movie review lady chatterley's lover 2022

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movie review lady chatterley's lover 2022

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D.H. Lawrence's novel does not start with plot points or scene-setting. Oh, no. In the opening paragraph, Lawrence bellows into a megaphone: “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, and we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” Written in the aftermath of the first world war, with Europe in ruins, this passage was literally "words to live by."

To say it another way, Lady Chatterley's Lover is not just a sexy love story. Yes, there is steamy infidelity but the real point (which was lost in the ensuing decades-long scandal surrounding the book) is integrating body and mind as a way of reconnecting to our purest impulses, and in so doing, maybe healing the whole world. Lawrence wore his Thomas-Hardy-Walt-Whitman influences on his sleeve. Of course, at the end of the day, the reason the book scandalized generations was because of all that throbbing pulsing sex, all those rising organs and enigmatic fluids, the Edenic orgasms, plus a couple of f-bombs (used as verbs, not adjectives, a crucial distinction).

Lawrence's book has been adapted for screens big and small many times, to varying degrees of success. The plot is well known and isn't all that original (a rich woman hooks up with her manly gardener), and there are landmines everywhere in the material. If an adaptation just focuses on the hot sex, then you're missing what Lawrence was getting at the "cataclysm" of war, the dangers of industrialization, the growing class conflict, and the myriad ways humanity has suffered spiritually from prioritizing mind over body. This new adaptation, directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre , avoids the landmines remarkably well. The film shimmers and breathes, leaving space for discovery.

Connie Reid ( Emma Corrin ) has a couple of love affairs under her belt when she marries Baronet Clifford Chatterley ( Matthew Duckett ), right before he heads off to fight in the Great War. Connie was raised in a modest slightly bohemian family, so becoming " Lady Chatterley " is a huge change. She is removed from London, from her sister Hilda ( Faye Marsay ), to live in the massive Chatterley estate. When Clifford returns home from the war, he is paralyzed from the waist down and needs full-time care. Connie loves him and does her best. However, she's a young woman with an impotent husband who shows no interest in getting creative about sexual pleasure. He wants an heir though, so he suggests she take on a lover, not for pleasure, of course, but for impregnation. Connie is devastated. She's aching for affection and touch. Then she gets a glimpse of Oliver Mellors, the gamekeeper ( Jack O'Connell ). And with barely half a dozen words spoken between them, they hook up. He is not the aggressor or initiator. She is. He is more conscious of the class difference than she is. He calls her "m'lady" in a tone of deep respect and has a hard time dropping it after they've been intimate. Class awareness is engrained in him.

Before you know it, the love affair has heated up to such an extent that Connie's hours-long "walks" might arouse suspicion. Clifford spends most of his time with business associates, discussing the protests erupting in the mines in their district. (An echo of Lawrence's concerns about the damaging effects of the Industrial Revolution is present.) Clifford might not notice that something is going on with his wife, but Clifford's nurse-maid Mrs. Bolton ( Joely Richardson ) certainly does. Her alert glances at Connie's disheveled hair and glowing cheeks spark the film with dread about what will happen when this love affair is revealed, because of course it must be revealed.

With a screenplay by David Magee (" Finding Neverland ," " Life of Pi "), "Lady Chatterley's Lover" takes its time with all this. The lovers may have sex almost immediately, but after that, they're on a path of discovery. Sex isn't just sex, and this is one of the main accomplishments of Clermont-Tonnerre's sensitive and even delicate approach, as well as the openness of Corrin and O'Connell. We live in a moment where grownup sex has practically vanished from the silver screen. There was a big Twitter "discussion" once about sex scenes, and several people agreed that sex scenes were only okay "if they advance the plot." That should come as a surprise to " Don't Look Now ." Human beings don't have sex to advance the plot. Sex is a big part of many people's lives. In "Lady Chatterley's Lover," the sex is not generic. It is specific to these two people, and the specificity makes it erotic. You don't realize how rare something like this is until you see it done well.

The film was shot with a quicksilver freshness by Benoît Delhomme . There are no stately shots; there is nothing formal or slow. Instead, there's lots of handheld camera work, lots of lens flares, and the camera chasing after Connie as she jumps across the green fields. The woods where Connie and Oliver meet up are a primeval forest, where everything—even the light—has a tactile quality. Isabella Summers' score enhances emotions instead of underlining them.

Both Corrin and O'Connell are marvelous here. Connie and Oliver have been struggling underwater all their lives, and they didn't even realize it until they met. Now that they've met, they can finally breathe. The way Corrin and O'Connell slowly open up to each other, you can see the relationship deepening under their feet with every moment. This requires such openness and accessibility on the actors' parts. Something like "Lady Chatterley's" Lover requires the audience to be on the lovers' side, even if what the lovers are doing is wrong. If it's a doomed love, like Ilsa's and Rick's in " Casablanca ," you have to "buy in" to their connection, and weep when it cannot be. In "Lady Chatterley's Lover," ugly gossip starts to spread, and it's painful to think of Connie and Oliver's Eden being spoiled. This is due almost entirely to Corrin and O'Connell's breathtaking open work with one another.

"Lady Chatterley's Lover" is Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's second feature. Her first film was in 2019's " Mustang ," starring Matthias Schoenaerts as a prison inmate participating in a rehabilitation program involving the taming of wild mustangs. "Mustang" was one of the hidden gems of 2019, with Schoenaerts giving a great performance as a violent man filled with shame about his violent past. "Mustang" has the same tactile quality as "Lady Chatterley's Lover," and the same happening-in-real-time energy. You feel you are running alongside the characters, trying to catch up with them on their journeys forward. "Mustang" was a much smaller movie than "Lady Chatterley's Lover," although it had some very complicated elements, like all those wild mustangs. Clermont-Tonnerre handles the far more ambitious "Lady Chatterley's Lover" with confidence and alive-ness, and if the film slackens a little bit when the gossipy walls-closing-in scenes begin, it doesn't take away from the main event: Corrin and O'Connell, lying on the grass in the forest, their bodies pale against the thick green, breathing as one. It's sneakily profound.

In 1925, Lawrence wrote, “Whoever reads me will be in the thick of the scrimmage, and if he doesn’t like it—if he wants a safe seat in the audience—let him read somebody else.” Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Emma Corrin, Jack O'Connell, the whole cast and crew, puts us "in the thick of the scrimmage." You could get lost in there and never come out.

In theaters today and available on Netflix on December 2nd.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)

103 minutes

Emma Corrin as Lady Constance Chatterley

Jack O'Connell as Oliver Mellors

Matthew Duckett as Clifford Chatterley

Joely Richardson as Mrs. Bolton

Ella Hunt as Mrs. Flint

Faye Marsay as Hilda

Nicholas Bishop as Ned

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Writer (based on the book by)

D.H. Lawrence
David Magee

Cinematographer

Benoît Delhomme
Géraldine Mangenot
Isabella Summers

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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ Review: When Connie Met Ollie

The new Netflix adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s once-controversial novel is both steamy and decorous.

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In an image from the film, Constance, in a yellow sweater, kisses Oliver, wearing a cap and brown vest, with her hand on his neck.

By A.O. Scott

Now that banning books is coming back into fashion , it might be a good time to revisit “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” one of the most notoriously suppressed novels of the 20th century. D.H. Lawrence’s book, finished a few years before his death in 1930, was legally published in Britain uncensored only in 1960. According to a famous verse by Philip Larkin , “sexual intercourse began” sometime between that date and the release of “the Beatles’ first LP.”

