Wragby Hall, the Chatterley country estate; October 1921. Constance and her husband Clifford settled here a few years ago in the midst of this coal-mining region. Since his return from the War, the former lieutenant is a wheelchair user and impotent. Constance sinks into the monotony of her Victorian-like married life. Only when her sister employs a nurse for Clifford does she begin to explore new avenues. Out walking one day, she meets Oliver Parkin, the estate’s taciturn gamekeeper. Fiercely protective of his seclusion, he is initially suspicious of his mistress. But his raw physical presence soon stirs untold longing in Lady Chatterly that throws Parkin’s whole existence out of kilter.
Concentrating entirely on D. H. Lawrence’s famous protagonist, the first ‘Chatterley’ adaptation to be directed by a woman is a sober yet sensitive study of burgeoning female sexuality blissfully free of shame and class distinctions. As the film progresses, director Pascale Ferran increasingly blurs the inner and outer worlds of two people as they commune across the class divide. A visually impressive work in which nature becomes a vibrant part of this couple’s common emotional terrain.