Erotica rarely gets a decent treatment in film and that basically is due to the fact that, despite plots that are drenched in the essence of highly sexualized relationships, the norm is to have actors whose visual appeal is excessive, but their acting skills a non-existent concept. Adding to insult, the norm seems to have a director whose sole interest is to pan and scan -- slowly, of course, the perfect voyeur -- over the glowing skin of perfectly toned bodies writhing around each other like a pretzel making love to itself and occasionally hint at some personal conflict that finds its necessary resolution in yet another dramatic sex scene. I wonder if there is, today, such a thing as intelligent erotica -- not that I'm against the sex per se, that's rather dandy with me -- but it would be great to imbue the embellished, engorged incursions into intimate debauchery with some notion of inner/outer turmoil. Anais Nin, at least, knew what she was doing when she wrote her masterpiece "A Spy in the House of Love." She also wrote a dissertation on the author of what became the film WOMEN IN LOVE. Hers was, at the time, rather revolutionary since women weren't at the forefront of literature and much less erotica, but Nin wasn't the ordinary creature. She was first and foremost, a keen observer of a person's place in the world, fragmented in time and space, here and there, and the eroticism implicit within her stories (even the more frank ones which she wrote for a dollar in order to survive). There was a powerful poetry already palpable and rarely have I read anyone like her. Now, as for the writer whom she admired and defended, his work is also quite arresting even when then it was considered too controversial -- which by default makes it horribly dated. D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" is a sequel to "The Rainbow" (which also would see a transition into film form later, with Glenda Jackson playing her character's mother) and it is, in a nutshell, an erotic quadrangle between two men (Oliver Reed and Alan Bates, the first a man who represents old money, the latter a man who is a part of the new society) and two free spirited women (Jackson and Jenny Linden).

A story that meanders around how these people meet, get involved with each other and eventually get tangled in their emotional conflicts which come to a head in the Alps, Ken Russell's WOMEN IN LOVE is a visually arresting tour de force of beauty and sensuality. The now-famous sequence involving a nude wrestling match between Reed and Bates is a sight to behold, and anyone with a minimal level of understanding can figure out what is really taking place between them: this is made even more erotic due to the extraordinary similarities between both actors who even comb their hair in the same fashion. Bates is the perfect feminine counterpart to Reed's tormented masculine self, the man who's there for the asking, but who cannot see this desire for Reed come to a fulfilling thing. The two women fare equally well, Glenda Jackson being the more masculine of the two -- closer in essence to Katharine Hepburn even in her choice of words and mannerisms -- and Linden, almost thankless in her ethereal beauty. That Jackson winds up in the arms of Reed and Linden in Bates is a part of what makes them tick: Jackson is a stronger presence than Bates and therefore can withstand Reed's incursions into Heathcliff-like behavior while Linden and Bates make what can be only considered the perfect couple. All in all, this is a stunning movie, a work of art that breathes, and an allegory of the battle of the sexes that would see itself become more pronounced as people became less tied to conventions. Haunting even in some of the quieter moments -- such as when Bates walks out, naked, and lets himself feel the garden in a very powerful journey of self-discovery, it's one of those that can make anyone view it again and again and see its own petals reveal new colors for the first time.

Sisters Gudrun Brangwen (Glenda Jackson) and school teacher Ursula Brangwen (Jennie Linden) belong to the upper crust society of England's industrial Midlands during the 20's. Ursula falls for the philosophical Rupert Birkin (Alan Bates). Gudrun is taken with his best friend Gerald Crich (Oliver Reed) who ruthlessly runs his father's coal mine.

This is high art erotic romanticism based on D. H. Lawrence's novel. There are some great work from director Ken Russell. I especially love the one cut from the post-coital Ursula-Rupert to the dead lovers. There is the homoerotic wrestling scene pushing the envelop. The performances of Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed are superior. It does run a bit long which is not unusual among the films of that era. Overall, it is a superior work of high art erotica of the British upper class.

I watched this in a double bill with "The Rainbow" (1989),based upon the 1915 T.H. Lawrence novel, the story of the early years of sisters Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, particularly Ursula, followed up in novel form in 1920's "Women in Love", filmed first by legendary director Ken Russell. Both films featured the incandescent Glenda Jackson, in this playing Gudrun (rather undeveloped in "The Rainbow") and later, Gudrun and Ursula's mother (a minor character here). Jennie Linden is Ursula, still seen teaching school, and finding a powerful lusty romance with Alan Bates.

While their romamce is tempestuous, often violent and filled with doubt, Linden and Bates share a definite spark. One of their love scenes is simply them walking naked through a meadow with the camera tilted to the side to illustrate the fact that when they aren't making love, it appears that they are. This makes them close to a modern day Adam and Eve with their own Eden to explore, literally and metaphorically. As for the Oscar winning Glenda Jackson, she ends up being in a seemingly more traditional romance with the introspective Oliver Reed, drawn in beyond his control. It takes time for Jackson's character to really take over, but the complexity of her character is beautifully unfolded in a way that is shear poetry.

There's then the friendship of Bates and Reed, obviously devoted, but showing a brotherly love that gets physical and erotic in a subtly done nude wrestling match. Their manliness and inability to express themselves is very apparent in their scenes together and with Linden and Jackson, but both come to life more when they are alone together than it does with the two women.

I've read over the years varying criticism and praise of this film, calling it a beautiful but pretentious bore, and a transition for world cinema that makes it a glorious work of art. Every frame of this film is a treat for the eyes, and the film's philosophies makes it ear candy as well. I'll never forget Jackson giving an audience of temperamental oxen as ballet or the scene of Bates and Tinden out in the meadow as the drowned bodies of friends of theirs are discovered. A lovely musical score by George Delerue is joined by songs of the period, giving it an authentic feel for the times. This has slow moments that some might find tedious, but for me, the slow moments really took me in, giving me so much more to love.