Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

calvinnme After the production code ended and before political correctness started there was an era of almost complete cinematic freedom. This film is of that time. Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden play Gudrun and Ursula, a pair of sisters in 1920s England with unconventional views on love. One day while rubbernecking at a wedding, the see the brother of the bride (Oliver Reed) and his best friend (Alan Bates) and after another meeting or two begin torrid relationships. The two couples fornicate their way through life, spouting philosophical nonsense, until another man shows up on a ski trip in Switzerland. I think the scene that summed it all up for me was when Gudrun and Ursula wandered off at a garden party. Ursula is singing, and a herd of cattle show up, frightening her. Gudrun confronts that cattle -- with interpretive dance. The cattle, suitably baffled, wander off, realizing that the film already has enough BS and doesn't need theirs.. Oh, and the couple that got married at the beginning drown themselves at the garden party to get out of this turkey. Jackson won an Oscar in a weak year for actresses. I can't blame her; she does the best she can with the leaden material. I give this one a 5/10 for cinematography and for the historical value of being what passed for sexual shock value in 1969.

moonspinner55 Lunatic director Ken Russell and screenwriter Larry Kramer, adapting D. H. Lawrence's battle-of-the-sexes novel, give us two portraits of passion in "Women in Love", delineating how some desires can destroy lives while others come to be expected (usually by those who take love--or the romantic act of love--for granted). Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden play close sisters in 1920s England who are curious about sex, though one may be searching for a semblance of true love while her sibling isn't so old-fashioned--she sees sex as a conquest. Russell isn't interested in character content as much as he is in creating a gorgeous-looking picture...and, indeed, this is a marvelous-looking piece of work. However, there isn't very much emotion in the narrative (not even under the surface), rendering the final tragic events cold, maybe even indifferent. The performances from the ladies are good, if not convincing; Jackson did win a Best Actress Oscar, but Alan Bates and Oliver Reed are more compelling as the men in their lives. The scenario is sexually-charged, but not with passion--the lust is always undercut with anger. The nudity and caressing images aren't even that erotic because the film is so aloof, with conflicts that aren't investigated and dialogue that doesn't reveal personality. **1/2 from ****

Maddyclassicfilms Ken Russells 1969 take on D.H Lawrences classic tale of sexual desire and awakening is nothing less than a masterpiece.Set in the early 1920's in England it tells the story of two sisters looking for love where ever they can find it.There's Gudren(Glenda Jackson)the elder desperate for the physical sensations of love and to hell with the consequences.Then there's shy Ursula(Jenny Lindon)who want's the emotional intimacy love can provide and may appear quiet and reserved but inside has passions just waiting to be released.They fall in love with two men who are the best of friends and who may have sexual feelings for each other as well.Heir apparent to a successful mining company Gerald Critch(Oliver Reed)and Boheminan Rupert Birkin(Alan Bates).Ursula falls deeply in love with Birkin who promptly marries her while Gerald embarks on an often painful affair with Gudren.I see the women here as the female versions of Gerald and Birkin.Gudren is Birkin seething with passion for Gerald and not afraid of making her feelings and emotions known whether in public or not.Whereas Ursula is Gerald controlled,reserved and quiet on the outside but inside harbours such strong feelings they could tear her apart.Each man marries the opposite of his own nature therefore fulfilling their desires to be together even if in reality they can never be together.Famous for it's use of full frontal nudity and sexual subject matter it's also best remembered for the nude wrestling match between Birkin and Gerald which can be seen as a physical form of their desire for each other.With unforgettable performances from the leads and a young Eleanor Bron as Hermione Roddice who's in love with Birkin. Moving,beautiful and haunting Women In Love is a love story that will stay with you long after you've seen it.

Ali Catterall In the Midlands town of Beldover, chilly neurotic artist Gudrun (Jackson) and her schoolteacher sister Ursula (Linden) fall in love with lifelong pals, wealthy coalminer owner Gerald (Reed) and school inspector Rupert (Bates). During a holiday in Switzerland, Gudrun falls for a bisexual German sculptor, Gerald resigns himself to a snowy grave and Rupert and Ursula return to Britain."Women In Love was easier for them," director Ken Russell once remarked of his critics. "It was literal and had just the right amount of violence and erotic things in it. But I don't think it was as good as the others." Many would disagree. Even Alexander Walker, who'd later be pummelled by the business end of Russell's rolled-up newspaper live on television for daring to call The Devils "monstrously indecent", praised the film as "exceptional".A true and honest artist, Russell has always steered a singularly rocky path between, as Walker put it, "impassioned iconoclasm" and "boorish megalomania", but when he gets it right, few can equal him for pure cinematic poetry. There are moments of astonishing beauty here: Ursula's sensual rendition of 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' as Gudrun reaches for a tree branch; Ursula's nude scene with Rupert, the lovers gracefully circling in a field; the pathetic discovery of Gerald's frozen form, broken beyond belief; leastwise, that nude male wrestling match by firelight - a near-cinematic first, incidentally.The performances, too, are second to none, with (a then pregnant) Jackson deservedly scooping a Best Actress Oscar for her part as the manipulative Gudren.