Be that as it may, there is quite a lot of sexual intercourse in the novel’s pages, presented with a descriptive candor and psychological insight that shocked the censors and excited generations of readers. Film adaptations followed the loosening of restrictions around onscreen sex, and have included a soft-core 1981 Eurotrash classic starring Sylvia Kristel , a 1993 BBC mini-series and Pascal Ferran’s lyrical 2007 French-language art film . Now we can add Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s Netflix version, at once steamy and decorous, which splits the difference between forbidden pleasure and English-class homework.

Emma Corrin, recently Princess Diana in Season 4 of “The Crown” (speaking of Netflix), again plays an independent-minded young woman trapped in a cold aristocratic marriage. It doesn’t start out that way. Clifford Chatterley (a finely tuned Matthew Duckett) strikes his new bride, Constance Reid, as a kind and progressive fellow. He’s also a baronet, master of an estate near a coal-mining village in the Midlands. On their wedding day, Connie tells her sister, Hilda (Faye Marsay), that Clifford makes her feel safe.

He’s also a soldier in uniform, on leave from the front. When he returns from World War I, paralyzed from the waist down, he and Connie move to Wragby, the family seat, and try to adjust to unanticipated hardships. Clifford writes a novel — Connie types the manuscript — and then turns his attention to managing the land and modernizing the mines. His wife, the daughter of an itinerant artist and accustomed to a life of culture and sociability, languishes in the countryside and buckles under the burden of caring for Clifford. Until, that is, she meets Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), Wragby’s newly hired gamekeeper, who has returned from the war to raise pheasants and read James Joyce.

The affair that ignites between Oliver and Connie transgresses boundaries of class and norms of propriety, the first more strikingly than the second. Connie’s adultery was Clifford’s idea at first, though the studly gamekeeper was hardly the partner he envisioned. Eager for an heir to carry on the Chatterley name, Clifford proposed a discreet tryst with no strings or complications, and with a man of suitable station. The idea shocks Connie, and while it’s not really the catalyst for what happens with Oliver, it does create a vague sense of permission, a breath of oxygen that helps a spark of attraction burst into flame.

To Lawrence, lust was powerful — even overpowering — but never simple, a force that could override reason and social convention that was nonetheless packed with meaning and constructive possibility. Clermont-Tonnerre, working from David Magee’s script, shows a lot of sex — and Corrin and O’Connell generate an intensity beyond the sighing and squirming that passes for hot stuff in most mainstream movies — but the sensuality remains stubbornly skin deep.

That may be inevitable. The ubiquity of naked bodies onscreen has drained away the power of such images to shock, and also to mean anything. The real drama of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” now lies elsewhere, in the systems of power that trap Oliver and Constance and in the lovers’ rebellion against them. Oliver, in spite of his military record (he left the army as a full lieutenant) and his intelligence, is stuck in the deferential, dependent role of Clifford’s servant. Connie, for all her talent and ingenuity, has no social identity beyond her ladyship. But both she and Oliver understand themselves to be free people.

Sex is an assertion of that freedom, but the key that unlocks their cages isn’t so much sex as the refusal of shame. Even in the forests and meadows around Wragby, their carrying on can’t escape detection forever. Clifford’s caretaker, Mrs. Bolton (Joely Richardson, who played Lady Chatterley in the BBC mini-series), is one of those people on whom nothing is lost. Before long, gossip and scandal threaten the erotic idyll.

“It’s a love story,” Mrs. Bolton ultimately decides, and Magee and Clermont-Tonnerre’s adaptation emphasizes the romance of Lawrence’s book over the radicalism of his vision. This “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” is faithful to the novel, while also revealing how safe, how domesticated, it has become.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover Rated R. Sexual intercourse. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Lady Chatterley's Lover Reviews

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a powerful and passionate depiction of intimacy and pleasure, which provides an idealistic perspective of the story.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2023

Emma Corwin and Jack O'Connell have fantastic chemistry...you really feel their passion and growing love for one another.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10 | Aug 10, 2023

Overall the film is a beautiful depiction of intimacy and pleasure that is one of the few films to treat sex with tenderness and grace.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Emma Corrin and Jack O’ Connell shine in Netflix ‘s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s steamy, stunning, though a little too male-centric adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s novel.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 23, 2023

A drama along those lines can be trite ... or it may find something fresh and original to say. But if a filmmaker simply wants to do a “love story” about people from opposed social backgrounds, he or she has no real need of Lawrence’s novel.

Full Review | Feb 10, 2023

What it ultimately conjures up is, a pointless and vacant adaptation that is forgettable in its own modern mechanics.

Full Review | Jan 31, 2023

Erotically and artistically directed as a love story.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 26, 2023

Adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s controversial novel placing the emphasis on love leading to a new life.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 30, 2022

Lady Chatterley’s Lover will surprise audiences with how much investment in its characters it is able to achieve. This is a slow burn of passion and storytelling that captures both the scandalous and heartwarming nature of its love story.

Full Review | Dec 24, 2022

This thoughtful film, scripted by Oscar-nominee David Magee, touches on other themes explored in the novel, such as post-war trauma and the advance of industrialisation...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 23, 2022

While the screenplay doesn't do enough justice to the vigour and indignation of D H Lawrence's classic novel, the generous lead performances and the beautiful aesthetic definitely do

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 23, 2022

Told from Constance Reid’s point of view, the intense erotic awakening emerges forcefully thanks to Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell as Oliver.

Full Review | Dec 21, 2022

Except for the occasional explicit sex scene, it’s fairly typical Masterpiece Theatre-style fare, and then not an example of that genre’s highest quality.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Dec 19, 2022

It invests both of the principals with character and pathos, so much so that you will be rooting for these two crazy kids to get together and do the beast with two backs forever...

Full Review | Dec 16, 2022

This may not be the best imaginable Lover—I’m not sure that film has yet been made—but it is more than good enough.

Full Review | Dec 13, 2022

The non-existent chemistry between the lovers reinforce the idea that this film is on automatic pilot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 12, 2022

It’s a seductive, highly charged and intoxicating affair.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 10, 2022

O'Connell brings earthiness and subtlety, while the elegant Corrin undergoes a mesmerising emotional journey, casting off both inhibitions and clothing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2022

A sensual tingle rings through this effective period romance.

A terrific showcase for the increasingly impressive Corrin, this Bridgerton-meets-Downton should rightly prove to be a hit for Netflix.

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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ Review: Always Sexy, Not Always Smart

Kate erbland, editorial director.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. Netflix releases the film on its streaming platform on Friday, December 2.

When D.H. Lawrence’s final novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was widely published for the first time in 1960 (other versions circulated in 1928 and 1929), the book ignited a firestorm that eventually led to an obscenity trial (won by its publisher) and massive sales. Decades later, the novel remains a source of titillation for many (including those who turned it into dozens of R- and X-rated films and TV series), even if its reputation has generally faded into “It’s smutty, right?” It is, of course, so much more.

When Penguin Books was prosecuted under the UK’s Obscene Publications Act 1959, it wasn’t just the book’s language (including the repeated use of many “unprintable” four-letter words) or the explicit sex scenes. Lawrence’s also lovers dared to cross class lines in a time when that was a shocking act of its own. In this latest adaptation, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre ‘s gorgeous, dreamy, very sexy take on the material, much of that drama has been flattened. Instead, it offers the chance to probe the emotional texture of the story and gives stars Emma Corrin (who uses they/them pronouns) and Jack O’Connell two of the best roles of their careers.

In this new vision of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” gameskeeper Oliver Mellors (O’Connell) is a former army lieutenant and the brightest student his former village school ever saw, while Constance Chatterley’s (Corrin) background as the daughter of an artist is given a somewhat thin “but she’s sort of bohemian, too!” treatment. The pair are on more equal ground, which only makes their passionate bond more believable, more sexy, and more fraught. Rest assured, this is still “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” (And, not to be crass: The sex scenes are damn hot indeed.)

