Women in Love [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Ken Russell Ken Russell

Overview

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).

Product Details

Release Date:	03/27/2018
UPC:	0715515212816
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	2:11:00
Sales rank:	9,734

Special Features

New, restored 4k digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Two 2003 Commentaries featuring Director Ken Russell and Screenwriter Producer Larry Kramer; Segments from a 2007 Interview with Russell for the BAFTA Los Angeles Heritage Archive; A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible, Russell's 1989 biopic on his own life and career; Interview from 1976 with actor Glenda Jackson; Interviews with Kramer and Actors Alan Bates and Jennie Linden from the set; New interviews with Cinematographer Billy Williams and Editor Michael Bradsell; Second Best, a 1972 short film based onn a D.H. Lawrence story, Produced by and starring Bates; Trailer; Plus: An essay by scholar Linda Ruth Williams

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Glenda Jackson	Gudrun Brangwen
Alan Bates	Rupert Birkin
Oliver Reed	Gerald Crich
Jennie Linden	Ursula Brangwen
Eleanor Bron	Hermione Roddice
Alan Webb	Thomas Crich
Vladek Sheybal	Loerke
Catherine Willmer	Mrs. Crich
Sarah Nicholls	Winifred Crich,Winifred Crich (as Sarah Nicholls)
Sharon Gurney	Laura Crich
Christopher Gable	Tibby Lupton
Michael Gough	Tom Brangwen
Norma Shebbeare	Anna Brangwen
Nike Arrighi	Contessa
James Laurenson	Minister
Michael Graham Cox	Palmer
Richard Heffer	Leitner
Michael Garratt	Maestro
Leslie Anderson	Barber
Charles Workman	Gittens
Barrie Fletcher	Miner
Brian Osborne	Miner
Christopher Ferguson	Basis Crich
Richard Fitzgerald	Salsie
Petra Siniawski	Dancer
Alex Russell	Actor
Fred Wood	Miner (Appears During Opening Credits0
Georges Delerue	Composer

Technical Credits

Larry Kramer

D.H. Lawrence

Larry Kramer	Producer,Screenwriter
Ken Russell	Director
D.H. Lawrence	Screenwriter
Martin Rosen	Producer
Maurice Askew	Sound Effects
Terry Rawlings	Sound Effects
Brian Simmons	Sound Effects
Garth Marshall	Sound Effects
Lionel Strutt	Sound Effects
Roy Baird	Producer

Editorial Reviews

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.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola