Cinema
Women in Love
Ken Russell · 1969
Synopsis
A mining town in the Midlands, in the aftermath of the Great War. Two sisters, Ursula, a schoolteacher, and Gudrun, an artist, go to the wedding of the mine owner's daughter while talking about marriage: Gudrun wonders whether it would be an experience, Ursula sees it rather as the end of experience. On the way, they pass a child begging with a sign asking that the Somme be remembered. In the cemetery, Ursula notices Rupert Birkin, and Gudrun Gerald Crich, the owner's son.
Context
The project had first been offered to other directors, including Jack Clayton, Stanley Kubrick and Peter Brook, who turned it down. The censor read the screenplay and then a first cut, and the film was toned down at both stages. The nude wrestling scene between the two men, lit only by the fire in the hearth, divides the witnesses: the censor later wrote that he had left it uncut, the producer speaks of a few shots removed; the film received a certificate restricted to adults. It is among the first films in ordinary release to show a man naked from the front.
Who it is for
A little over two hours, in English with subtitles or in a French-language version. The story follows two couples, from the mining town to the Swiss Alps.
Prizes and reception
Academy Award for Best Actress for Glenda Jackson, who was pregnant during much of the shoot.
Sources for this page 13
The pages consulted to check this page.