When the film opens, young Constance Reid has just married Sir Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett) in the waning days of World War I. Clifford is due back at the front the very next morning, but that’s not the only reason for the Chatterleys’ somewhat slapdash wedding; as Constance’s sister Hilda (Faye Marsay) giddily suggests, her little sister is all too eager to open her, uhm, heart to any man who asks for it. Still, whatever sexual experience Constance enjoyed before her marriage (there are repeated mentions of a “German boy”), the heat is definitely not on with Clifford.

Things get worse when he returns from the war, paralyzed from the waist down, an injury that robs him both of his figurative manhood (he “just can’t anymore”) and his humanity (soon enough, Clifford’s true colors start to shine). When the pair arrive at Wragby, the Chatterleys’ Midlands estate, Constance commits to “bringing her” — meaning the estate — “back to life,” but it’s clear to everyone that really, she’s talking about herself.

Corrin’s performance helps guide Constance (and the film itself) through a somewhat shaky first act. The film offers them a rich, complex, demanding role, but much of it resides in the performer’s incredible sense of their own body. It goes from pinched and hunched and scary-thin before the character literally opens herself up to Oliver, and back again. (Corrin stars in another star-crossed romantic adaption also out this fall, “My Policeman,” in which they’re required to share the drama with five other stars; “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” gives them the full stage, however, one they are more than capable of dominating.)

For now, however, Constance is unhappy and that’s not at all helped by Clifford’s bright idea that she might give the family an heir by sleeping with another man. For Clifford, who loves nothing more than making big demands that serve him, it’s easy — like “a trip to the dentist,” he says. For Constance, it breaks her in body and spirit. Eventually she acquiesces for something to do, to please Clifford, and because the gameskeeper afoot is very attractive, the kind of guy who raises baby chicks and reads James Joyce.

O’Connell has made a career of stiff upper lips, from “Starred Up” to “Unbroken,” and that natural reserve proves a canny match for this Oliver Mellors. He’s a solitary figure with a sad backstory, although David Magee’s script oddly glosses over bits of Oliver’s pre-Connie life that are essential to understanding why he’s so trapped. When Constance offers Oliver her hand (and then more, lots more; both stars spend a lot of time fully naked), he can’t resist. Soon, she can’t either.

As Constance and Oliver’s bond deepens, their trysts only grow more passionate (a key sequence from the novel in which the pair come to mutual orgasm while cavorting in the forest is staggering, and leads into a breathtaking montage of similarly stirring lovemaking). Benoît Delhomme’s cinematography is dreamy, filmy, lush, and intimate, and his interest in close-ups of faces (and, ahem, other parts) adds yet another emotional layer to an already emotional film.

Emma Fryer’s enviable costumes for Constance tell a rich color story. Her early looks, all deep yellows and reds, make her stand out against her drab surroundings and eventually echo the bright feathers of the pheasants that help bring her and Oliver together. Oliver is all blue, monochromatic and steadfast, a color choice that eventually wears off on Constance, whose wardrobe includes more blue tones as the pair deepens their relationship.

Despite the stars’ strong performances and the high level of craft, the film struggles in its final act. Constance and Oliver’s earliest worries are practical — will they be caught in the act? What do their respective marital statuses mean for the life they want together? Later in the film, Magee’s script and Geraldine Mangenot’s jittery edits attempt to pile on the book’s themes of small-town politics, class warfare, and the danger of gossip.

Also worrying: Clifford’s nurse Mrs. Bolton (a miscast Joely Richardson) emerges as the most baffling character. Stuck in a thinly written supporting role, her motivations seem to bend and twist to the point that it’s hard to understand why she’s there at all. Is she going to bring down Constance and Oliver? Is she going to save them? Why would this woman be at all involved with this romance? Given that important machinations hinge on her actions, the finicky role detracts from other, bigger emotional swings.

Magee’s script takes other liberties, including a final sequence that (no spoilers here) wants to offer a more definitive ending than the one that concluded Lawrence’s novel, which closes with a letter from Oliver to Constance that dares dream of a future for them, the end . The new one is stirring, lush, lavish, and tense — a wonder — but de Clermont-Tonnerre makes the startling choice to overextend it for one final, over-the-top scene. It diminishes the power of the vision she crafted and made her own, putting a button on a story that, frankly, is always better unbuttoned.

“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” premiered at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. Netflix will release the film in select theaters and on its streaming platform in December.

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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ Review: Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell Have an Affair to Remember

French director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's adaptation of the scandalous D.H. Lawrence classic embraces the erotic, while giving its heroine agency that other versions (including the original) lacked.

By Peter Debruge

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These days, with rappers singing about “wet-ass pussy” and Ana de Armas simulating a presidential blow job in “Blonde,” it’s hard to imagine a world in which a couple four-letter words are enough to get a book banned. In the case of D.H. Lawrence’s notorious 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” it was more than just the sex talk that riled the censors (the 1955 French film version was banned because it “promoted adultery”), although the book certainly seems tame by the standards of “Fifty Shades of Grey” and whatever gynecological surprises an un-Safe Google search might turn up.

Reviewed at Netflix Main screening room, Los Angeles, Aug. 30, 2022. In Telluride Film Festival. Running time: 103 MIN.

Production: Producers: Laurence Mark, Pete Czernin, Graham Broadbent.
Crew: Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Screenplay: David Magee, based on the book by D.H. Lawrence. Camera: Benoît Delhomme. Editor: Geraldine Mangenot. Music: Isabella Summers.
With: Emma Corrin, Jack O’Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson, Faye Marsay, Ella Hunt.

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Review: Despite so-so sex, ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ features a vibrant Emma Corrin

A woman and a man smile at each other in a scene from the movie "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

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Period movies often say as much about the time they were made as they do the era in which they take place. Adaptations of D.H. Lawrence’s scandalous 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” are no exception. How the book’s famously bold sexuality is rendered is going to look different in, say, a 1950s French romance, a soft-porn ’80s take from the “Emmanuelle” creative team, or a television miniseries, just a few of the many “Chatterley’s” that have risen in popular culture.

How, then, does the newest movie version fare — starring English lights Emma Corrin ( the first Diana on “The Crown” ) and Jack O’Connell as Lawrence’s class-crossing trysters in the throes of once-in-a-lifetime ardor — in the age of body positivity, male-gaze fatigue and the boink-athons of “Bridgerton” and “Outlander”? As brought to life by French filmmaker Laure De Clermont-Tonnerre , whose second film this is after her wonderful debut “The Mustang,” I’d say the passion-meter this time around is no different than expected from a coolly adult indie, but its dramatic, artistic heft overall never really rises above that of a solid “Masterpiece Theater” telling.

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Where this “Lady Chatterley” does set itself apart is in adhering to its titular character’s viewpoint, as if it were a first-person romantic journey from wedding excitement to marital disillusionment on a stifling estate, then body-and-soul conversion in the surrounding woods with O’Connell’s virile, kind-eyed gamekeeper. And Corrin is up to the task. The requirements of intimacy acting aside, the actor (who uses they/them pronouns) brings coltish physicality and expressive flush to all their scenes — whether lonely or laughing, aggravated or emboldened. It’s a true star performance, the light of intelligence practically beaming from this awakened woman’s eyes.

And those eyes do a lot of the best storytelling here. In the early scenes they twinkle with hope as everyone believes a happy marriage — and Chatterley heir — is assured between bubbly, sharp Constance ( Corrin ) and the Baronet Clifford (Matthew Duckett). When the Great War paralyzes Clifford’s legs, however, life at Wragby for Connie turns secretarial and nurse-like regarding her increasingly preoccupied husband, while her own need for human affection becomes a gnawing thirst.

