Lady Chatterly: Slow to Grow

WORTH IT: I try and stick to the belief that going into a movie with any kind of expectation will result in nothing short of a disappointment. And for me, this is usually a problem, because I anticipate movies to the nth degree, building them into drastic hopes to be blown away by a new and creative narrative. Lady Chatterley was a film that I had built up for weeks. Going in, I knew little about it and simply expected to become that much more inspired to read D.H. Lawrence's risque novel. What I found inside that theatre was more so a challenge than an entertaining film: a challenge to delve into French-film symbolism and wait (patiently) for the heart of the film to evolve. What begins a 2.5 hour journey is an hour of shots urging us to become one with nature and understand Constance Chatterley is much more a part of a wild and untamed, yet delicate flower or bird. Very little dialogue and several monotonous almost-still frames had me shifting in my seat, and counting down the time. Fortunately, for my expectations, and for my review, the film picks up with the plot. As soon as Connie and the gamekeeper frolic for the first time, we are invited to watch and enjoy the most awkward, but emotionally frank, love story seen in film. This last hour and a half flew by, keeping me on my toes for something to go wrong, shocking me with new twists in character development, and keeping my heart content and empathizing for the delicate hearts at work on the secret affair. The most intimate scenes grow in honest and raw emotion, completely rocking your former boredom, and leave you questioning the innocence of your own heart. If you go into this movie expecting to be on the edge of your seat, you should have walked into something else, but if you give the slowness of Chatterley's opening a chance right off, you may find yourself swayed by the enjoyment of this quirky and heartfelt story, that I promise will leave you wishing for such an endeavor.