BBBB.5
(out of 5)
Ken Russell’s best film ever is still this excellent adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s racy novel, about two sisters who search for true love and think they’ve found it in two very troubled men. Screenwriter Larry Kramer adapts the story to be just as provocative as the novel was upon its first release (Lawrence’s explicitly sexual writing eventually got him booted out of England). Glenda Jackson is terrific as Ursula, the older and more subdued sister who just can’t figure her lover out, as is Jennie Linden as Gudrun, the artistic sister who has a tragic affair with the local colliery owner. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates play the two suitors who at one point indulge in a wonderfully homoerotic nude wrestling scene, while Russell’s direction is first-rate, the production values still gorgeous to look at thirty years after the film was made. A must for literary fans.
Brandywine Productions
Directed by Ken Russell
Screenplay by Larry Kramer, based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence
Cinematography by Billy Williams
Produced by Larry Kramer
Music by Georges Delerue
Production Design by Kenneth Jones
Costume Design by Shirley Russell
Film Editing by Michael Bradsell
Academy Award
Best Actress (Glenda Jackson as “Gudrun Brangwen”)
Nominations
Best Cinematography (Billy Williams)
Best Directing (Ken Russell)
Best Writing (Screenplay–based on material from another medium) (Larry Kramer)
Golden Globe Award
Best English-Language Foreign Film (United Kingdom)
Nominations
Best Performance By An Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama (Glenda Jackson)
Best Director (Ken Russell)