When she meets working-class gamekeeper Oliver Mellors, those baby blues signal finding a kindred spirit in hurt, searching and sensitivity — all nicely reflected in O’Connell’s tough but warm Derbyshire accent. He too is a war veteran, but his wounds are a bad marriage’s, and like her, he reads. (Screenwriter David Magee puts Joyce on his hut shelf, a nod and a wink to D.H. Lawrence’s peer in the banned-book club.)

Connie’s and Oliver’s learned language together, however, is sensuality, whether practiced inside his hut with sunlight filtering through the slats, or outside among the trees and flowers. But these scenes are never as erotic as they should be; they feel rushed and restless, the camerawork and cutting hesitant to land on carnal joy, and marked by a lighting scheme and color palette in Benoit Delhomme’s cinematography too diffuse and monochromatic to suggest a torrent of blooming feelings. When Connie wears yellow or red clothing, it’s often more alive than the actors’ skin tones at ostensibly the height of ecstasy. Clermont-Tonnerre’s emphasis on playfulness and energy is understandable, but an opportunity to bring back a layered epicness to sex on film feels lost.

As the infidelity plot barrels toward its reckoning with class prejudice, and the moody, thumping cello returns to Isabella Summers’ strings-centered score, Corrin’s vibrant performance keeps us engaged. But so does Joely Richardson — a one-time Lady Chatterley herself (star of the aforementioned ‘90s serial) — this time around playing empathetic mine widow Mrs. Bolton, and Duckett’s portrait of uncaring ruling class prejudice carries the right mix of cluelessness and anger. The sex in this “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” may only be so-so this time around, but there’s no denying when Connie tells off her husband about his callous treatment of everyone; in this day and age of terrible bossmen, that counts as a climax.

'Lady Chatterley’s Lover'

Rated: R, for strong sexual content, graphic nudity and some language Running time: 2 hours, 6 minutes Playing: Starts Nov. 23, IPIC Theaters, Westwood; available Dec. 2 on Netflix

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‘lady chatterley’s lover’ review: emma corrin and jack o’connell bring classic characters to steamy new life.

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel about an upper-class woman’s affair with a working-class man, scripted by David Magee, premiered in Telluride.

By Sheri Linden

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Lady Chatterley's Lover. (L to R) Emma Corrin as Lady Chatterley, Jack O'Connell as Oliver Mellors in Lady Chatterley's Lover.

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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ Telluride Review: Emma Corrin And Jack O’Connell In Sizzling New Version Of Classic Novel

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The story is familiar, nearly a century old now. Connie marries Sir Clifford Chatterley, becoming Lady Constance Chatterley as the happy couple moves to his family estate Wragley in the Midlands. However, like so many at the time he is called back to the front in World War I and returns to his new bride six months later in a wheelchair and paralyzed from the waist down. Despite his depression she assures him it will not affect their marriage, even if he can’t partake in his manly duties. Soon he begins to write again, and to even fix up the estate hiring a new gameskeeper in Oliver, and even at one point suggesting that the desired child Connie wants to have is very possible, perhaps finding a proper man as a surrogate to impregnate her with the caveat that no one ever know the baby isn’t Clifford’s.

Once convinced she could live this marriage “of the mind,” Connie’s physical needs come to the forefront upon meeting Oliver, whose own wife played around on him when he was off to the war but still hasn’t divorced her. In no time, with her hand touching his flesh a torrid series of clandestine meetings occur between the pair as her sexuality heightens to boiling hot, and the secret union changes her in many ways, even when the town begins to gossip. When she discovers she is actually pregnant things get, uh, complicated.

Once the heat is turned on, deClermont-Tonnerre proves adept at filming passionate, unclothed scenes that must have kept the intimacy coordinator working overtime. Corrin is simply terrific as the unleashed Lady Chatterley, and she and the equally fine O’Connell throw everything against the wall — including themselves — in this increasingly intense and dangerous fling that seems to prove love has to be physical, not just in the mind. They do it lying down, standing up, inside, outside, even a fully naked and unashamed romp in the pouring rain. It seems there is a new sex scene every 10 to 15 minutes, but the director and her Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Magee are up to the task of keeping it interesting. Magee, with credits for Finding Neverland, Life of Pi and Mary Poppins Returns, proves he is able go all X-rated when he has to, but because both stars are first-class actors, and the production really top flight as well, this may be the best Lady Chatterley yet filmed — certainly it is not boring.

Among the rest of the cast, Matthew Duckett as Clifford gains our sympathy until he doesn’t, Faye Marsay is fine as Connie’s sister who worries about her, and best of all Joely Richardson (who actually played Lady Chatterley in a 1993 TV series) is elegant and just right as Mrs. Bolton the woman hired to look after Clifford when it became too much for Connie. Benoit Delhomme’s luscious cinematography deserves special mention, along with Isabella Summers’ lovely musical score. Producers are Laurence Mark, Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent.

The film represents the first collaboration in Sony’Pictures’ first look deal with Netflix for their movies intended for streaming. Elizabeth Gabler’s Fox 2000 label developed it first at 20th but then took it with her to Sony where Netflix got a chance to join the film early on with the director and Corrin already attached. Netflix will likely release in theaters in November followed by a debut on the streamer in December, where fans of the likes of Bridgerton will likely eat it up.

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Netflix’s Steamy Lady Chatterley’s Lover Breathes Fresh Life Into a Once-Forbidden Novel

T o rescue a book from its status as a punchline is a noble goal, and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre has pulled it off with her thoughtful and radiantly carnal adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, a book many people think they know even if they’ve never read it. Full disclosure: I haven’t read it either, but now I will, given the complexity, ambition and beauty of Clermont-Tonnerre’s film. The picture is, in places, a bit decorous; set on an estate in the English countryside, it’s gorgeous to look at, which always sets off the old Masterpiece Theater alarm—does this thing look good only because this gorgeous landscape is impossible to ruin? (The cinematography is by veteran DP Benoît Delhomme, and it’s sparkling no matter what, as are Emma Fryer’s costumes.) But even if you believe you’re settling in for just another Lady Chatterley adaptation—there have been plenty already—at least this is a film, a rather sexually explicit one, that’s reaching for something rather than shrinking away. In a world where we always seem to be recoiling, where refusal and fear are always easier than saying yes, Clermont-Tonnerre and her actors strive for boldness. If Lawrence’s ideas were radical, and sometimes unpopular, in the late 1920s, they can still rattle us today—and maybe we need to be rattled.

Emma Corrin (splendid, recently, as the young Lady Diana in The Crown ) plays Connie Reid, a well-heeled young woman who has just married a baronet, Matthew Duckett’s Clifford Chatterley. That means she has married well, and she’s happy enough with her new husband, who’s just about to go off to war. But everything changes when he comes back: he has suffered injuries that have permanently confined him to a wheelchair. Connie has become the mistress of his family estate, also inheriting a stuffy bedroom decorated with stale Victoriana. And the sex life to which she was clearly looking forward at the beginning of her marriage has evaporated. Clifford assures her that it doesn’t bother him much— he’ll be all right. But he doesn’t stop to think about what this new life might mean for her.

Lady Chatterley's Lover. (L to R) Emma Corrin as Lady Constance, Matthew Duckett as Clifford in Lady Chatterley's Lover. Cr. Parisa Taghizadeh/Netflix © 2022.

