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In a northern mining town Paul Morel struggles against his
working class background and his desire to find meaning and
love in his life. Offered a chance to follow his brother to
London to train as an artist Paul's connection with the women
in his life, especially his mother, makes him stay in his
home town, but Paul fails to find the freedom he so craves
in either the arms of his childhood sweetheart or the wife
of another man. It is only following the death of his beloved
mother can Paul finally shed his old life to continue his
search for meaning in London...
Sons
and Lovers is a bit of a forgotten classic, between nineteen
sixty and nineteen sixty one it won seven film awards, including
an Oscar, and was nominated for a further eleven. Directed
by Jack Cardiff, who is probably better known as the cinematographer
on films like Conan the Destroyer and Cats Eyes,
his career began in the mid thirties and carries on today.
To date he has directed sixteen feature films and been cinematographer
on seventy movies.
Sons
and Lovers was adapted for the screen (from a D.H. Lawrence
book) by T. E. B. Clarke and Gavin Lambert. From my memory
of the novel this is a pretty faithful reproduction of the
book. The main theme of both the book and the film is the
amount of damage that people will do to each other in the
name of love. The various characters are some of the most
damaged and damaging that you are likely to encounter. Paul's
mother continually thwarts his romantic relationships as she
cannot bare to lose control over him. Miriam, his most important
love interest is likewise being poisoned by her mother, who
views sex and relations as something God has foisted on women,
which they have to suffer to fulfil their marriage vows. Paul's
father beats his wife and the whole thing is depressing in
the extreme.
There
are some stand out performances in the film, Trevor Howard,
who plays Paul's father perfectly, projects a man constrained
by his own time and upbringing - though his final redemption
is that he alone encourages his son to leave the village and
move to London, where a better life may await him. The weird
one is Dean Stockwell. Okay so the name didn't hit me between
the eyes when I watched the credits through a half closed
lid. I kept watching this intense young man thinking he looks
familiar, my god it's the Dean Stockwell from Quantum
Leap. Its moments like that which makes you re-evaluate
your idea of an actor, sure he was good in Blue Velvet
and even Quantum Leap, but here gives such a sharp
performance that it set my teeth on edge.
The
disc is in black and white and the audio is stereo, but hey
this is an old film remember. Under the special features there
is an interesting interview with the director, a stills gallery
and the inevitable trailer. The picture is presented in glorious
Cinemascope, though the picture looked a little soft for my
liking, but this might be deliberate. Overall the cinematography
is very evocative, though dare I say it, not up to the level
of the David Lean films.
And
maybe that's where its weakness lays; unlike David Copperfield
I'm not sure that this film will find a modern audience. A
film about existential angst amongst the grimy coal pits is
going to be a hard sell. The pace is, naturally slow - which
was great at the time the film was made but maybe a little
too slow for a modern audience - drip fed a constant barrage
of images.
Useless
fact time: Did you know that even the news is cut so that
no image stays on the screen for any length of time? Really,
go ahead and look at the six o'clock news and see how many
times the visual changes for no real reason apart to stop
the audience from turning off. So given that, unless you can
appeal to lovers of film this is going to remain in undeserved
obscurity.
So,
one for the film lovers amongst you, but I'm not sure that
this will appeal to the casual viewer.
Charles
Packer
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