The French Lieutenant's Woman (film): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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| producer = [[Leon Clore]]

| writer = [[Harold Pinter]]

| based_on = {{based on|''[[The French Lieutenant's Woman]]''<br>1969 novel|[[John Fowles]]}}

| starring = {{plainlist|

* [[Meryl Streep]]

* [[Jeremy Irons]]

* [[David Warner (actor)|David Warner]]}}

| music = [[Carl Davis]]

| cinematography = [[Freddie Francis]]

| editing = [[John Bloom (film editor)|John Bloom]]

| distributor = [[United Artists]]

| released = ~~18 September~~{{Film date|1981|09|18|df=yes}}

| runtime = 127 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget = $8 million<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Unstoppables |journal=[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]] |date=November 1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJly6nVC7qkC&q=An+Officer+and+a+Gentleman&pg=PA92 |issn=0890-1759 |page=94}}</ref>

| gross = $26~~,890,068~~.9 million<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=frenchlieutenantswoman.htm |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref>

}}

'''''The French Lieutenant's Woman''''' is a 1981 British [[romance film|romantic drama film]] directed by [[Karel Reisz]], produced by [[Leon Clore]], and adapted by the playwright [[Harold Pinter]]. It is based on ''[[The French Lieutenant's Woman]]'', a 1969 novel by [[John Fowles]]. The music score is by [[Carl Davis]] and the cinematography by [[Freddie Francis]].

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The film intercuts the stories of two romantic affairs. One is within a Victorian period drama involving a gentleman [[Paleontology|palaeontologist]], Charles Smithson, and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as "the French lieutenant's woman". The other affair is between the actors Mike and Anna, playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments, [[Jeremy Irons]] and [[Meryl Streep]] play the lead roles.

John Fowles's ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' ~~had~~has multiple endings, and the two parallel stories in the movie have different outcomes. In the Victorian story, Charles enters into an intensely emotional relationship with Sarah, an enigmatic and self-imposed exile he meets just after becoming engaged to Ernestina ([[Lynsey Baxter]]), a rich merchant's daughter in [[Lyme Regis]]. Sarah tells Charles to meet her by the cliffs and tells him of how she lost her virtue in the public’s eyes when she bedded a French Lieutenant who had washed ashore in a household she was then working for as a governess. While initially disturbed by her, Charles tells her to go to London and he would secretly send her money to live on. Charles and Sarah meet secretly in the Lyme Regis Undercliff, and eventually have sex in an Exeter hotel. During the affair, Sarah’s [[hymen]] breaks and that’s how Charles learns Sarah never had sex with the French Lieutenant at all, and he forgives her for lying to him.

This leads to Charles's breaking his engagement, but then Sarah disappears. In social disgrace after being sued for breach of promise by Ernestina, Charles searches for Sarah, fearing she has become a prostitute in London. After three years, Sarah, who has a job as a governess in the [[Lake District]], contacts Charles to explain that she needed time to find herself. Despite Charles's initial anger, he forgives her, and the two are reconciled. They are finally seen boating on [[Windermere]].

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==Production notes==

Harold Pinter and Karel Reisz worked on the script in 1979, with [[Leon Clore]] as producer, and with whom Reisz regularly worked in their company Film Contracts, formed many years earlier. Leon had produced Reisz' ''[[Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment]]''. The film was shot in 1980 on location in Lyme Regis, Dartmouth, Exeter, London docks, and ~~Lake~~ Windermere. Studio sets were built at Twickenham Studios in London to Assheton Gorton's period-perfect designs. The opening shot in the film establishes the dual stories by having the assistant director mark the shot with a clapper board, and then run out of the shot to reveal the Victorian seaside front, with Charles and Ernestina taking the air.

The audience is given alternating sequences of a rigid Victorian society, and the more relaxed modern life of a working film crew, revealing the great moral divide between past and present. ''[[Prostitution, Considered in Its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects]]'', an 1857 book by [[William Acton (doctor)|William Acton]], is referred to in the film when Streep's character mentions that in 1857 there were 80,000 prostitutes in the county of London and that one house in 60 functioned as a brothel.{{Sfn|Gale|2002|p=245}}

The book was published in 1969. Its transfer to the big screen was a protracted process, with film rights changing hands a number of times before a treatment, funds and cast were finalized. Originally, [[Malcolm Bradbury]] and [[Christopher Bigsby]] approached Fowles to suggest a television adaptation, to which Fowles was amenable, but the producer [[Saul Zaentz]] finally arranged for the film version to be made.