He does, however, want an heir, and he’s open-minded enough to suggest, to Connie’s initial horror, that she go out and discreetly find a suitable lover to serve as sperm donor. His rules are firm—Connie must not get emotionally attached to this stud-slash-paramour—which means they’re just begging to be broken. And sure enough, Connie’s loneliness and sexual frustration intensify into a firestorm around one of Clifford’s employees, the former army officer, well-read but of the lower classes, he has recently hired as gameskeeper. Oliver Mellors ( Jack O’Connell ) may not literally own the property he works on, but he’s the king of it even so, his heavy boots familiar with every inch of it, rough scarves tucked jauntily into his work shirts, more dashing than any silk cravat. Connie begins to find more excuses to stop by the little hut where Oliver works, always with a book in tow. Soon she starts forgetting the book. She’s particularly entranced by a group of newly hatched pheasant chicks—she asks Oliver if she can touch one, but she’s afraid. He gently cups her hand in his, and they scoop up a chick as one. It’s only a matter of time before they’re meeting, every chance they get, for sex that’s at first purely hungry and later, as their emotional attachment blossoms, more fine-tuned.

This can end well for neither of them, but their love is pure even so. It’s also what opens Connie’s eyes to the useless rigidity of class distinctions, and to her husband’s real shortcomings, which have nothing to do with the state of his hydraulics. Clifford thinks he’s a member of the ruling class for one reason, to rule, and that’s perfectly fine by him. The closer Connie draws to her cottage lover, the more repellent she finds her husband. She also comes to see the real damage that war does to men, and how they need to find tenderness within themselves to counteract it. Clermont-Tonnerre deftly weaves these ideas into the narrative, but her actors never come off as mere mouthpieces for concepts. Corrin is wonderful. She plays Connie as a woman who’s picking up signals from the air around her, little bits of information about how to live and breathe that have never managed to reach her before. And O’Connell plays Oliver with the right balance of scampish joy and wariness. As the duo’s commitment deepens, the danger around them escalates. “We haven’t thought beyond tomorrow, have we?” he says to Connie, who harbors dreams of running away with him. O’Connell brushes the moment with a kind of pragmatic mournfulness.

Lady Chatterley's Lover. (L to R) Emma Corrin as Lady Constance, Jack O'Connell as Oliver in Lady Chatterley's Lover. Cr. Seamus Ryan/Netflix © 2022.

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Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre from a screenplay by David Magee, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is yet another adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s novel, one that pushes the envelope in refreshing ways and finds a balance between the characters’ emotions, the issues of class, and nicely filmed sex scenes. The romance is elevated by Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell’s lovely chemistry, and their affair is made believable because the film is grounded. With so much to offer viewers, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a strong, romantic, and enthralling adaptation that boasts wonderful performances, and an eroticism that has been missing from the romance genre lately.

Constance “Connie” Reid (Corrin) is newly married to Sir Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett) and is excited about moving forward in her life with a man she loves. But, it’s not long before Clifford is off to fight in World War I, where he is injured and paralyzed from the waist down. Upon his return, the couple moves from London to the Wragby estate, where Connie, now Lady Chatterley, begins to feel trapped in her monotonous daily life. With Clifford no longer capable of having sex, he encourages Connie to choose someone of upper class status with whom she can produce an heir. Connie is put off by this suggestion, but, as she starts to take her daily walks, she meets and falls in love with Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), the estate’s gamekeeper. Due to their class differences and other complications, however, the pair must keep their affair a secret or risk the consequences if it ever comes to light.

Related: Living Review: Bill Nighy Gets Vulnerable In Touching Adaptation [Middleburg]

Crucially, Lady Chatterley’s Lover takes the time to explore its characters. They never feel thinly written or underdeveloped. Lady Chatterley and Oliver have their individual reasons for keeping their affair a secret, which only deepens their characters and gives the film some proper and non-contrived conflict that slowly builds. The film not only explores the differences in class, but what it means for the characters to be happy. In Lady Chatterley’s case, she is trapped in a marriage that takes more than it gives, with Clifford Chatterley — though believing he loves in his own way — being too self-involved to give his wife the attention and tenderness she craves. Oliver is also stuck in a marriage with seemingly no way out, which bonds him to Lady Chatterley in ways only they can truly understand, providing their relationship with more layers than their attraction to each other.

That said, Lady Chatterley’s Lover doesn’t hold back on capitalizing on the sexual attraction between the pair. There are a good amount of sex scenes that are quite steamy, playful, and erotic. It’s a nice change considering how many romantic films are lacking in that department, as they’ve been fairly chaste and watered down to the point they don’t even include much longing. In Clermont-Tonnerre’s film, there is plenty of desire, palpable tension, and gentle vulnerability throughout. It helps immensely that Corrin and O’Connell have plenty of chemistry together, which greatly uplifts their scenes and makes audiences truly care about their romance. Corrin is assured in her role, balancing the wonder and down-to-earth traits of Lady Chatterley with her yearning and growing sense of self and confidence. O’Connell brings a sense of ruggedness to pair with Oliver’s warmth. Whether apart or together, the actors bring out the best in their characters and each other.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is very much about the titular character’s sexual awakening and, importantly, standing up for what she really wants out of her life instead of watching as the days pass her by with no happiness or change. Clifford cannot provide her with what she needs despite the fact that she still cares for him, and the film conveys that exceptionally well. All told, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the kind of romance movie that isn’t made very much anymore. It’s a thoughtful, desire-filled romance that has depth, exploring Connie and Oliver’s hearts and minds, as well as examining class and societal constraints. It’s a wonderful and engaging watch that will surely satisfy audiences.

Next: White Noise Review: Noah Baumbach's Latest Is Messy, Tedious Drama [Middleburg]

Lady Chatterley’s Lover played during the 2022 Middleburg Film Festival. The film releases in select theaters on November 23 and will be available to stream on Netflix December 2. It is 103 minutes long and is rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity and some language.

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A Film That Makes Sex Scenes Look Like Works of Art

Netflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover updates the book’s treatment of sex, presenting the act as not just an erotic force, but a miraculous one.

Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell mid-embrace in "Lady Chatterley's Lover"

Lady Chatterley’s Lover , D. H. Lawrence’s infamous 1928 novel about an upper-class woman’s extramarital affair with her gamekeeper, was considered so obscene that it was banned in multiple countries for years. But as much pleasure as the author took in describing, well, pleasure, he wasn’t distasteful, just bold for his time. When writing clandestine trysts, Lawrence detailed every motion, thrust, and caress with relish. He especially liked equating desire to a flame—a warmth that guided his titular aristocrat out of her ennui. Lady Constance “Connie” Chatterley’s sexual awakening, he wrote, was like a “curious molten thrilling that spread and spread.”

Netflix’s adaptation, which started streaming yesterday, takes a different route to illustrating lust. Unlike many previous onscreen versions, this film eschews the soft glow of Lawrence’s words for a more haunting aura. The director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre drenches her cast in a blue tone, transforming what could have been another titillating period piece into something more mesmerizing. The naked actors often look like figures from a painting—surreal and sumptuous rather than merely erotic. Seen through shaky-cam shots, Connie (played by Emma Corrin) and her paramour, Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), appear as wild, breathless creatures. The film updates the book’s treatment of sex, presenting the act not just a “molten” force, but a miraculous one.

Read: The soft radicalism of erotic fiction

Connie and Oliver, after all, aren’t merely having an illicit fling. When the former arrives at Wragby Hall, the Midlands estate that her husband, Clifford (Matthew Duckett), has just inherited, she’s begun to fall out of love with him and with her privileged life. Clifford is paralyzed from the waist down after being injured in World War I, and he becomes dependent on her not as a wife, but as a nurse and an audience for his egotistical lectures. Their previous fondness is replaced by a brutal, cold intellectualism. Because he needs to produce an heir, Clifford callously suggests that Connie should find a mate to secretly impregnate her. When she protests, he encourages her to think of such a rendezvous as a “trip to the dentist.” In the face of Clifford’s growing cruelty—toward Connie and toward the workers at his coal mines—Connie grows ill and wary. She wanders the dark halls of Wragby like a living ghost, purposeless until she meets Oliver. In Lawrence’s book, her changed relationship with Clifford proves that the mind alone cannot sustain intimacy between a man and a woman. The movie pushes this idea further: Sex becomes necessary for the survival of Connie’s soul.

