Women in Love

R

Released Mar 25, 1970

2 hr. 10 min.

Romance

LGBTQ+

List

83%

23 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Close friends Rupert Birkin (Alan Bates) and Gerald Crich (Oliver Reed) begin romances with siblings Ursula (Jennie Linden) and Gudrun Brangwen (Glenda Jackson). After the couples wed, they take a joint honeymoon to Switzerland, where things begin happily -- but they become increasingly complicated as the trip continues. Rupert and Ursula are determined to stay faithful to one another, while the aloof Gerald and the eccentric Gudrun turn to infidelity and sexual exploration.

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Critics Consensus

A quartet of nuanced performances and Ken Russell's off-kilter direction brings D.H. Lawrence's battle of the sexes to tactile life.

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Alec B

Bates, Linden, Reed, and Jackson are all superb. Russel's willingness to push the sexual content to a near frenzy gives the film a wild and unpredictable energy that is endlessly rewarding.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

Full Review

Mat L

Alan Bates is unforgettable in this classic masterpiece.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/04/23

Full Review

Leaburn O

I can't think of anything to praise about this bore fest. Made it onto the BFI Top 100 and contains one of the gayest scenes ever put to film. The rest of the picture is just rambling boring nonsense. Stunningly boring.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

08/30/23

Full Review

Shioka O

You have Reed and Bates at the same time in this Ken Russel's. Pretentious as you expect. Filmed in the style, it's not coherent. The naked fighting scene is unforgettable as if Roman paintings.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

delysid d

some things i liked about this but overall, i didn't much like it

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/19/22

Full Review

james g

Steamiest sex scene ever put on film: it's between two men, they don't have sex, you think you see more than you do, and there is no release from the tension. Then people eat figs. And dance. And swim naked. And wash up on a beach naked. And...well, this is brilliant. More twisted as time goes by.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Ken Russell

Director

Alan Bates

Rupert Birkin

Glenda Jackson

Gudrun Brangwen

Oliver Reed

Gerald Crich

Jennie Linden

Ursula Brangwen

Eleanor Bron

Hermione Roddice

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Despite a growing portentousness towards the end, and moments of silliness scattered throughout, a surprisingly restrained, even respectful adaptation of DH Lawrence's novel.

Jun 11, 2019

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Directed with style and punch by Ken Russell, this is an episodic but challenging and holding pic.

Jun 11, 2019

Full Review

Melissa Anderson

Artforum

Yet it is to the film's great credit that, in depicting that "puritanical insistence," heterosexuality is revealed to be the most unnatural form of coupling.

Aug 14, 2018

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The story occasionally grows choppy and diffuse, yet the visual splendors never fail to take command.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 30, 2021

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

A sterling confluence of three distinct icons, Women in Love is a key masterpiece of 1970s era British cinema, and one which has outlasted its infamous bits to reveal a decadent, lush, study on the amorphous subjects of love and sexuality.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 25, 2020

Full Review

Paul Schrader

Cinema

The most successful adaptation of a Lawrence novel to the screen.

Jun 30, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Close friends Rupert Birkin (Alan Bates) and Gerald Crich (Oliver Reed) begin romances with siblings Ursula (Jennie Linden) and Gudrun Brangwen (Glenda Jackson). After the couples wed, they take a joint honeymoon to Switzerland, where things begin happily -- but they become increasingly complicated as the trip continues. Rupert and Ursula are determined to stay faithful to one another, while the aloof Gerald and the eccentric Gudrun turn to infidelity and sexual exploration.

Director: Ken Russell
Screenwriter: Larry Kramer, D.H. Lawrence
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Brandywine Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 25, 1970, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Mar 4, 2003
Sound Mix: Mono