Disturbing yet enthralling

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Blistering performances.

I agree Bean was excellent but so was Richardson ( and very beautiful she was, too) I did not find Shirley Ann Field convincing at all. She was far too burnished and her accent was so forced that she came out as a caricature of a Northern woman. Her class was really not worked out, and as the film was about class above everything else we needed to know where Field was on the scale. She was too intimate at times, yet her strident Northern voice would have been more at home in a butcher's shop. The photography of the wood was perfect and echoed the out-of-this- world love story, so that the scenes in the village and forge were memorably upsetting. I didn't realise this was based on three books so found the end confusing. Lawrence would not have liked it so this is not a film for Lawrence fans, perhaps.

Although this film wasn't thoroughly disappointing, I found it to be somewhat wanting. Before I begin, however, please observe that this mini isn't merely "based-" (a phrase often misused and given far greater emphasis than deserved) "-upon" one of D. H. Lawrence's versions of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', but contains elements and references to - unless I'm mistaken - all three of them. This might account for the fact that the title of this miniseries has been slightly abbreviated and no longer fully resembles that of the one (version) most commonly known. Anyway, I feel I ought to warn lazy students out there thinking they might get away with just watching this instead of reading the novel - that by the way I find absolutely wonderful! So, about this series: The acting in many scenes seems 'made for TV' and the dialogue often appears less than natural. That is to say, the actors really wait for their counterparts to finish their lines before uttering their own, something which may be befitting for a stage play, but certainly not for a moving picture, unless adapted especially for senior citizens who'd rather take their time than experience something more or less normal.Also, Clifford's sudden outbursts and high-school-drama-club type acting gave me the impression he had suffered head trauma or perhaps an aneurysm in addition to his damaged lower half. Watch out especially for his embarrassingly poor and exaggeratedly theatrical (and "un-French") recital of Racine. Oh, and let's not forget Connie's ridiculous tango with her sister, or the ridiculous sister for that matter.However, I don't want to advise anyone to avoid this adaptation. Richardson and Bean do a good job and are a very convincing couple. The scenes depicting sexual congress, as well as the 'innocent' nude scenes, are few and tastefully arranged. Also, much of Bean's dialogue has been cut down to avoid contrasting too severely with what is essentially well-made (TV-)erotica.All in all, though not a masterpiece, this is a presentable homage to Lawrence.

At the beginning of the film, the point of view is from that of Clifford Chatterley (James Wilby), with lots of low camera angles showing how he sees other people. But, of course, he is hopelessly emasculated and useless to his wife, Lady Chatterley. He's also bitter, so nasty that he even tries to run over young poor boys in his Rolls Royce on his vast estate.Contains the usual Ken Russell weirdo stuff, like with Lady Chatterley on her symbolic black horse surrounded by loads of fit young men, in this case hopelessly camped up and a bit like an O Level Film Studies/English effort. Sometimes Russell gets it right – like in the excellent Whore – but this time he seems a bit desperate. It's got all of the clichéd stuff, like Connie (Richardson) walking through a different kind of setting according to what mood she's in – violents and loads of flowers for a good mood, frosty, autumn scenes for when she's depressed. The usual stuff.Sean Bean is adequate, really just playing himself, as usual. I prefer him in Essex Boys.If you want a film with loads of stuff on the British class system then this is the one for you. However, even the sex scenes are not much good and not really convincing

I'm a bit biased as Joely is a favourite of mine. Very faithfull adaptation, well scripted, some brilliant performances by Joely and Sean Bean (Boromir). I bought the DVD and its certainly a MUST own, as this is another trademark quality BBC production!Must go and read the book again!