Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)

Erotic and Sensual Love Story - Lady Chatterley's Lover review by GI

This new adaptation of the famous D.H. Lawrence novel exudes sensuality and avoids falling into cliché or self satire by the committed performances of the two leads, Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell. They carry the entire film which is full of eroticism and rampant sex often shown in a nostalgic soft focus especially where the two make love in the fields and woods as they become one with nature. The story is well known, Constance (Corrin) weds a rich landowner she thinks she loves as he heads off to the western front returning emotionally damaged and partially paralysed. At their large country estate she soon becomes frustrated and bored as her husband throws himself into managing his mining empire to the detriment of the miners. She's shocked when he suggests she gives him an heir by becoming pregnant by a secret lover but her sexual attraction to the quiet and dignified Oliver (O'Connell), the state gamekeeper, results in them starting an affair. The narrative centres on the hypocrisy of the class oriented society. Constance' husband is happy for her to have a child by another man but he has to be from the right strata of society hence he's horrified when the affair with one of his 'staff' becomes known. The fact that Constance has fallen deeply in love and has discovered herself through the relationship with Oliver pushes her to step outside the normalities of society. This is a quite a powerful romance and a celebration of love and better than I expected. Worth checking out.