The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) on Netflix
Charles is engaged to Ernestina when he meets Sarah Woodruff, known in Lyme Regis as the French lieutenant's woman. The actors playing them, Anna and Mike, begin an affair.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.9/1016,955 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Charles Smithson, a gentleman paleontologist, is engaged to Ernestina, the daughter of a rich merchant in Lyme Regis, when he meets Sarah Woodruff, a woman the town calls the French lieutenant's woman. Sarah tells him of the French lieutenant who washed ashore at the house where she worked as a governess, and of the reputation she lost because of him. Disturbed by her yet drawn to her, Charles urges her to move to London, promising to send money in secret. Anna and Mike, the married actors who play Sarah and Charles in the production, begin an affair of their own.
Cast
- Jean Fauldsas Cook
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sidney Lumet, Robert Bolt, Fred Zinnemann and Miloš Forman were all attached to the film at one point or another, and the script went through a number of treatments, including one by Dennis Potter in 1975 and one by James Costigan in 1976, before Pinter's final draft.
- Robert Redford and Richard Chamberlain were considered for the role of Charles Smithson, while Francesca Annis, Charlotte Rampling and Gemma Jones were considered for Sarah, along with Helen Mirren, who was Fowles's own choice.
- The book was published in 1969 and its transfer to the big screen was a protracted process, with film rights changing hands a number of times; Malcolm Bradbury and Christopher Bigsby first suggested a television adaptation to Fowles before producer Saul Zaentz arranged the film version.
- An 1857 book by William Acton, Prostitution, Considered in Its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects, is referred to in the film when Streep's character mentions that in 1857 there were 80,000 prostitutes in the county of London and one house in 60 functioned as a brothel.
