much. It's painful to watch this. Nothing can come close to the classic book, but if you want a film version, try 1993's version with Joely Richardson, which is beautifully done and more closely tries to capture the classic.

2012-04-29 04:14:54

Nicely done.

I am a D.H. Lawrence fan, but I purposely didn't re-read the book just before seeing this, because I wanted to judge the film on its own merits. I was a bit unsure about the role being handed to Sylvia Kristel, but she showed she's more than just Emmanuelle eye candy; she can actually act, and the movie comes across very well as literature-with-small-L as well as erotica. Highly recommended.

2012-04-24 08:24:14

The source of many fantasies

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) I saw this many years ago when I was about 14 on a cable movie network. Thank you god. (I have watched a certain scene with Oliver at least fourteen times since I received my DVD a few weeks ago just to make up for lost time!) I like the Gothic qualities of this film. The relationship portrayed between Oliver and Connie in its beautiful intensity of sexual discovery and the relationship between Clifford and the Nurse in its mutual dependency are engaging to watch.

Wizard-8 2012-04-24 05:09:43

Tries to be erotic and respectable, but ends up as dull

I read one of D. H. Lawrence's novel in university as part of anEnglish course I was taking, and I found it utterly boring and notmaking me want to seek out his other works. The only reason why Irented this Lawrence adaptation was that it was produced by famedschlockmeisters Menahem Golan and Yorman Globus, who made some reallyentertaining trashy movies. This was one of the few times they triedfor "respectability", though they chose a story that could also bemined for exploitation material.But the movie fails both at its serious attempts and with its attemptsat exploitation. The script has too many faults that distance theaudience. The setup of the situation at the beginning of the movie goesso fast that there's no time to set up characters and make us see whatthey are feeling. This flaw with the characters continues as the moviegoes on, and I was not sure why many times characters did what theydid. Oddly, there are also a number of scenes that serve no purpose -if they had eliminated those scenes, and used the extra few minutes topump up the characters, I'm pretty sure the movie would be a lotbetter.As for the erotic element of the movie, it's not there. Even for 1981,the idea of taking a lover must have seem old hat to audiences. Thenudity and sex in the movie is not the least bit erotic despite fullfrontal nudity and explicit sex scenes. Some of this might be blamed onthe below average production values - the movie has a murky lookthroughout, and there's not much effort to beef up the backgrounds withextras or anything that might have taken time and expense to make.Even if you are a Golan/Globus fanatic like I am, odds are you'll findthis as dreary as I did.

2012-04-22 21:31:19

lady chatterley

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) the story very ideal at that time of secrets and having no problem with those secrets. the acting the story was good. i like it.

makeuplover69 2012-04-22 12:15:38

Lady Chatterley's Lover

I love this film. I own it on DVD. The reason I give it ten points outof ten is that it has the incredibly sexy and talented Nicholas Clay init. He plays Oliver Mellors, the gamekeeper of an estate, that ishaving an affair with the lady of the house. She is married but herhusband cannot do his husbandly duties because he came back from WorldWar 1 in a wheelchair. She is an upper class rich woman while he isconsidered low class and poor. She doesn't work and in the beginningtends to her husband until he decides to get a caretaker for himself.This leaves her with time on her hands to wander the grounds of herestate where she comes upon Mellors nude and bathing himself by thechicken coop. She lusts after him and they strike up a relationshipalthough rocky at first. The have a passionate affair. I won't revealthe ending. I truly believe this is Nicholas Clay's finest workalthough he is probably known best as his role of Sir Lancelot inExcalibur (he is naked in that movie too). I think this version isbest. Lady Chatterley was made into another film in 1993 starring JoelyRichardson and Sean Bean but no one compares to British hottie NicholasClay.

2012-04-13 01:40:18

Disappointing Adaptation

I think this adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover is lacking in so many ways. The actors are mediocre at best. Roles like Hilda miscast. Nothing against the actress in this role but she seems old enough to be Connie's mother rather than sister. And I rather wanted to tell the gamekeeper to keep his clothes on. Additionally, there doesn't seem to capture the passion and quiet desperation of the characters. If one wants to see a good film as well as a film that's faithful to the spirit of Lady Chatterley's Lover...This is not it.