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The award-winning music was composed by [[Carl Davis]] and performed by an unidentified orchestra and viola soloist Kenneth Essex.

==~~Reception~~Release==

[[Roger Ebert]] of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]] gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a beautiful film to look at, and remarkably well-acted".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-french-lieutenants-woman-1981 |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman movie review |last=Ebert |first=Roger |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=January 29, 2019 }}</ref> [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "an astonishingly beautiful film, acted to the elegant hilt by Meryl Streep as the ultimately unreliable Sarah; Jeremy Irons, who looks a lot like the young [[Laurence Olivier]] of ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'', as Charles Smithson, and by a cast of splendid supporting actors of the sort that only England seems to possess."<ref>Canby, Vincent, [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/18/movies/the-french-lieutenant-s-woman.html "Screen: 'The French Lieutenant's Woman{{'"}}], ''[[The New York Times]]'',18 September 1981, C4.</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote, "The effect of the two interwoven stories is at time irritating and confusing, but ultimately most affecting. This is due in large part to the strong performances of Meryl Streep as Sara Woodruff/Anna and Jeremy Irons as Charles Smithson/Mike."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Film Reviews: The French Lieutenant's Woman|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 9, 1981|page=18}}</ref>

[[Gene Siskel]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' gave the film four stars out of four and called it "a beautifully made film, evoking the past and the present quite well. Both Streep and Irons live up to the extraordinary advance billing they have received."<ref>Siskel, Gene (October 2, 1981). {{"'}}French': A love story spanning two centuries", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', section 4, p. 3.</ref> He ranked the film #10 on his year-end list of the best films of 1981.<ref>Siskel, Gene (January 3, 1982). "Ten shining films penetrate today's gloomy picture", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', section 6, p. 3–4.</ref> [[Sheila Benson]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', "The physical trappings that surround the Charles-Sarah story are as detailed and knowledgeable as the book's, yet the film avoids a cozy-corner Victoriana that would have been easy to fall into." She also praised "Meryl Streep's luminous performance" and Assheton Gorton's production design as "nothing short of brilliant".<ref>Benson, Sheila (September 13, 1981). {{"'}}Lieutenant' Keeps Book's Many Levels", ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'',. Calendar, p. 27.</ref>

A mixed review by [[Pauline Kael]] of [[The New Yorker]] described the novel as "a meditation on the romantic mystery women and sensual madwomen of Victorian fiction", explaining that "We never really get into the movie, because, as Sarah, Meryl Streep gives an immaculate, technically accomplished performance, but she isn't mysterious."<ref>Kael, Pauline (October 12, 1981). "The Current Cinema". ''[[The New Yorker]]''. 158.</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote, "An unfailing pictorial treat, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' rivals last year's ''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]'' as a handsome and evocative period production."<ref>Arnold, Gary (October 2, 1981). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/10/02/love-and-victorian-high-tease/332fe73b-405e-46c7-bd22-667f5bc34f19/ "Love and Victorian High Tease"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', C1.</ref>

As of January 2022, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' held a rating of 82% on ''[[Rotten Tomatoes]]'' based on 28 reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/french_lieutenants_woman|title=The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)}}</ref>{{fcn|date=March 2021}}

===Box office===

The film was the second highest-grossing British film for the year with [[theatrical rental]]s of £1,244,152, behind ''[[Chariots of Fire]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=12 January 1983|page=146|title=Top Grossing British Films on the U.K. Market: '81–'82}}</ref>

===Critical reception===

~~The film was featured in the Season 2 premiere of FX's [[The Americans]].~~

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a beautiful film to look at, and remarkably well-acted".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-french-lieutenants-woman-1981 |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman movie review |last=Ebert |first=Roger |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=January 29, 2019 }}</ref> [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "an astonishingly beautiful film, acted to the elegant hilt by Meryl Streep as the ultimately unreliable Sarah; Jeremy Irons, who looks a lot like the young [[Laurence Olivier]] of ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'', as Charles Smithson, and by a cast of splendid supporting actors of the sort that only England seems to possess."<ref>Canby, Vincent, [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/18/movies/the-french-lieutenant-s-woman.html "Screen: 'The French Lieutenant's Woman{{'"}}], ''[[The New York Times]]'',18 September 1981, C4.</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote, "The effect of the two interwoven stories is at times irritating and confusing, but ultimately most affecting. This is due in large part to the strong performances of Meryl Streep as Sara Woodruff/Anna and Jeremy Irons as Charles Smithson/Mike."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Film Reviews: The French Lieutenant's Woman|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 9, 1981|page=18}}</ref>

