This past weekend, a new BBC adaptation ofD.H. Lawrence's controversial novelLady Chatterley's Loverpremiered. In addition to being 89 minutes long, it was also completely free of nudity and contained only one "mild swear word." This runs counter to the book's legacy on film, which is rife with skin!
Before digging into the history of the character, it's interesting to note that Holliday Grainger, who plays Lady Chatterley in this latest adaptation, was nude several times onThe Borgiasand likely would have done the nudity required by the role.According to this piece from The Telegraph, it was actually her co-star Richard Maddenwho played Robb Stark onGame of Throneswho vetoed the nudity.
Now let’s run down the best nudity from this film’s skinsational history! The first official adaptation of the novel was a 1955 French language film that was, much like this newest version, devoid of any nudity.
It would take another 15 years to get the character of Constance Chatterley back on the big screen in 1970's Games That Lovers Play. The film features a fictional contest between Lady Chatterley, played by Penny Brahms, and another erotic literary titan, Fanny Hill, played by AbFab's Joanna Lumley! While not quite as filled with Skin as the premise may suggest, the film does famously end up with the two in bed together!
The next adaptation would be an equally loose adaptation titled Young Lady Chatterley, released in 1977 and starring Harlee McBride! As "Cynthia Chatterley" Harlee reads through her deceased aunt's diary and vividly imagines all of her aunt's tales of her sexual awakening, before having one of her own with the gardener. It was meta before there was such a thing! McBride reprised the role in the 1985 sequel Young Lady Chatterley IIwhich notoriously features Batman's Adam Westthe same year she wed comedian and actor Richard Belzer!
The most famousand frankly bestadaptation of Lawrence's original novel came was 1981's Lady Chatterley's Lover, starring Sylvia Kristel as the titular lusty lady! Although significantly more famous to Skin fanatics for her role as Emmanuelle, Sylvia is probably best known to literary fans as the definitive Lady Chatterley, and why not? She really went for broke in this film and it paid off amazingly!
An Italian adaptation would be the next time Lady Chatterley would return to the screen with 1986's La storia di Lady Chatterley. This adaptation was far from faithful to the book, although Malu in the title role really sells this story that's essentially a softcore version of Breaking the Waves rather than an adaptation of Lawrence's novel!
Arguably the strangest adaptation came at the hands of director Ken Russell, who in 1992 brought us Lady Chatterley! Having already brought Lawrence's work to the screen with Women in Love and The Rainbow, Russell does his best here to rectify the three different versions of Lawrence's book into one cohesive narrative and while it's hit and miss at best, it's most definitely worth seeing for Joely Richardson's fantastic fully nude performance!
Early in their run of original programming, Showtime debuted Lady Chatterley's Stories in 2000. The short-lived series had only the most tangential connection to Lawrence's novel, and was closer in spirit to 1977's Young Lady Chatterley. Here Lady Chatterley, played by a fully clothed Shauna O'Brien, would read erotic tales that were then performed by a gaggle of beautifully bare babes like the gorgeous Julie Meadows!
2006 brought us two Chatterley films, the first of which was a rather straightforward adaptation simply called Lady Chatterley and starring Marina Hands in the title role!
The second was The Chatterley Affair, another fictional work based around the world of the book, though it was set during the very real 1960 obscenity trial the book faced in the UK. Here, Louise Delamere plays a juror from that trial who becomes involved in a Chatterley-esque affair with a fellow juror!
Interestingly, this new BBC adaptation turned out to be just as controversial as the previous adaptations, though for completely different reasons. While this BBC adaptation most certainly won't be the last, it will be interesting to see what future filmmakers decide to do with this still controversial work.
What's the Point of a Lady Chatterley Adaptation with No Nudity?
Tagged in: Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sylvia Kristel, Ken Russell, Joely Richardson, Holliday Grainger, Lady Chatterley, Young Lady Chatterley, Julie Meadows, Lady Chatterley's Stories, The Chatterley Affair, Marina Hands, Louise Delamere, Malu, Harlee McBride, Joanna Lumley, Penny Brahms