Lady Chatterley

Today a French version of Lady Chatterley.
Something I didn’t know was that DH Lawrence wrote three versions of Lady Chatterley, of which only the third is widely published and filmed. The books are 'The First Lady Chatterley', 'John Thomas and Lady Jane', and 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. In the third version, the gamekeeper embarks on a purely physical relationship with Lady Chatterley but the second version is supposed to be more romantic. It is this version that the French have filmed.

The film takes its time to get going, and even longer to get into my consciousness, due to the French language and subtitles. It is also not far off three hours long.

I don’t quite see the film as romantic but my partner does, so perhaps it is. I also don’t see the gamekeeper as particularly fancible but she does. Shows what I know. I just had Lady C down as another married woman, who isn’t getting it and fancied a bit of rough.



I don’t think it’s romantic because there’s no sexual tension in the relationship. Lady C is attractive, the gamekeeper fancies his chances, and he isn't afraid to go for it. So one day he puts his hand on Lady C’s chest and asks her if she’d like to join him inside his hut. She does and seconds later he's trying to find out whether there's a real person under all those clothes. Before you know it they're at it regularly on the wooden floor of his hut.

The sex starts out a bit dull, possibly because she's probably never had it, her husband is disabled, and his wife has left him, so presumably he's no good at it. Seems a gamekeeper wasn't rough enough for his wife because she ran off with a miner.

Eventually they get the hang of it and it livens up, as does Lady C.



They have sex against a tree but fully clothed and in a position that is near on impossible to achieve. I will check this at some stage. Then later, they frolic in the rain and do it in the mud.



All in all, I quite enjoyed. I even care about the characters and what happens to them.

Flying Scotsman

The Flying Scotsman is a film about the cyclist Graeme Obree. We have some beers and a meal first. The meal is excellent value when taken with a film ticket and we even get cut price drinks, although I think this is more to do with bar staff error rather than any special offer. I have two very nice Elsie Mo’s.
Sporting films are not usually very good but the Flying Scotsman was very entertaining. Graeme Obree is the amateur cyclist who built his own bike, partly using washing machine parts (he has a very understanding wife) but not only could he build a decent bike but he was an excellent and drug-free athlete as well. He went on to win two world titles and twice hold the world one hour record despite being under-funded and seemingly having the cycling authorities against both his bike designs and his cycling methods. I think the film simplifies events a little, as cinema usually does, but it was still an excellent film. I hope Graeme, who never really made much money from his cycling, benefits from its release.




My only criticism would be that Jonny Lee Miller didn’t look totally convincing during some of the close-ups of Obree on the track. A fact confirmed by watching footage of the real Obree on YouTube but generally Jonny Lee Miller was superb as are Bill Boyd and Brian Cox. Now I'm very much looking forward to reading Obree’s book.