~~===Awards and nominations===~~

~~====Academy Awards====~~

'''Nominations'''<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/18627/The-French-Lieutenant-s-Woman/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223070343/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/18627/The-French-Lieutenant-s-Woman/awards |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 December 2009 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2009 |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981): Awards |access-date=31 December 2008 }}</ref>

* [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]: Meryl Streep

* [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium]]: Harold Pinter

* [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction-Set Decoration]]: [[Assheton Gorton]], [[Ann Mollo]]

* [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]: [[Tom Rand (costume designer)|Tom Rand]]

* [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]: John Bloom

~~====BAFTA Awards====~~

~~'''Wins'''~~

* Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music: Carl Davis

* [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress]]: Meryl Streep

* Best Sound: [[Don Sharp (sound editor)|Don Sharp]], Ivan Sharrock, Bill Rowe

~~'''Nominations'''~~

* [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]: [[Leon Clore]]

* Best Actor: Jeremy Irons

* Best Cinematography: Freddie Francis

* Best Costume Design: [[Tom Rand (costume designer)|Tom Rand]]

* Best Direction: Karel Reisz

* Best Editing: John Bloom

* Best Production Design/Art Direction: Assheton Gorton

* Best Screenplay: Harold Pinter

A mixed review by [[Pauline Kael]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described the novel as "a meditation on the romantic mystery women and sensual madwomen of Victorian fiction", explaining that "We never really get into the movie, because, as Sarah, Meryl Streep gives an immaculate, technically accomplished performance, but she isn't mysterious."<ref>Kael, Pauline (October 12, 1981). "The Current Cinema". ''[[The New Yorker]]''. 158.</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote, "An unfailing pictorial treat, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' rivals last year's ''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]'' as a handsome and evocative period production."<ref>Arnold, Gary (October 2, 1981). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/10/02/love-and-victorian-high-tease/332fe73b-405e-46c7-bd22-667f5bc34f19/ "Love and Victorian High Tease"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', C1.</ref>

~~====Golden Globe Awards====~~

~~'''Win'''~~

*[[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama|Best Actress]]: Meryl Streep

As of October 2023, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' held a rating of 83% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 29 reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/french_lieutenants_woman|title=The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2021}} It received a 64 on [[Metacritic]], based on ten reviews.

~~'''Nominations'''~~

* [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]: Leon Clore

* Best Screenplay: Harold Pinter

==Accolades==

~~====Other awards====~~

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

* [[Evening Standard British Film Award|Evening Standard British Film Award Best Film]]: Karel Reisz

* [[David di Donatello Awards]]: Best Screenplay for Foreign Film: Harold Pinter

! Award

* [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]: Best Actress: Meryl Streep

! Category

! Nominee(s)

! Result

! Ref.

| rowspan="5"| [[54th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]

| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]

| [[Meryl Streep]]

| {{nom}}

| align="center" rowspan="5"| <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982 |title=The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=October 8, 2011}}</ref> <br> <ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/18627/The-French-Lieutenant-s-Woman/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223070343/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/18627/The-French-Lieutenant-s-Woman/awards |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 23, 2009 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2009 |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981): Awards |access-date=December 31, 2008}}</ref>

| [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]]

| [[Harold Pinter]]

| {{nom}}

| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]]

| Art Direction: [[Assheton Gorton]]; <br> Set Decoration: [[Ann Mollo]]

| {{nom}}

| [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]

| [[Tom Rand (costume designer)|Tom Rand]]

| {{nom}}

| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]

| [[John Bloom (film editor)|John Bloom]]

| {{nom}}

| [[Bodil Awards]]

| [[Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film|Best European Film]]

| [[Karel Reisz]]

| {{won}}

| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bodilprisen.dk/aar-for-aar/1982-2/ |title=Bodil Prize 1982 |publisher=[[Bodil Awards]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| rowspan="11"| [[35th British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]

| [[Leon Clore]]

| {{nom}}

| align="center" rowspan="11"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1982/film |title=BAFTA Awards: Film in 1982 |publisher=[[British Academy Film Awards]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Direction|Best Direction]]

| Karel Reisz

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA for Best Actor|Best Actor in a Leading Role]]

| [[Jeremy Irons]]

