Review of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

There are some movies in my life that I randomly find, press play, and don’t even read the synopsis for them when I ended up doing that action. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is one of those movies—I kind of wish I did end up reading the plot beforehand, as I did not end up realizing there were some scenes that were straight up erotic.

I was putting this on as background for while I was doing my work one day, and ended up looking up and see the male character dancing around in the rain fully nude. I was not expecting that at all and was so glad I didn’t have any meetings during that time.

Anyways, as you can probably deduce from that, I needed something to watch while I was cranking out the rest of my work one day.

I was flipping through Netflix on my television, doing that thing where one endlessly scrolls, closed my eyes, and told myself that when I open them and lift up my thumb, the movie I was going to watch was there. And that was how I ended up watching this film.

Onwards with the review!

After being told to get pregnant by her husband, Connie Reid falls in love with the other man.

Judging from the original D.H. Lawrence novel this film is based on and the clothing seen on the characters, it’s in the period of around World War I. In the original novel, Connie’s husband is paralyzed because of the events that happened in the middle of World War I.

Anyways, the main character is Connie, and she has done what many women in that day and age aspired to do. She married a man, Clifford, with some money, and she has moved onto his estate in Wragby. She previously lived in London.

The two end up consummating the marriage before he’s sent off to the war, but he’s not gone for long. He ends up paralyzed on the battlefield, and needs a wheelchair because of it. Clifford now is in need of someone to take care of him as a job, but this is going to wear Connie down as this isn’t what she specifically signed up for when she got married. Her chance to escape the situation comes when Clifford declares he wants a child. This will be his heir in case something happens.

But because he himself cannot do it, he tells Connie she needs to find another man to go and get her pregnant. Her sister hires someone to take care of Clifford, and one day, when out on the town, Connie ends up meeting Oliver. He’s a lower social class than her, lives nearby as the gamekeeper, and has a tragic story.

His wife left him in the middle of the war, and when he came back to her, he found out she was gone. But immediately when Connie and Oliver meet, there’s a connection between the two, and sparks fly.

Thus begins a long series of sex between the two. Although Connie’s job is to just get pregnant, she ends up falling for Oliver as a person and what they end up having is much more real than her actual marriage, which leaves her dissatisfied with her life and existence.

The movie is filled with steamy sex scenes between the two, and they can release the stuffy confines of their social classes when with each other. Hence the scene in the rain where they strip naked and end up dancing in the rain together.

Some know about the affair, but the vast majority aren’t cognizant of the fact that Connie ends up spending her walks with another man. The relationship continues, with Connie’s sister driving her to the cottage so they can have their time together. But when the ex-wife’s sending her new man to check on Oliver, he finds evidence of the two sleeping together, and that’s the beginning of the end. The town comes to know that Clifford told Connie to get pregnant with another man, and they suspect now that it is Oliver.

He also didn’t know this and is hurt. He ends up leaving for Scotland because his life is effectively ruined, and Clifford tells Connie that he is never going to grant her a divorce while it’s in his power. She leaves for Venice, exiled from her social position as everyone from the upper crusts of society now ignores her, and, at the end of the movie, reunites with Oliver, who now lives in Scotland and has been waiting for Connie all this time.

Overall Thoughts

Granted, movies like these aren’t my cup of tea. I can appreciate the storyline and the depth of the characters and the acting involved to get them to that point, so kudos to everyone involved in that process. I’m sure this is definitely someone else’s cup of tea for sure, though, and that it was an excellent movie for others.

I say this is a decent movie all in all! I honestly don’t have much to say about it since it was pretty straightforward by the end, so my opinion isn’t too complicated. I was entertained to see Ella Hunt in it though—I met her in New York several years ago when in college, so I always like to see her in things and be successful out in the world.

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