Women in Love - DVD

Film: The sisters Ursula (Rachael Stirling) and Gudrun (Rosamund Pike) could not be more different. While Ursula leads a rather secluded life as a teacher with her parents in the country, artist Gudrun is always driven to the city, where she has an affair with a married man. But both women are repeatedly confronted with disappointments and strokes of fate. Only when they fall in love with the friendly men Gerald Crich (Joseph Mawle) and Rupert Birkin (Rory Kinnear), the life of the sisters finally seems to run in order. But a holiday they take together threatens to shatter what is, on the surface, a harmonious picture once again...

Based on the novels Loving Women and The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence, director Miranda Bowen has directed an engaging drama for the BBC that tells the story, already successfully filmed by Ken Russell in 1969, from a slightly different angle, while also taking a dramaturgical liberty or two. Since the focus here is on the two sisters and the friendship between Gerald and Rupert and especially the homosexuality pulsating in it subliminally only play a rather subordinate role, elicits some new perspectives from the familiar story.

While especially the scenes between the parents of the sisters almost seem like somewhat superfluous filler, despite the strong performance that especially Saskia Reeves shows as the mother. Other aspects of the story, such as the internal struggle Rupert has to deal with himself, also come up a little short. Furthermore, some moments are dragged out too much, which makes the production as a whole seem a bit forced and unbalanced. But on balance, the engaging story and good actors can rise above the weak points of the staging. Rosamund Pike and Rachael Stirling give their characters the necessary depth and believability with very nuanced portrayals, allowing the audience to quickly empathize with them. As a result, the two-parter achieves the emotionality that other elements of the production lack.

Women in Love is not necessarily particularly light fare, not a feel-good romance with pretty costumes. Rather, the literary adaptation is an almost dreary, yet engaging drama that scores points with great actors. Despite some lengths and minor weaknesses therefore still applies: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: In the picture is particularly noticeable in the first part Miranda Bowen's preference for backlighting. The image often seems garish and overexposed, colors and details can unfold here far too rarely. When this does happen, the visuals are quite convincing and immerse the action in atmospheric colors. Sound remains rather subdued throughout, with dialogue and the film's score dominating the 5.1 mix. Good!

Extras: Bonus material has the double DVD unfortunately None to offer.

F Conclusion: Women in Love - Loving Women is an engagingly acted drama, the classic material of D.H. Lawrence quite still some new sides can win. Only the sometimes somewhat long-winded and thus unwieldy production clouds the overall impression a little. The technical realization is successful with small drawbacks, on the other hand, you have to do without bonus material. Who likes British dramas of the somewhat more melancholic kind, which is here in any case on the safe side!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp