England
, 133 min
Shown in 1981
CREDITS
- dir
-
Christopher Miles
- scr
-
Alan Plater
- cast
-
Ian McKellen, Janet Suzman, Ava Gardner, Maurizio Merli, Jorge Rivero, Penelope Keith
-
COMMENTS
Ian McKellen and Janet Suzman in person.
On a spring afternoon in 1912, D.H. Lawrence called upon Frieda von Richthofen Weekley’s husband to see about a lectureship at a German university. Almost immediately, he fell in love with her and, in the following weeks, their relationship developed to such an emotional-spiritual extent that she eloped with him. This was the beginning of one of the great romances of modern literary history, fraught with strange psychological confrontations and intellectual antagonisms. However, the devotion of Lawrence and Frieda lies at the heart of this extraordinary film about their life together. Christopher Miles made his directorial debut several years ago with a memorable film version of Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gypsy and now, dealing with the weavings of biographical drama, he proves himself to be a true Lawrencian disciple. The tenderness that the 26-year-old Lawrence evoked in Frieda was always inexplicable to her, and she later spoke of it as though he had lifted her body-and-soul out of her past life—enough to leave her husband and three children. The wandering years of the Lawrences were beautiful, but not always tranquil: moving back and forth from England to Germany during pre-WWI Europe, each of them was suspected of espionage, and the years in Italy and America, when Lawrence produced his great travel volumes, brought changes in their lifestyles and ideas. They became, in the eyes of moralists, an emblematic duo of decadence. Priest of Love is a thoughtful film, boasting magnificent acting by Ian McKellen as D.H. Lawrence and Janet Suzman (best known for her work in Nicholas and Alexandra) as Frieda. The emotional drama of Lawrence’s belief that Frieda had a genius for living, and her continuous recognition of his need for her, touches the film with grandeur. It is a tempestuous romance that redefined the many-sided quest for sensual fulfillment, when one desired two simultaneous loves, of perhaps, three.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #68
Stanley Mosk, who later became a California state Supreme Court Justice, served as the general chairman at the 1967 Festival.