2012-04-12 09:13:05

Lady Chatterley's Lover

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) One of the most important elements of this film is the sense of real life sensibilities it captures. The qualities of longing and frustration are beautifully captured by Sylvia Crystal as Lady Chatterley, the wife of a dashing but complex husband played by Shane Briant with combinations of bravado and self centeredness beneath a handsome figure who is logged into his class background and behavior patterns allowing little room for natural love and responsiveness. While Lady Chatterley holds firmly at first to her devotion to her husband she cannot withstand the raw sensuality of Nicholas Clay as the gardner on the estate. Nicholas Clay likes to show his butt and I am reminded of another film, "Evil Under The Sun" where he tittilates the viewer with his rather voluptuous posterior while walking on the beach. This aside, he more than captures the "real world" personality of his class and attitudes juxtaposed with Lord Chatterley's strict upperclass ones. I felt the "eye brows" of Lord Chatterley were a bit "over stated" in make up and this had the effect giving him a drama queen demeanor and somehow a little "campy." But all in all I thoroughly enjoyed the film for its showing nudity where nudity seemed perfectly called for without teasing and overly gauzy effects which is sometimes such a bore . Maybe the film is not what one would call a "religious experience" but why should all films be that anyway. It is beautifully filmed and the production values are first rate and it makes a sometimes complicated story line believable without too much contempt for the viewer, especially with D. H. Lawrence's reputation. Above all I felt it captured the anguish and fear which contibute to decisions that drastically alter the people that make them.And I like looking a Nicholas Clay's butt.

2012-04-08 00:13:43

THE "B" SIDE

This 1981 (not '82 as suggested) film adaptation of the D. H. Lawrence classic is an enjoyable B-ride if only for its panoramic scenery of foggy London and the sexually-charged engaging performances of its stars. Indeed, Sylvia Kristel (Emmanuelle) and the late Nicholas Clay (Excalibur) bring nothing but skin to their characters of an unlikely duo engaging in a torrid affair. Over an ultra-syrupy score (by Richard Harvey and Stanley Myers), and a fine use of camera work by Robert Fraisse, the two go at it with all their splendor, leaving nothing to the imagination except to wonder if the movie would have been better had a talented cast been involved. Since it isn't but remains enjoyable despite its flaws, this LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER is superficial enough to be camp classic material, which is, as we all know, an important factor for lovers of such films.-----Martin Boucher

2012-04-07 13:50:28

Loving Lady Chatterley's Lover

This review is from: Lady Chatterley's Lover (DVD) Lady Chatterley's Lover ranks up there as one of the most erotic films about true romantic love ever made. Nicholas Clay as Mellors and the stunning Sylvia Kristel as Connie are perfectly matched in this highly charged love story of a woman, whose bourgeois, aristocratic, whiny, insufferable and sadistic husband becomes paralyzed after serving in WWI (even after that it's still impossible to find sympathy for this stuffy clod who is stupid enough to tell his wife to "go find a lover" and subsequently pushes her away emotionally and who is verbally abusive to her as well). Connie winds up finding lust and love with the estate's gamekeeper, played brilliantly by the late Nicholas Clay (tragically, he died of cancer in 2000 at the young age of 53). Clay was arguably one of the most exquisite men to ever grace the silver screen and reveals all to us in this movie (and I am so grateful he does because everything he has is shockingly gorgeous - I rented this movie and after seeing the first scene with him in it I think I cleared the couch in one leap to get to my PC to buy this movie from Amazon). Well-acted with an intense intimacy that most of us will never experience because we are too frightened of it, we are able to feel it all here and drink it in with reckless abandon and without being afraid. Wonderful, lush 1920s period costuming and bucolic English countryside with a Vaughn Williams-esque music score draw you into the story of these lovers, and left me wanting more. From their first spontaneous, lustful encounter (I think my legs actually went numb when I first watched it) to their eventual "courtship," I was engrossed. This story gives me hope that real love between two people, no matter their background or socioeconomic status, does truly exist. Connie changes because of her interaction with Mellors, and so finds true intimacy with an at first unlikely partner, and the superficial things that once seemed important to her melt away and no longer matter. She discovers who she is through her relationship with him, whereas Mellors already knows who he is. She can truly be herself around Mellors, so it is not surprising that he is a much better match for her than her rich, prissy husband. Mellors is the representation of what I consider to be an example of true masculinity: Clay's remarkable portrayal shows the unbearable pain of falling in love with someone who can only partially commit; he is physically strong and powerful, but shows remorse and disgust after being forced by Connie's husband to beat up poachers he caught on the grounds. He goes from cradling a baby chick in his hands to comforting her to decorating her hair with flowers, to making wild passionate love to her inside the secluded work shed, or in the woods against a tree out of sight from the main house. The searing contrast of Clay and Kristel's fully clothed and writhing bodies on the dirty floor of the work shed as they are overcome with lust and passion for each other will be forever burned in my mind. The only distraction in the film is the dubbing - every piece of dialouge was dubbed, so just be ready for it. It is a certainty that Clay was underrated as an actor, and it would have been nice to see him in more leading roles over the years, but I am grateful that he will be forever immortalized in the great film work he did accomplish, such as in this film, Evil Under The Sun, Lovespell, and Excalibur. I highly recommend them all.