CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Roland E. Zwick "Lady Chatterley" is a tale of repression, lust and sexual liberation set in post-World War I France. Despite its title, the movie isn't an adaptation of "Lady Chatterley's Lover," the taboo-shattering D.H. Lawrence novel that scandalized the world when it was published in 1928. The film is actually based on a Lawrence work entitled "John Thomas and Lady Jane" that came out the previous year. But the theme and storyline are just about as erotic and provocative as what we find in its more famous successor.This version features Marina Hands as the beautiful young wife of an aristocratic mine owner who's been rendered wheelchair-bound and impotent by injuries he sustained on the battlefield. Deprived of sex, Constance begins to fantasize about the husky gamekeeper who lives in the woods on the estate, and it's not long before the two of them have consummated their relationship. Jean Louis Coulloc'h is a particularly interesting casting choice as Parkin, for his scrappy features, thinning hair, linebacker's build and non-matinée-idol looks remove the story from the realm of dime-novel romance and into the arena of sheer physical attraction and lust. At least for awhile, that is, until the almost inevitable rush of feelings begins to overtake the couple, and the harsh realities of sexual mores, marital bonds and class distinctions that so define the era in which they live begin to make themselves felt.Co-written by Roger Bohbot and director Pascale Ferran, the movie is long (two-hours-and-forty-one minutes, to be exact!), episodic and deliberately paced, but the lush setting, understated human drama and moving performances keep us riveted for the duration.

jotix100 Constance Chatterley, a higher class Englishwoman, had the misfortune of marrying an impotent man. She has never known what sexual bliss is really like and there is no hope her husband will ever satisfy her because of a war injury that has rendered him unable to have sex with her. Constance, who is first seen as a dedicated wife, suddenly awakes to a life of fulfillment when she finds in Parkin, the estate's game warden, a soul mate and a man who can bring her to taste the pleasures that has been denied to her.D. H. Lawrence, the author of the novel in which the film is based on, was a man who was aware of the class struggles in his native land. He had a connection with the miners that he saw as more interesting than the moneyed rulers who employed them, and to a certain degree, exploited them. The struggle is not emphasized in this version of the novel by French director Pascale Ferran, who also contributed to its adaptation. Ms. Ferran brings out the sexual aspect to the front burner in a film that is a bit long, and a bit repetitive, at times."Lady Chatterley" main asset is the wonderful portrayal Marina Hands gives to Constance. She is a new face that seems to be a natural, as she clearly demonstrates here. Ms. Hands is equally matched by the fierce take of Jean-Louis Coullo'ch, who brings an animal quality to his interpretation of Parkin. These two actors carry the film and make it much better than it should have been.This film is greatly enhanced by Julien Hirsch's cinematography. His take of the countryside gives a serene quality to all that one sees in the film. Also, the musical score created by Beatrice Thiret is heard in the background. One can expect interesting things from Ms. Ferran in the future, as she is a new voice to be reckoned with in the French cinema.

movedout Pascale Ferran's "Lady Chatterley" arouses the intentions of an intellectual mind rather than the consummate capitulations to the cataract of passion, and other sensual stimuli. Arriving with a brag sheet that includes five 2007 Cesar Awards, including ones for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Photography, the Ferran's overreaching adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's "John Thomas And Lady Jane", clearly has pedigree and an elegantly realised French sensibility. But there has to be something said for its lack of transgressions, an unwelcoming throwback to the days of muddled visions of carnal congress that was better served by the imagination in bodice-ripping erotic literature. Even by the nature of its anti-revisionist material and its ideas of sexual awakening as a process that by extension has to entail bridled fervour, the film's divisions are so neatly devised that there's nothing left for us to react to in its hollow exercise in ardent romanticism.

Harry T. Yung This latest, French version of the well known story starts right away with a distinct flavour of its own – screen captions as those used in the silent era. But that signature is only superficial. The real difference is in the treatment of the subject matter: sex.Those who go far back enough will remember the first publishing in the 1970s of "The joy of sex", which is not unlike the "Field Guide" in "The Spiderwick Chronicles" (2008) except for the subject matter. That book which unreservedly hailed sex as a natural, joyous experience was rather courageous at the time. This movie follows very much on the same spirit. The plot is simple – the story of Lady Chatterley's affair with the gamekeeper when her husband Lord Clifford is wheelchair bound, being a war casualty.Unlike Hollywood movies that take the audience in a split second fast cut from initial encounter to hot steaming sex in bed, Lady Chatterley takes its good time. The first 45 minutes, looking more like National Geographic or Discovery Channel, takes the audience through long-range and close-up shots of flowers, plants, squirrels, chicken, rustling leaves – all part of an idyllic setting centered in the gamekeeper Parkin's humble hut far away from his master's mansion. There Lady Chatterley goes daily, initially following the doctor's instructions that the serene outdoors is the best prescription for her failing health. What follows is something "that is bound to happen" as Parkin puts it, to which the Lady completely agrees.The remarkable thing about this movie is the innocence that embraces the protagonists. It is not quite like Mrs Robinson and Benjamin Braddock "shaking hands" in "The graduate" (1967), if you remember that movie. While it started more as physical attraction than anything else, the relationship between Lady C. and Parkin evolves, through deepening affection, into genuine love. But even at the very beginning, there is something quite remarkable. The proliferation of sex scenes in movies today needs no exaggeration, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like the look of the quiet pleasure on Lady C's face right after their first love-making. She did not reach orgasm this first time; that is quite clear (that came later in another encounter, under a tree in the forest). But there is such a simple, grateful satisfaction on her face that she almost glows – and that look of childlike innocence. Marina Hands is perfect for the role.The story of Lady Chatterley became famous (or infamous) in the hands of D.H. Lawrence as a tale of insatiable lust. In this winner of five Cesars (France's Oscar) including best film and best actress, the French movie makers have rendered it into a gentle, tender love story of sheer beauty and joy. Even the unhappy ending elicits only a sigh rather than a sob. This is a delightfully refreshing cinematic experience one least expects from the title.