The approach is provocative, and its effect is perhaps akin to that of the novel’s first release: Readers were scandalized by Connie and Oliver’s untamed escapades in the woods, which blurred class lines and challenged England’s postwar, industrialist attitude. De Clermont-Tonnerre understands that the lovers’ behavior and Lawrence’s social commentary no longer spur much pearl-clutching, so instead, she surprises viewers by adding uncanny elements to her most explicit scenes. Gorgeous tableaus of Connie and Oliver having sex against tree trunks and in grassy fields shock for how dreamlike they appear amid the most grounded settings. At times, the score blends scratchy strings with static, a sound more likely to accompany a horror movie than a costume drama. Even the conventional setups—the pair in bed, legs and fingers tangled together—come with an eerie sheen, saturated in shadows.

One frame in particular has lingered in my mind, of Connie and Oliver reclining nude atop a bed of moss. The shot is sideways, so that the couple appear to be vertical, with the sky to the left and the ground to the right. As idyllic as the moment is, this world, the film suggests, is off balance—and tragically so. Connie has limited agency despite her station; though she finds escape with Oliver, he’s still her husband’s employee. Their relationship is impossible, given the rules of English society. Frolicking in the forests with flowers in their hair does not make them free.

From the July 1959 issue: Lady Chatterley in America

But the shot also highlights a message in Lawrence’s work that has been clouded by salaciousness in most other adaptations: The stakes are high, not just because of the class boundaries, but also because of the liaison’s postwar setting. A little hope has blossomed—like a verdant blanket of fresh moss—between two people, despite the surrounding hardships. “Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically,” reads the opening line of the novel, an admirable but painful outlook Lawrence attributes to Connie. These characters are caught in an era of transformation; a grief-struck England was becoming even more mechanical and less pastoral, while dealing with high levels of unemployment and debt . Passion, however pure, could risk throwing off the level-headedness needed in such turbulent times.

De Clermont-Tonnerre’s film threatens, in some scenes, to become a tad too romantic. Oliver can be coarse and mocking in the book, but in this version, he’s gracious while servicing Connie until she climaxes, making him the ideal object of her affection. Connie, meanwhile, is playful toward her lover from the start, seducing and teasing him; she’s the opposite of the “quiescent” woman Lawrence describes during the characters’ first encounters. Late in the film, as the plot forces Connie and Oliver apart, a friend observes that what has happened between them “is a love story.” The line is overly saccharine and far too on the nose.

Still, the otherwise thoughtful adaptation entranced me. Corrin and O’Connell embrace their liberated, sensual characters with a vitality that contrasts magnificently with the film’s moody atmosphere. The blue-hued images force the eye to adjust, to look more closely at the lovemaking, and to find unexpected insights in those enigmatic tones. These scenes are not just hot, but also sublime for the way they portray the characters’ intense yearning. The film captures the subtle arc Lawrence was tracing beneath his “obscene” scenes: Lady Chatterley’s gentle, gradual enlightenment. His working title for the book was Tenderness . It’s only right that his story should be retold with the same delicate touch.

Lady Chatterley's Lover (I) (2022)

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Movie Review – Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)

December 2, 2022 by Robert Kojder

Lady Chatterley’s Lover , 2022.

Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Starring Emma Corrin, Jack O’Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson, Ella Hunt, Faye Marsay, Nicholas Bishop, Anthony Brophy, Eugene O’Hare, Rachel Andrews, Jonah Russell, Sandra Huggett, Ellie Piercy, Rachel Pedley, Zoé Wallon, Marianne McIvor, Holly Dennis, and Christopher Jordan.

An unhappily married aristocrat begins a torrid affair with the gamekeeper on her husband’s country estate.

Barely knowing each other as Lady Chatterley’s Lover begins, aristocrat Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett) and commoner Connie Reid (Emma Corrin) wed. Almost immediately after, Clifford is shuffled off to the Great War, where he returns injured without leg mobility. It’s not a dealbreaker yet for Connie, who sincerely tries to adapt her vision of this marriage, taking on a combination role of lover and caretaker. The latter sees her spirited and optimistic regarding getting more efficient in assisting Clifford dress and undressing. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

Aside from building up unsatisfied sexual cravings that Clifford possesses no interest in fulfilling (which is somewhat ironic given Connie’s wiser and protective sister suggested he might only want to marry for pleasure) that he could at least try to meet regardless of being wheelchair-bound (he could get creative about it if he wanted to, but only seems to care about sex when it’s for conceiving an heir), this newfound wealth of free time to get to know each other better at his estate (complete with a new servant staff) also reveals that Clifford is a bit of a ruling class asshole without sympathy for anyone lower on the totem pole, especially the miners breaking their backs daily on his behalf.

In what initially comes across as progressive and forward-thinking, Clifford suggests Connie take a man of her choosing for sex. However, there are some caveats: his idea comes from a place of selfishness and wanting a child, with little concern for how any of this makes Connie feel. He’s not introducing something polyamorous to help his wife’s sexual frustrations but scheming for personal gain. Then, he also lays down some ground rules on what kind of men are okay to sleep with while stressing that he wants to be kept in the dark about who it is. The man also absolutely can’t be gamekeeper Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), who he deems a degenerate and beneath her economically and socially.

As it turns out, Oliver is charming, intellectual, attractive, and lonely for reasons that somewhat mirror Connie, bringing them closer together. It’s to be appreciated that director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (previously having worked on underappreciated gem prison-set horse bonding drama The Mustang ) and screenwriter David Magee (a wise choice to adapt the novel from D.H. Lawrence, as he can funnel his previous fable-centric work on projects like Finding Neverland into similarly dreamy material albeit bursting with passionate sex here) takes time heightening the sexual tension, even if it gets to the point where one is begging for these two to fuck already.

It’s not long before Connie and Oliver finally make love for the first of many times, at one point (exquisitely photographed by Benoît Delhomme), embracing nude on the grass as if they are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (not that the film has any religious connotations whatsoever, just that it’s the imagery that came to mind). Further pleasant is that the filmmakers don’t hold back, allowing the intimacy to be steamy and graphic (the lovemaking starts off plain, quickly becoming rougher and more risqué).

After one of the aforementioned sessions, there is also a brief glimpse of Connie giggling and happily assisting Oliver to get dressed, making for a subtle, ingenious juxtaposition to her efforts doing the same thing for her husband but inside of a caretaker position. Some characters understandably assume Connie confuses sex with love, but at this moment, it becomes evident that perhaps if Clifford focused on her happiness and needs while also not being a heartless and unforgiving jerk to anyone beneath him, maybe she would be able to smile while dressing him the same way. Or perhaps it’s just a juxtaposition of love and lust. Either way, it’s undeniable proof that there’s much going on here visually, adding greater context to a relatively simple tale of adultery.

It’s not perfect by any means, as the characterization of Clifford still feels a bit too villainy and one-dimensional. His hired caretaker Mrs. Bolton (Joely Richardson, formerly having played the titular role), is more than willing to perform those duties, except it’s met with contention since it’s not Connie. Meanwhile, Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell sizzle with emotional complexity as Lady Chatterley’s Lover also explores the risks and messages it sends to the general public if this true love affair comes to light.

Some appear willing to shame Connie, while others see her as a woman willing to risk her privilege and social class for love. As for viewers, they should find themselves swept up in this steamy and complicated entanglement.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Lady chatterley's lover, common sense media reviewers.

Romantic period drama celebrates true love; sex, nudity.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The importance of true love, and how it must be fo

Connie Reid (or Lady Chatterley) is incredibly str

While the film has a nearly all-White cast, the na

Character threatens another with a gun.

