Lady Chatterley (in French)


Rating = B-

In the movie “Knocked Up,” which I saw about a month ago, five young men occupy their time (without real jobs) by developing a website that will list the exact points in movies to fast forward to get the sex scenes. Half a dozen points in “Lady Chatterley” would have been logged on that website. I see other connections between the two movies: In both, the woman comes from a higher station than the man. In both, the couple takes the time to get to know each other and it is a life (as well as sexual) awakening for each. Also note, that years ago adolescent boys hunted through Lady Chatterley's Lover looking for the sex scenes and marking them with bits of paper serving the same purpose which the guys' website in “Knocked Up” is supposed to have. Both movies move slowly in telling the story of developing love and knowledge of each other: “Knocked Up” was over two hours, and “Lady Chatterley” takes almost three hours.

“Lady Chatterly” is pretty, sometimes amusing, and sometimes not enough is explained (which is inexplicable given the movie's length). The acting is good, the filming is pretty, and the sex scenes are believable and stirring. Any larger themes of feminism, social class, or whatever were hard for me to discern with the distraction of so much of Marina Hands to look at.

[2007-07-14]