The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Karel Reisz

Writers:

John Fowles (novel)
Harold Pinter (screenplay)

Release Date:

August 1981 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

She was lost from the moment she saw him.

Plot:

A film is being made of a story, set in 19th century England, about Charles, a biologist who's engaged to be married...

Plot Keywords:

Melancholy | Love | 19th Century | Behind The Scenes | Lieutenant

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Meryl Streep	...	Sarah / Anna
Jeremy Irons	...	Charles Henry Smithson / Mike
Hilton McRae	...	Sam
Emily Morgan	...	Mary
Charlotte Mitchell	...	Mrs. Tranter
Lynsey Baxter	...	Ernestina
Jean Faulds	...	Cook
Peter Vaughan	...	Mr. Freeman
Colin Jeavons	...	Vicar
Liz Smith	...	Mrs. Fairley
Patience Collier	...	Mrs. Poulteney
John Barrett	...	Dairyman
Leo McKern	...	Dr. Grogan
Arabella Weir	...	Girl on undercliff
Ben Forster	...	Boy on undercliff
Catherine Willmer	...	Dr. Grogan's housekeeper
Anthony Langdon	...	Asylum keeper
Edward Duke	...	Nathaniel
Richard Griffiths	...	Sir Tom
Graham Fletcher-Cook	...	Delivery boy
Richard Hope	...	Assistant #3
Michael Elwyn	...	Montague
Toni Palmer	...	Mrs. Endicott
Cecily Hobbs	...	Betty Anne
Doreen Mantle	...	Lady on train
David Warner	...	Murphy
Alun Armstrong	...	Grimes
Gérard Falconetti	...	Davide
Penelope Wilton	...	Sonia
Joanna Joseph	...	Lizzie
Jude Alderson	...	Red-haired prostitute (as Judith Alderson)
Cora Kinnaird	...	Prostitute #2
Orlando Fraser	...	Tom Elliott
Fredrika Morton	...	Girl
Alice Maschler	...	Girl #2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harriet Walter	...	(scenes deleted)
Georgina Hale	...	Actress at wrap party (uncredited)
Vicky Ireland	...	(uncredited)
Janet Rawson	...	(uncredited)
Clare Travers-Deacon	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Karel Reisz

Writing credits
John Fowles		(novel)
Harold Pinter		(screenplay)

Produced by
Leon Clore	....	producer
Geoffrey Helman	....	associate producer
Tom Maschler	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Carl Davis

Cinematography by
Freddie Francis

Film Editing by
John Bloom

Production Design by
Assheton Gorton

Art Direction by
Allan Cameron
Norman Dorme
Terry Pritchard

Set Decoration by
Ann Mollo

Costume Design by
Tom Rand

Makeup Department
Sue Barradell	....	makeup artist
Simon Thompson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Chris Burt	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hoult	....	assistant director
Peter Kohn	....	second assistant director
Mathew Simmons	....	third assistant director
Paul Tivers	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Andy Aitken	....	plasterer
Mark Fruin	....	stand-by propman

Sound Department
Don Banks	....	sound camera
Bill Rowe	....	sound re-recording mixer
Don Sharpe	....	sound editor
Ivan Sharrock	....	production sound mixer
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Alan Bryce	....	special effects
Nobby Clark	....	special effects (as Nobby Clarke)
Paul Corbould	....	special effects
Ricky Farns	....	special effects
John Humphreys	....	sculptor
Garth Inns	....	special effects
Michael White	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Nick Wass	....	optical cameraman (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Connor	....	still photographer
Gordon Hayman	....	camera operator
Roy Larner	....	gaffer
John Matthews	....	best boy
Jim Dawes	....	grip (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Brenda Dabbs	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Jeremy Hume	....	assistant editor
Chris Kennedy	....	assistant editor
Chris Ridsdale	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Carl Davis	....	conductor
Brian Gascoigne	....	music arranger: additional arrangements (uncredited)
Christopher Palmer	....	music assistant: Carl Davis (uncredited)

Other crew
Barry Beckett	....	location manager
Kay Fenton	....	continuity
Kay Fenton	....	script supervisor
Mon Mohan	....	title designer
Mark Mostyn	....	runner

Production Companies

• Juniper Films

Distributors

• United Artists (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1982) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Argentina Video Home (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Cinefex Ltd.  titles
• DRG Records  soundtrack
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Mayflower Recording  adr recording

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:S | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R (certificate #26244) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Borough Market, Borough, London, England, UK

Company:

Juniper Films

Trivia:

An attempt to adapt the novel was made in the 1970's, to star Vanessa Redgrave, but a satisfactory script couldn't be written, and funding was a problem.

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the film, as Charles is going on to the jetty to warn Sarah, his cape changes in how it is buttoned from shot to shot.

Quotes:

Sarah: I have set myself beyond the pale. I am nothing. I am hardly human any more.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: The Fast Show (#4.1)" (2006)

Romanticism without the "base" alloy of actual feeling

This is a real curio of a movie, more a dry experiment with form than a story concerning fleshed-out characters. The primary focus is on the plot developments of a film within the film--a story of two illicit lovers in 19th century England--while a secondary narrative follows the two leads in that film who pursue a similar relationship to the one they portray. The way these two stories intercut back and forth is, unfortunately, one of the few interesting things in the movie. Unique to this presentation is the way the Victorian Era scenes are shown only (with the opening scene being a lone exception) as a finished product, that is, we see that part of the film as its theoretical audience would. There are no shots of cameras in the foreground, no scenes of director and crew watching rushes in a darkened theater. This device might have allowed the viewer to become more involved in the "old-time" goings on--if only we had been given something, anything onto which we could have hung our emotional hats. This is the insurmountable problem of "The French Lieutenant's Woman." While the Victorian Era plot is luxuriantly mounted--while the characters are played by wonderful actors--the "heart" of this film is occupied by this film within a film device. While interesting, it's not enough to keep our interest from flagging. In both story lines, emotions are uniformly muted, or absent altogether. The 20th century story is about two bored actors who engage in their affair simply as a distraction from the tedium of making a movie. No hint of passion here. The Victorian narrative at least provides a HINT of feeling, but always held at arms length--and further attenuated by the inevitable return to the modern story, reminding us that the "costumer" portion of the film is not only not real, but TWICE removed from reality. There is a scene at the end of the movie where all signs point to some grand cathartic denouement--a scene where, finally, we will be swept up into the currents of these players' lives, the promise of romance finally realized. Instead we are given an awkward, bumbled scene without so much as a kiss or an eloquent avowal of love. We are left with a muted, distant view of the two purported lovers on a lake--its surface as calm and unmoved as the film's audience. A disappointing end to a disappointing film.