#768: REISZ, Karel: The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
REISZ, Karel (United Kingdom)
The French Lieutenant's Woman [1981]
Spine #768
Blu-ray
Blu-ray
An astounding array of talent came together for the big-screen adaptation of John Fowles's novel The French Lieutenant's Woman, a postmodern masterpiece that had been considered unfilmable. With an ingenious script by the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, British New Wave trailbuster Karel Reisz transforms Fowles's tale of scandalous romance into an arresting, hugely entertaining movie about cinema. In Pinter's reimagining, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep star in parallel narratives, as a Victorian-era gentleman and the social outcast he risks everything to love, and as the contemporary actors playing those roles in a film production, and immersed in their own forbidden affair. Shot by the consummate cinematographer Freddie Francis and scored by the venerated composer and conductor Carl Davis, this is a beguiling, intellectually nimble feat of filmmaking, starring a pair of legendary actors in early leading roles.
123 minutes
Color
Color
Monaural
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2015
Director/Writers
Based on the book by John Fowles.
Screenplay by Harold Pinter.
Karel Reisz was 55 when he directed The French Lieutenant's Woman.
The Film
The Film
A
Film Rating (0-60):
The Booklet
Eight-panel foldout poster featuring an essay by film scholar Lucy Bolton.
Commentary
None.
Interviews
With actors Irons and Streep, editor John Bloom, and composer Carl Davis.
Interview
With film scholar Ian Christie.
Episode
Of The South Bank Show from 1981 featuring director Reisz, novelist Fowles, and screenwriter Pinter.
Trailer
Extras Rating (0-40):
60
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Eight-panel foldout poster featuring an essay by film scholar Lucy Bolton.
Commentary
None.
Interviews
With actors Irons and Streep, editor John Bloom, and composer Carl Davis.
Interview
With film scholar Ian Christie.
Episode
Of The South Bank Show from 1981 featuring director Reisz, novelist Fowles, and screenwriter Pinter.
Trailer
Extras Rating (0-40):
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