Lady Chatterley

Colour, 35 mm
France, Belgium, 2006, 158 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Few people know that the once so scandalous novel by D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley’s Lover had two later versions. The director chose the second for her film, published under the title Lady Chatterley and the Man of the Woods. Unlike previous adaptations – British, French, American and a Czech television adaptation from 1998 (with Zdena Studenková, Boris Rösner and Marek Vašut playing the love triangle), this film plays down the social and exaltedly erotic motifs, and focuses instead on a story of passion between two lonely people, which ulimately becomes a tale of true love. 23-year-old Constance marries officer and mine-owner Clifford Chatterley. It’s the year 1917 – the groom returns home from the war a cripple and has to spend the remainder of his life in a wheelchair. The young couple retreat to their country seat in Wragby, far removed from prying eyes. And it is here that the lonely, unhappy lady meets gamekeeper Olivier Parkin and a profoundly passionate affair begins.

About the director

Pascale Ferran (b. 1960, Paris) is an actress, screenwriter and director. She studied at IDHEC in Paris (1981) and then collaborated on a number of documentaries, videos, TV films, and also short and long features. The short film The Kiss (Le baiser, 1990) screened in competition in Cannes. The film The Age of Possibles (L’âge des possibles), which won the FIPRESCI prize at the Venice IFF in 1996, was screened at Karlovy Vary in 1997 in the section Another View. The drama Coming to Terms with the Dead (Petits arrangements avec les morts, 1994), which she wrote and directed, was nominated for a César and also won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes IFF that same year. Last year the film Lady Chatterley won the Louis Delluc prize, the Lumière award and five Césars.