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]

| Meryl Streep

| {{won}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]

| Harold Pinter

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]

| [[Freddie Francis]]

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]

| Tom Rand

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]]

| John Bloom

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Original Music|Best Original Film Music]]

| [[Carl Davis]]

| {{won}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]]

| Assheton Gorton

| {{nom}}

| [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]

| [[Don Sharpe]], [[Ivan Sharrock]], and [[Bill Rowe (sound engineer)|Bill Rowe]]

| {{won}}

| [[British Society of Cinematographers#Award categories|British Society of Cinematographers Awards]]

| [[British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film|Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film]]

| Freddie Francis

| {{won}}

| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://bscine.com/media/uploads/Awards/bsc-cinematography-feature-film.pdf?v=1696018822 |title=Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film |publisher=[[British Society of Cinematographers]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| [[8th César Awards|César Awards]]

| [[César Award for Best Foreign Film|Best Foreign Film]]

| Karel Reisz

| {{nom}}

| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.academie-cinema.org/evenements/ceremonie-des-cesar-1983/ |title=The 1983 César Awards Ceremony |publisher=[[César Awards]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| rowspan="2"| [[David di Donatello|David di Donatello Awards]]

| [[David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress|Best Foreign Actress]]

| Meryl Streep

| {{nom}}

| align="center" rowspan="2"|

| Best Foreign Screenplay

| Harold Pinter

| {{won}}

| [[Evening Standard British Film Awards#1981 Winners|Evening Standard British Film Awards]]

| Best Film

| Karel Reisz

| {{won}}

| align="center"|

| [[Fotogramas de Plata]]

| Best Foreign Movie Performer

| Meryl Streep

| {{nom}}

| align="center"|

| rowspan="3"| [[39th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]

| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]

| {{nom}}

| align="center" rowspan="3"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/french-lieutenants-woman |title=The French Lieutenant's Woman |publisher=[[Golden Globe Awards]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama]]

| Meryl Streep

| {{won}}

| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]

| Harold Pinter

| {{nom}}

| [[25th Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Awards]]

| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special]]

| Carl Davis

| {{nom}}

| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/25th-annual-grammy-awards |title=25th Annual GRAMMY Awards |publisher=[[Grammy Awards]] |access-date=April 14, 2024}}</ref>

| rowspan="2"| [[1981 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]

| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]

| Meryl Streep

| {{won}}

| align="center" rowspan="2"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lafca.net/Years/1981.php |title=7th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards |publisher=[[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]] |access-date=July 20, 2024}}</ref>

| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]

| Freddie Francis

| {{runner-up}}

== References ==

===Bibliography===

* {{cite book|last=Gale|first=Steven H.|title=Sharp Cut: Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process|year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9b8Wubb7YcC&pg=PA245|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-2706-8}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite journal |journal=English Studies |volume=91 |issue=8 |date=2010 |title=On Filming Metafiction: John Fowles's Unpublished 'The Last Chapter' and the Road to Postmodern Cinema |doi=10.1080/0013838X.2010.517301 |first=Gerd |last=Bayer |pages=893–906|s2cid=161302567 }}

* {{Cite book

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==External links==

*{{URL|http://www.fowlesbooks.com/}} John Fowles–The Web Site

* {{IMDb title|0082416}}

* {{allMovie title|17943}}

* {{TCMDb title|id=16932}}

* {{AFI film|60191}}

* {{rotten-tomatoes|french_lieutenants_woman}}

* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3655-the-french-lieutenant-s-woman-a-room-of-her-own ''The French Lieutenant’s Woman: A Room of Her Own''] an essay by Lucy Bolton at the [[Criterion Collection]]

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[[Category:1981 films]]

[[Category:1981 romantic drama films]]

[[Category:1980s British films]]

[[Category:1980s English-language films]]

[[Category:British romantic drama films]]

[[Category:Films about filmmaking]]

[[Category:Films based on British novels]]

[[Category:Films based on romance novels]]

[[Category:Films based on works by John Fowles]]

[[Category:Films directed by Karel Reisz]]

~~[[Category:Films with screenplays by Harold Pinter]]~~

[[Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe-winning performance]]

[[Category:Films scored by Carl Davis]]

[[Category:Films with screenplays by Harold Pinter]]

[[Category:Films set in Dorset]]

[[Category:Films set in England]]

[[Category:United Artists films]]

[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]