Main Cast: Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden, Eleanor Bron
Release Year: 1969
Country: UK
Run Time: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Women in Love is set in 1920s England, where free-spirited artist Gudrun (Glenda Jackson) and her schoolteacher sister Ursula (Jennie Linden) make the acquaintance of lifelong friends Gerald (Oliver Reed) and Rupert (Alan Bates). The foursome attends a picnic in honor of a pair of newlyweds, who put a damper on the proceedings (literally!) by drowning in a nearby lake. Evidently unscathed by this tragedy, Gerald and Rupert participate in a nude wrestling match later that evening (this was the sequence that got the most press, thanks to fleeting glimpses of the male stars' privates). Gerald marries Gudrun, Rupert weds Ursula, and the foursome embarks upon a Swiss honeymoon. The holiday is marred by infidelity and sudden death, leaving Rupert to wonder aloud just what it is that makes men and women "tick." An Academy Award went to Glenda Jackson, while nominations were bestowed upon screenwriter Larry Kramer and cinematographer Billy Williams (who received an uncredited assist from director Ken Russell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A film adaptation that actually does justice to the novel, Ken Russell's version of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love (1969) achieves the requisite visceral power for a story about the vicissitudes of love and lust. With the central quartet flawlessly embodied by Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Jennie Linden, and then-unknown Glenda Jackson, Russell and writer Larry Kramer delve deeply into the emotional nuances and potential fallout from the different efforts to negotiate early 20th century sexual and marital conventions -- an equally timely subject in 1969. The complex passions are given further sensuous life by Russell's soon-to-be-renowned gift for lavish visuals, with Billy Williams' golden cinematography and expressive lighting helping to turn Bates' and Reed's famous nude-wrestling match into an even more erotically charged encounter. Greeted with critical raves, especially for Jackson's vivid performance as neurotic Gudrun, Women in Love became a hit, powering Russell and Jackson to international fame, Oscar nominations, and an Oscar win for Jackson. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Kenneth V. Jones - Art Director, Ken Jones - Art Director, Terry Gilbert - Choreography, Terry Rawlings - Choreography, Martin Rosen - Co-producer, Shirley Russell - Costume Designer, Jonathan Benson - First Assistant Director, Ken Russell - Director, Michael Bradsell - Editor, Georges Delerue - Composer (Music Score), Georges Delerue - Musical Direction/Supervision, Charles Parker - Makeup, David Harcourt - Camera Operator, Billy Williams - Cinematographer, Roy Baird - Producer, Larry Kramer - Producer, Luciana Arrighi - Set Designer, Larry Kramer - Screenwriter, Frank Kramer - Screenwriter, Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Featured Music, D.H. Lawrence - Book Author
Elgar (1962, TV) ·French Dressing (1963) ·The Debussy Film (1965, TV) ·Always On Sunday (1965, TV) ·Isadora Duncan, The Biggest Dancer In The World (1966, TV) ·Dante's Inferno (1967, TV) ·Billion Dollar Brain (1967) ·Song of Summer (1968, TV) ·Women in Love (1969)
