steph73
08-31-2011, 01:19 PM
While scanning through Netflix a few weeks ago, my husband, ever the more intellectual of the two of us and 10 years my senior, added this same film to our queue - both the 1993 BBC version as well as the 2006 French version. Ever prudish and a bit hesitant at watching a film whose plot was described centering on a "sexual awakening", I put off watching it for as long as I could. Then one night last week while lying in bed after surgery my husband asked if I wanted to watch it and I gave in to the irresistibility of classic literature and, of course, Sean Bean and my world was forever changed!
As we watched the first two episodes that night, I was intrigued by Sean's character. I lost most of the dialog due to Mellors' heavy brogue. I have never cared for Jolie Richardson, so I tried to look past her inability to act in this role. I finished the series the next night and was left totally unfulfilled by the ending but completely hooked. So the third night we watched the French version and on the fourth day, I read the book, mostly to cover the dialog and what not that I missed in the first film.
Here it is a week later and I'm still obsessed with the story, but I think mostly it's because of Oliver Mellors. I read and reread his parts of the book over and over and over again to the point where he has ceased to become merely Sean's character, but rather a character all his own. Lawrence wrote so much life into Oliver Mellors that I believe I can actually feel the warmth of his breath, see the sparkle in his eyes and watch the changing facial expressions as he speaks. The character has a life all his own.
Having read the book and done a fair amount of research to this point, I must say how disappointed I am in how this story is percieved, analyzed, and even soiled. It is not a story of a woman's "sexual awakening" as Netflix so horridly puts it. Neither is it pornographic as some say. Yes, it's very sensual and very "vulgar" in spots (by today's standards), but vulgarity is not intentioned. What it is, however, is a true love story - a story of true, passionate, unyielding, ever persevering, totally enveloping, completely rapturous love - the kind that catches you unaware and hurts because there are always consequences.
While I agree that the class issues and the intellectual issues of the period are unmistakably preached by Lawrence throughout the novel, I truly believe most people are missing the point. Sadly, most people will never get it. They will never understand tenderness, rapturous love or the feelings and sensuality Mellors shares with Connie. And an understanding of those things is crucial to uncovering Lawrence's true message in this novel.
You see, I am Connie and I married Oliver Mellors nearly 8 years ago. Remove the wealth and class distinction and Lady Chatterly's Lover so closely resembles my adulthood that it is almost autobiographical. Of course, my husband doesn't have that irresistable Derbyshire brougue and his ancestry is Scottish rather than English and our lives are complicated with several children of varying ages, but he is most definitely Mellors. It is unmistakeable. Just as I am most definitely Connie. It's almost as if Lawrence did a character study on the two of us when he created those two beautiful characters 80 years ago.
I whole-heartedly believe that what my husband and I have together is so rare that I would venture less than 10% of the world's population feels it ever in their lifetimes. Lawrence got it with Frieda and was able to put that beautiful experience on paper. Mellors speaks of it in awe to Connie. Even Mrs. Bolton describes it passionately. The message is so clear to me that it shouts - how can anyone miss it??
I am so thankful to D. H. Lawrence for this novel. And I sincerely hope you find *your* Mellors.
As we watched the first two episodes that night, I was intrigued by Sean's character. I lost most of the dialog due to Mellors' heavy brogue. I have never cared for Jolie Richardson, so I tried to look past her inability to act in this role. I finished the series the next night and was left totally unfulfilled by the ending but completely hooked. So the third night we watched the French version and on the fourth day, I read the book, mostly to cover the dialog and what not that I missed in the first film.
Here it is a week later and I'm still obsessed with the story, but I think mostly it's because of Oliver Mellors. I read and reread his parts of the book over and over and over again to the point where he has ceased to become merely Sean's character, but rather a character all his own. Lawrence wrote so much life into Oliver Mellors that I believe I can actually feel the warmth of his breath, see the sparkle in his eyes and watch the changing facial expressions as he speaks. The character has a life all his own.
Having read the book and done a fair amount of research to this point, I must say how disappointed I am in how this story is percieved, analyzed, and even soiled. It is not a story of a woman's "sexual awakening" as Netflix so horridly puts it. Neither is it pornographic as some say. Yes, it's very sensual and very "vulgar" in spots (by today's standards), but vulgarity is not intentioned. What it is, however, is a true love story - a story of true, passionate, unyielding, ever persevering, totally enveloping, completely rapturous love - the kind that catches you unaware and hurts because there are always consequences.
While I agree that the class issues and the intellectual issues of the period are unmistakably preached by Lawrence throughout the novel, I truly believe most people are missing the point. Sadly, most people will never get it. They will never understand tenderness, rapturous love or the feelings and sensuality Mellors shares with Connie. And an understanding of those things is crucial to uncovering Lawrence's true message in this novel.
You see, I am Connie and I married Oliver Mellors nearly 8 years ago. Remove the wealth and class distinction and Lady Chatterly's Lover so closely resembles my adulthood that it is almost autobiographical. Of course, my husband doesn't have that irresistable Derbyshire brougue and his ancestry is Scottish rather than English and our lives are complicated with several children of varying ages, but he is most definitely Mellors. It is unmistakeable. Just as I am most definitely Connie. It's almost as if Lawrence did a character study on the two of us when he created those two beautiful characters 80 years ago.
I whole-heartedly believe that what my husband and I have together is so rare that I would venture less than 10% of the world's population feels it ever in their lifetimes. Lawrence got it with Frieda and was able to put that beautiful experience on paper. Mellors speaks of it in awe to Connie. Even Mrs. Bolton describes it passionately. The message is so clear to me that it shouts - how can anyone miss it??
I am so thankful to D. H. Lawrence for this novel. And I sincerely hope you find *your* Mellors.