Frequent, graphic, simulated sex. Two characters e

"F--k" is used on a few occasions along with "bloo

Characters drink alcohol at social events.

Positive Messages

The importance of true love, and how it must be fought for, despite what society and class dictates. This does lead to plenty of sneaking around and deceit within the film. Women's sexuality is to be celebrated.

Positive Role Models

Connie Reid (or Lady Chatterley) is incredibly strong-willed, and in touch with her sexuality. She has autonomy of herself and tends to her desires, at a time when many women weren't able to do so. She is also willing to sacrifice everything for love. Meanwhile, her husband, Clifford, is quite selfish, and old-fashioned, a product of the era. He is suffering from PTSD. Oliver Mellors shows Connie kindness and is sensitive toward her needs. He is aware of the potential repercussions of their relationship but doesn't let this stop them.

Diverse Representations

While the film has a nearly all-White cast, the narrative is centered around a female lead, and really celebrates her sexual needs and desires. The movie is also directed by a French woman. A prominent character is a wheelchair user having been injured in war and is living with PTSD.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Frequent, graphic, simulated sex. Two characters engage in intercourse, both completely naked, indoors and outdoors. There is quite physical, semi-degrading sex, which is led and encouraged by the female. There is one scene where two characters dance around together, both fully nude.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k" is used on a few occasions along with "bloody," "damn," and "hell." "God" and "Jesus" also used as exclamations.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Lady Chatterley's Lover is a romantic drama -- based on D.H. Lawrence's classic novel -- that features plenty of sex and nudity. It stars Emma Corrin as the aristocratic Connie Reid and Jack O'Connell as her gamekeeper Oliver Mellors, who becomes her lover. There are numerous graphic sex scenes with both lead characters seen fully nude -- including full frontal when dancing in the rain. One sex scene between the couple is quite rough and degrading to Connie, but she encourages it. That sets the tone for a film that explores female desire, at a time when it simply wasn't explored. Connie is strong-willed and courageous, whereas her husband, Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett), represents an old-fashioned man in that world. As such, she feels trapped when with him, which in part leads Connie to her affair. Despite their different social standings, Connie and Oliver risk everything to be with one another with the positive message being that true love will prevail. There is swearing in the film with a few uses of the word "f--k." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Lady Chatterley's Lover: Emma Corrin looking on in a forest

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Based on 3 parent reviews

Less should have been more.

What's the story.

LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER is the story of aristocrat Connie Reid ( Emma Corrin ), who is in an unhappy marriage and in desperate need of true love in her life. Which she finds in an unlikely place, as she begins an impassioned affair with her gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors ( Jack O'Connell ). Though with their standings in society so different, the question remains: is this sustainable?

Is It Any Good?

This reimagining of D.H. Lawrence's classic novel is a story that has been told before, a few times. Yet this version of Lady Chatterley's Lover is a more than welcome and capable adaptation of the one-time controversial piece of literature. Interestingly, director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and writer David Magee have resisted any urge to massively deviate from the source material. It remains very true to the original text.

The fact that this retelling still grabs your attention is credit to Clermont-Tonnerre's accomplished cinematic storytelling. There's a confidence to her filmmaking style, and she evidently trusts her two leads, and she has every right to. Corrin and O'Connell are both brilliant in the leading roles, especially Corrin who truly shines as the film's titular character, doing as much justice to Lady Chatterley as they did Lady Diana in the fourth season of The Crown .

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Lady Chatterley's Lover portrayed sex . Was it affectionate? Respectful? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

How did Connie differ from those around her? How did she display courage ? Would you describer her as a positive role model ? Why, or why not?

Talk about the strong language in the movie. Did it seem necessary or excessive? What did it contribute to the movie?

This movie is an adaptation of a classic novel. Why do you think it was so controversial when it was released? Have you seen any other movies based on books ?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 23, 2022
On DVD or streaming : December 2, 2022
Cast : Emma Corrin , Jack O'Connell , Joely Richardson
Director : Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Inclusion Information : Non-Binary actors, Queer actors, Female actors
Studio : Netflix
Genre : Romance
Topics : Book Characters , Great Girl Role Models , History
Character Strengths : Courage
Run time : 126 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong sexual content, graphic nudity and some language
Last updated : February 17, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Emma Corrin, most famous for playing a marginalized and dissatisfied British royal wife, has moved onto the role of … a marginalized and dissatisfied British aristocratic wife.

And, just as Corrin was so affecting as the younger Princess Diana on Netflix’s “The Crown,” the performer is beguiling and irrepressible as Lady Chatterley in the streamer’s new film “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER

Running time: 126 minutes. <br>Rated R (strong sexual content, graphic nudity and some language.) On Netflix Dec. 2.

The adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s once widely banned novel, classily-trashily directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, is as steamy as you’d expect a 2022 take on the roll-in-the-hay material to be. The ample sex scenes are along the unsparing lines of Hulu’s “Normal People.” As they should be. You can’t very well do a prudish “Chatterley.”

But before she rips off her clothes in ecstasy, Constance is the devoted new bride of Sir Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett, sympathetic not stuffy) who, although expected to produce an heir to inherit his Wragby estate, marries her strictly for love.

When he goes off to war and becomes paralyzed from the waist down — no longer able to have children — he suggests his wife have a fling to make a baby. What the servants and townsfolk don’t know won’t hurt them.

Lady Chatterley (Emma Corrin) gets it on with the gamekeeper (Jack O'Connell) in "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

She takes up with Oliver (Jack O’Connell), the working-class gameskeeper, who is not only rugged and hot and lives in a romantic cottage in the forest, but also has a passion for reading. A work of fiction, indeed.

But their woodland hookups, which don’t involve much chat with Lady Chatterley, turn high-stakes as the pair falls in love, and her husband’s caretaker Mrs. Bolton (Joely Richardson) catches onto the affair. The prospect of remaining with the increasingly embittered Clifford becomes torturous.

Constance's home life begins to crumble as she grows closer and closer to Oliver.

“Chatterley” is the book that launched a thousand tales, and this story — with its class divides, risky affair and sexual awakening — is ubiquitous across film, TV and novels. Lawrence’s work has been adapted countless times.

With plot surprises off the table, its success comes down to the casting of Connie and Oliver and the tension and heat they summon to melt frigid Wragby. And Corrin and O’Connell are ghost-pepper spicy.

O’Connell shrewdly walks the line between a here’s-your-firewood-ma’am stud in a couple’s role playing game and the layered, complex, sensitive type you’d find in a BBC period drama. It’s easy to believe him and Corrin shacking up in his shack.

Oliver (Jack O'Connell) not only works with nature and is a hunk — he loves to read.

As for mega-talented Corrin, much was said of those oceanic eyes as they relate to Princess Diana’s piercing stares during “The Crown.” But Corrin’s peepers are just as devastating and dreamy on a character with her own unique struggles and a different, old-world maturity. The performer conveys the euphoria of an affair — essential — with the same power as the pressures and terror of one.

Only 26 years old and Corrin’s career is already — like Lady Chatterley and Oliver’s loins — on fire.

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Lady Chatterley's Lover

Where to Watch

Emma Corrin (Connie Reid) Jack O'Connell (Oliver Mellors) Matthew Duckett (Clifford Chatterley) Joely Richardson (Mrs. Bolton) Faye Marsay (Hilda) Ella Hunt (Mrs. Flint) Anthony Brophy (Sir Malcolm Reid) Rachel Andrews (Lily) Eugene O'Hare (Michaelis) Jonah Russell (Mr. Linley)

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

An unhappily married aristocrat begins a torrid affair with the gamekeeper on her husband's country estate.

