I guess a female French director was always going to adapt Lady Chatterley better than an English male -- right? I'm certainly keen since all the reviews I've read emphasise its ability to translate the sensual into the visual. There's a lot of cultural theory to back up the belief (okay, my belief) that women are better at this, than men. Alright, theory written by women, but with capital letters and everything - honest . . .
I watched Beau Travail again last night -- preparing for the course -- and was swamped by its brilliant creation (re-creation?) of sensuous and sensual experiences, just through our eyes. Also, Claire Denis' ability to suggest and communicate characters' inner lives through juxtapositions and interweaving of shots (not anything so structured as a narrative).
Amy Taubin, reviewing Lady Chatterley in Film Comment (Vol 43/3) talks about how Ferran deals with the primal experiences of death (Petit Arrangements avec les morts - sounds great, won at Cannes - but nowhere on distribution or DVD?) and now sex. She praises Ferran's ability to create an equivalent to third person, literary narrative and order the "inchoate feelings and ideas exhibited by the people onscreen". She further concludes that: "Lawrence believed that the mind was the most important organ of sexual experience. Ferran comes closer to proving that theory than he did". Taubin clearly claiming something more than a film the dirty mac brigade. I'm really curious to see if this film can really combine a literary voice, a sense of the inner life of the characters and a vibrant visual sexuality . . . ? But I'm sure we can come up with some examples already?
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