The Chatterley Affair (2006)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Filmographies-Cast Notes
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	89:47
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	James Hawes
Studio Distributor	Acorn Media	Starring	Rafe Spall Louise Delamere Mary Healey Gerard Horan David Fairweather Antony Carrick Paul Antony-Barber Kenneth Hadley Donald Sumpter Ron Donachie Karl Johnson David Annen Kenneth Cranham
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Nicholas Hooper

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The last major novel written by D. H. Lawrence was very controversial in its day (1928) due to its in-depth depictions of sexual activity and its use of words considered highly offensive at the time. Some of the words in question are still considered offensive by many today. That novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover was banned for many years in the UK and was only available in private editions from the continent. In 1960, Penguin Books attempted to publish the book in the UK and soon found themselves in court charged under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. This act allowed for publishers to be found not guilty if a work could be found to be of literary merit and that it did not 'deprave or corrupt'.

    This 2006 BBC telemovie tells the true story of the trial but interweaves it with a fictitious story about two of the jurors being inspired by the book and trial to start an affair. The mixture of the trial recreation, lascivious affair and prose from the book make a potent combination which is surprisingly engrossing and much more entertaining than a documentary about the trial would have been. Helena (Louise Delamore), the older and vastly more sexually experienced divorcee, seduces the young married Keith (Rafe Spall, son of Timothy) and they begin to re-enact scenes from the book after each days session. Their relationship echoes the main relationship in the book itself between Lady Chatterley and Mellors. This show is structured quite like a documentary with flash forward interviews with the jurors in the modern day also included. David Tennant (the current Doctor Who) also appears as a literature expert at the trial.

    This show has been rated R18+ by the OFLC for High Level Sex Scenes and Coarse Language which I would guess was driven by some full frontal male nudity including erections. Overall, I did not find this show offensive and would certainly recommend it as an interesting and well written piece of television drama. The show leaves you to answer the question as to whether Helena and Keith were 'depraved or corrupted' by reading the book as part of the trial. Another high quality television production from the UK.

Video

    The video quality is decent but no more.

    The show is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably sharp but somewhat grainy throughout, with no low level noise. The shadow detail was decent. The grain sometimes became mild macro-blocking, especially in backgrounds.

    The colour was quite good but there was some chroma noise in more vibrant colours.

    Artefacts were not very obvious although there were some occasional white splodges such as at 48:50.

    There are no subtitles on this disc.

    There is no layer change.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was easy to understand but the lack of subtitles was certainly felt in some scenes.

    The score is good featuring piano and strings.

    The surround speakers were used for some mild effects when played via Pro-Logic II and the subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The extras are text based only.

Menu

    The menu is still and silent.

Filmographies

    Text filmographies of the five main cast members.

Brief history of the Trial

    Three pages of text about the trial itself. Interesting.

    This show has been released in Region 1 with one more text extra (A biography of D. H. Lawrence) and what sounds like better video quality (although I can only find one review). Region 1 is probably the pick.

    The video quality is decent.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are restricted to text based essays and filmographies.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall