Wednesday, August 12, 2009
WRESTLING WITH LOVE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ken Russell's
Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden star.
A foursome.
Adapted from D. H. Lawrence's huge book of the same name.
Russell is either loved or hated. I am on the love side. He basically does an impressionistic rendering of the complex Lawrence story. Oddly, as he does it, it becomes more about men in love than women.
Reed is uptight. Bates is a free spirit. Everyone has an opposite of the other. Complicated but not too much. One need not look for a literal story line here. Things do progress and nicely so but there is an element of sitting back and letting the film happen to you for it to succeed.
This is actually true of most Russell films.
This is the first film to have an actor win an Oscar where there was nudity involved. I know this is hardly newsworthy today but this is typical Russell envelope pushing. He pushed and won. He had the goods. You can't break rules successfully unless you do it with great skill and panache.
It is a beautiful film to watch. The nude wrestling scene lit by candlelight and then lit electrically. Small point but it is the hint of modernization wrecking sensuality and natural desires. Very Lawrentian. It really requires a second viewing just to take everything in. Rich and generous.
There are lots of loose ends. Good. That allows the viewer to make his or her own conclusions and, above all, to let it marinate. To sink in. To provoke thought and reflection.
One more thing. I love Alan Bates. We will have an Alan Bates fest. We once sat in a small theater with him watching his films. A PS Film Festival event. The kind they don't do anymore. He was great.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5 and think about a Ken Russell film fest.
Labels: best films