Lady Chatterley's Lover tries, and fails, to have it both ways

Netflix's new adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence classic tries to be sexy and classy, but ends up in an unhappy middle …

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Emma Corrin as Lady Chatterley and Jack O'Connell as Mellors on the brink of kissing, outdoors.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover review – sensuality as an almost religious revelation

Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell carry this idealistic, moving French version of DH Lawrence’s transgressive novel

H ere is a movie that could so easily collapse into self-satire, especially at the first sneery-knowing intonation of the word “milady”, a phrase probably now most associated with Parker from Thunderbirds. But the commitment and passion of its two lead performers, Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell, carries this new version of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and the actor turned director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre finds the keynote of idealism. The film is never shy of eroticism and full-on sex, if sometimes going for a slightly quaint soft-focus approach. But Clermont-Tonnerre is never in any doubt that this is a love story. The last adaptation of any note was from another French film-maker, Pascale Ferran’s flawed Lady Chatterley (based on an earlier version of the book). Perhaps it takes a French and not a British director to respond to Lawrence’s forbidden tale of forbidden love. It is the middle of the first world war and Constance Reid (Corrin) is the beautiful and impulsive young woman of upper-class birth and progressive views who, after a chequered emotional past, honestly believes herself to be in love with Sir Clifford Chatterley; they get married before he has to return to the front, hardly knowing each other at all. At the war’s end, he is a gloomier figure, using a wheelchair after a terrible war injury, and it is in a sombre mood that the new Lady Chatterley is to arrive with him at Wragby, his vast country estate, paid for by the sweated labour at his colliery.

There, she is alienated from the friends he invites up from London for the weekend. Sir Clifford is a shallow, meretricious figure: after dabbling in writing fiction, he throws himself into making his colliery even more profitable by laying off some miners and exploiting the rest more ruthlessly. This impotent plutocrat is coldly obsessed with producing an heir, making it clear to the bewildered Constance that he will permit her to have a discreet affair if that produces the correct result. As it happens, Constance has become obsessed with the handsome gamekeeper, Mellors (vehemently played by O’Connell, who maintains his character’s dignity). He is the only person in her life capable of human sympathy.

Hypocrisy as well as sex is what supercharges the story. Sir Clifford is quite content for Constance to stray as long as it is with someone of the right class. But the film shows how Constance is a hypocrite herself: she initially considers using Mellors to get pregnant without considering his feelings. But their relationship and their sensuality become an almost religious revelation to them both. Love and sex, two things taken so casually for granted in so many different kinds of story, here become totemic articles of faith. Lady Chatterley still has the power to move.

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COMMENTS

Lady Chatterley's Lover movie review (2022)
"Lady Chatterley's Lover" is Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's second feature. Her first film was in 2019's "Mustang," starring Matthias Schoenaerts as a prison inmate participating in a rehabilitation program involving the taming of wild mustangs."Mustang" was one of the hidden gems of 2019, with Schoenaerts giving a great performance as a violent man filled with shame about his violent past.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
Dec 7, 2022 Full Review Nuha Hassan Nuha Hassan Lady Chatterley's Lover is a powerful and passionate depiction of intimacy and pleasure, which provides an idealistic perspective of the story.
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: When Connie Met Ollie
Clifford Chatterley (a finely tuned Matthew Duckett) strikes his new bride, Constance Reid, as a kind and progressive fellow. He's also a baronet, master of an estate near a coal-mining village ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
Lady Chatterley's Lover: Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. With Emma Corrin, Jack O'Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson. An unhappily married aristocrat begins a torrid affair with the gamekeeper on her husband's country estate.
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 30, 2022. Lady Chatterley's Lover will surprise audiences with how much investment in its characters it is able to achieve. This is a slow burn of ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: Emma Corrin Is Sexy and Smart
When D.H. Lawrence's final novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was widely published for the first time in 1960 (other versions circulated in 1928 and 1929), the book ignited a firestorm that ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: New Version Is an Affair to ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell Have an Affair to Remember Reviewed at Netflix Main screening room, Los Angeles, Aug. 30, 2022. In Telluride Film Festival.
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' review: Emma Corrin's star performance
Review: Despite so-so sex, 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' features a vibrant Emma Corrin. Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell in the movie "Lady Chatterley's Lover.". Period movies often say ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
Lady Chatterley's Lover: Directed by Sasha Regan. With Jake Halsey-Jones, Sam Kipling, Georgia Lennon, Emma Lindars. The 2021 West End romantic musical Lady Chatterley's Lover, adapted from D.H. Lawrence's novel, stars Georgia Lennon as Lady Chatterley, delving into love and class division through an affair. Music by John Robinson, book by Phil Willmott.
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: Emma Corrin Toplines Steamy Adaptation
Lady Chatterley's Lover. The Bottom Line Sharp, streamlined and sensuous. Venue: Telluride Film Festival. Cast: Emma Corrin, Jack O'Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson. Director: Laure de ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Review: Emma Corriin Sizzling
September 2, 2022 11:30pm. 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Netflix. From the moment it was published in 1928, D.H. Lawrence's steamy romance of a commoner and artistocratic wife has met with outrage ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Breathes Fresh Life Into the Novel
December 2, 2022 9:00 AM EST. T o rescue a book from its status as a punchline is a noble goal, and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre has pulled it off with her thoughtful and radiantly carnal adaptation ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover Review: Leads Sizzle In Magnetic Romance
Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre from a screenplay by David Magee, Lady Chatterley's Lover is yet another adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel, one that pushes the envelope in refreshing ways and finds a balance between the characters' emotions, the issues of class, and nicely filmed sex scenes. The romance is elevated by Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell's lovely chemistry, and ...
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Makes Sex Scenes Look Like Works of Art
December 3, 2022. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence's infamous 1928 novel about an upper-class woman's extramarital affair with her gamekeeper, was considered so obscene that it was ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) Movie Review
A setting 20th century author D. H. Lawrence found ripe for a love story. Emma Corrin stars as the titular character in director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover. When Constance "Connie" Chatterley's husband Clifford (Matthew Duckett) returns from the war paralyzed from the waist down, the couple ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022 film)
Lady Chatterley's Lover is a 2022 historical romantic drama film directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre from a screenplay by David Magee based on the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence. The film stars Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell.. Lady Chatterley's Lover was released in select cinemas on 25 November 2022, before its streaming release on 2 December 2022, by Netflix.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
vb-69988 27 January 2023. D. H Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover is a classic that has been adapted multiple times on the screen, including a recent release on Netflix. The novel was first published in 1928 and 1929 in Italy and France, and in 1932 in England, but only in edited excerpts.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
Lady Chatterley's Lover, 2022. Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Starring Emma Corrin, Jack O'Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson, Ella Hunt, Faye Marsay, Nicholas Bishop, Anthony ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover Movie Review
Lady Chatterley's Lover. By Stefan Pape, Common Sense Media Reviewer. age 16+. Romantic period drama celebrates true love; sex, nudity. Movie R 2022 126 minutes. Rate movie. Parents Say: age 18+ 3 reviews.
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' review: Netflix film with steamy sex
The adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's once widely banned novel, classily-trashily directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, is as steamy as you'd expect a 2022 take on the roll-in-the-hay material ...
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) (B-)
Lady Chatterley's Lover tries, and fails, to have it both ways Netflix's new adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence classic tries to be sexy and classy, but ends up in an unhappy middle … By
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) Movie Reviews
Based on the classic D.H. Lawrence novel, a story well ahead of its time, we follow the life of Lady Chatterley, a woman born to a life of wealth and privilege, who soon finds herself married to a man that she eventually falls out of love with. Lady Chatterley engages in a torrid affair with a gamekeeper on their English estate, discovering more desire and intimacy than she thought possible ...
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