Lady Chatterley’s Lover – Film Review

Marrying Sir Clifford Chatterley, Connie’s life of wealth and privilege seems set as she takes the title of Lady Chatterley. Yet this idealistic union gradually becomes an incarceration when Clifford returns from the First World War with injuries that have left him unable to walk. When she meets and falls for Oliver Mellors, the gamekeeper on the Chatterley family estate, their secret trysts lead her to a sensual, sexual awakening. But as their affair becomes the subject of local gossip, Connie faces a life-altering decision: follow her heart or return to her husband and endure what Edwardian society expects of her.

Laure de Clemont-Tonnerre‘s new film Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the fourth film adaptation based on the iconic novel of the same name by D.H. Lawrence; a book that tells a legitimately compelling story with memorable characters, moving dialogue, and heartfelt emotions.

So why in the world is it so hard to adapt this book into something genuinely great on screen? I was sincerely hoping that this new adaptation would finally do the trick. This should’ve been the end-all-be-all for this story, but sadly, it’s not. While Lady Chatterley’s Lover isn’t a bad movie, it’s also definitely not a good one. It’s easily one of the most frustrating movies of the year.

David Magee‘s script here is probably the biggest problem with this film. It feels incredibly jumbled and super messy as we jump between so many different scenes and characters so rapidly that it becomes jarring and dizzying. He also, sadly, finds ways to make these characters less interesting than they were in the source material.

Emma Corrin is a fantastic actress but for some reason, here, she feels like she didn’t really care about turning in a great performance. She’s not necessarily bad in this movie, but she feels like she’s holding something back. Perhaps it was Clermont-Tonnerre’s direction that caused some issues because something doesn’t feel right here.

There are some instances scattered throughout this movie where things get interesting, luckily. These moments unfortunately don’t last too long, but the few scenes that are legitimately great are exactly that. It’s just such a shame that the rest of the movie feels so scatterbrained.

And why does this movie look so visually dull and unpleasing? Almost every single shot in this movie seems to have some sort of strange gray tint to it, even the outdoor scenes. Perhaps it was done on purpose as a metaphor for Lady Chatterley’s life, which if so, is a fun idea, but it definitely didn’t translate well in reality.

Somewhere in here is a seriously strong movie, but the script certainly needed to be revised many, many times before it got approved. Characters are thinly written and the story is so incredibly jumbled and messy to the point where it’s headache inducing.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a thinly written and frustratingly executed adaptation, with a script that feels disappointingly jumbled and featuring a color palette that’s less than pleasing to look at.