Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Where to Watch

How did Lady Chatterley’s Lover end up in my queue? It was listed in Anthony Stewart Head’s body of work & he appears in the opening credits then never again. I never read the book, but I imagine that it was pretty radical then & now: concepts of female desire & social status. It could have been called how to break up your marriage or it is all fun & games until your husband gets out of his wheelchair: go to war enthusiastically instead of staying with your wife, become socially estranged from your wife by exclusively tending to business or hanging out with your nurse, encourage your wife to get a lover. Though there are explicit sex scenes & moments of frank nudity, tame in comparison to anything on HBO: soft light, artfully draped clothes or covers, more gasping than movement. When the titular lover talks, it feels wooden & a bit theoretical-more an exegesis on social boundaries. An adequate, beautiful movie, but not a must see.

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