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rogerebert.suntimes.com - : Reading the last one hundred pages of John Fowles's THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN is like being caught in a fictional labyrinth. We think we know where we stand in the story, and who the characters are and what possibilities are open to them, and then Fowles begins an astonishing series of surprises. He turns his story inside out, suggesting first one ending, then another, always in a way that forces us to rethink everything that has gone before. That complex structure was long thought to make Fowles's novel unfilmable. more...
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www.filmcritic.com - : Overblown and totally full of itself, it's hard to really like Lieutenant's very much. Every character has a passionate soliloquy in every scene, to the point where characters don't talk to each other -- they talk to the camera instead. Charles's infatuation with Sarah doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but the modern day actors are just two typical Hollywood types, bed hopping for the hell of it. It's lushly photographed and filled with a dripping score of string duets -- all of which fits the bill nicely but doesn't really offer anything new. more...
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www.film.u-net.com - : A classic tale of passion, betrayal and loss is related using a mixture of Victorian costume drama and contemporary fiction. The action is muddled right from the very beginning when we are placed on a film set watching Sarah Woodruff (Meryl Streep) play a scene, whereas in the present the actress is called Anna. Similarly, Jeremy Irons plays Charles, a man of leisure and a gentleman, as well as Mike, the actor. The heart of the story takes place in the windswept town of Lyme Regis which has two attractions for Charles - the abundant fossil beds appeal to the amateur paleontologist in him while Emestina (Lynsey Baxter) arouses more basic desires. more...
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Critic Reviews
