Lady Chatterley’s Lover: Emma Corrin sizzles in Netflix’s raunchy adaptation

Lady Chatterley’s Lover (18+, 127mins) Directed by Laure Clermont-Tonnerre ****

A strained marriage and a love triangle, with the tension culminating in a trip to Venice. Star Emma Corrin – and the audience – could be forgiven for thinking they’re reliving My Policeman.

But this literary adaptation offers something far more passionate, alluring and confronting, even if it has Skins and Unbroken’s Jack O’Connell – rather than Harry Styles – as its leading man.

A rare English-language take on D.H. Lawrence’s classic, but controversial nearly century old novel (banned in many countries, including his native Britain, for “obscenity” for decades after its initial publication), this is a steamy, earthy, soft-focus-free Lady Chatterley’s Lover that focuses as much on the central pair’s mutual pleasure from being together, as the class-struggle and prejudice that surrounds them.

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French director Laure Clermont-Tonerre (The Mustang, TV true-crime drama The Act) and screenwriter David Magee’s (Life of Pi, Mary Poppins Returns) version certainly earns its 18 rating, with its lashings of nudity, outdoor frolics and pheasant hut trysts, but it doesn’t stint on emotional drama and compelling storytelling either, as we watch the woman born Constance Reid (Corrin, who originally made her name playing another much read about British aristocrat in The Crown) endanger her title, her wealth, her position in the world for pursuing romance with “the hired help”.

Opening quite pointedly and brilliantly as she and newly minted husband, landed gentleman and military man Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett) have their photos taken against a fake backdrop, Constance initially bats away suggestions that it’s an ill-conceived match.

“Couldn’t you just have sex with him? It’s much less commitment – and probably all Clifford wants,” her sister Hilda (Faye Marsey) queries.

“He’s kind, thoughtful and keeps me safe,” Constance replies, pointing out that she couldn’t bear to have said no, since he’s going back to the Great War’s front tomorrow morning. “Imagine if something terrible had happened to him.”

Unfortunately, her words turn out to be prophetic, as Clifford returns partially paralysed and somewhat emotionally scarred. Agreeing to decamp from London to his family estate at Wragby, Constance hopes the country air might not only reignite his literary aspirations, but also his interest in her.

But while he clearly adores Constance, the relationship is more one of carer and patient than matrimonially joined soulmates. “I just can’t anymore,” he says of physical relations. “I’ll be fine. This is misfortune, but you’ll see, we’ll be fine.”

It’s not fine for long, especially when none of her friends will visit, believing “misfortune is contagious”, and Clifford won’t let her travel.

Then comes the kicker. “Everyone”, Clifford informs her, is expecting an heir. Reeling and confused, Constance is shocked when he matter-of-factly suggests she find a suitable man for “the mechanical act” required. “As long as you govern your feelings, we should be able to arrange this like a trip to the dentist.”

Crushed and haunted by those words, Constance starts spending as little time around Wragby as possible, escaping into the countryside, the local village – and books. It’s while seeking solitude that she encounters the man who will change her life – gamekeeper and former army lieutenant Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell). Cuckolded by his wife while serving his country, his gruff exterior belies his preferred reading material of Joyce and Woolf. Naturally, it isn’t long before they find common ground and give in to temptation.

Cue increasingly hand-held footage, as tensions and temperatures rise, O’Connell and Corrin’s chemistry clearly palpable, whether it’s in a meeting of minds – or more physical acts.

What’s refreshing is that these scenes are neither expertly choreographed (although the framing and camera placement are discreetly deliberate), nor overly serious. The characters laugh at their antics, brush dirt off each other and genuinely look like they’re having a good time, unlike say Sean Bean and Joely Richardson in Ken Russell’s four-part 1993 BBC version.

A terrific showcase for the increasingly impressive Corrin, this Bridgerton-meets-Downton should rightly prove to be a hit for Netflix. Expect “Ay up me duck” to be the hit new greeting of the summer.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is now available to stream on Netflix.