Liebende Frauen (1969)

Liebende Frauen: Directed by Ken Russell. With Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden. Two best friends fall in love with a pair of women, but the relationships soon go in very different directions.

“Now that the audience can u0026quot;looku0026quot; beyond the u0026quot;frontalu0026quot; male nudity along with Ken Russellu0026#39;s staging of D. H. Lawrenceu0026#39;s u0026quot;wrestling matchu0026quot; between peers, male at that, the film itself stands on its own as a u0026quot;brave new worldu0026quot; of sexual u0026quot;ideologies.u0026quot; Methinks the switching of genders in the title would obviate much of the confusion amongst the audience of this film. Lawrence was not so much a u0026quot;writeru0026quot; as he was an explorer and pioneer in the psychologies of u0026quot;sex,u0026quot; the u0026quot;frictionalu0026quot; variety that is, as he himself puts it. As the Aztecan? guru spiritually sublimates the physical needs of the matron in u0026quot;Plumed Serpentu0026quot; so does the Alan Bates character overtly name his love, as in u0026quot;I offered him.u0026quot; Women find one answer in Gudrunu0026#39;s cool/u0026quot;coldu0026quot; acceptance of her own polarities, even as she trots off to sample Teutonic variations on a theme called u0026quot;love.u0026quot; But I found the Bavarian? exemplar of u0026quot;gaynessu0026quot; herein a bit too fey and much too overt, for his day surely. All in all, a literally beautiful evocation and visualization of times and personae past. Figs, anyoneu0026quot;?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI have just watched this Lswrence/Kramer/Russell movie again, and I find myself, perforce,u0026quot;movedu0026quot; to bring my personal. subjective reactions u0026quot;up to date,u0026quot; belated as it is. Which is to say, again, that this u0026quot;flicku0026quot; eludes EVERYone, onsofar as each of us brings to our individual u0026quot;witnessingsu0026quot; our own idiosyncratic u0026quot;baggageu0026quot; of preconceptions and presumptions. The naysayers here, the u0026quot;machou0026quot; types who cannot see themselves as a Gerald, havenu0026#39;t a clue and not a hope of ever achieving one. The subtleties AND the u0026quot;truthsu0026quot; Lawrence enounced will ever elude them, which, of course, is what they deserve. Geraldu0026#39;s realization that he never really u0026quot;wantedu0026quot; the u0026quot;frictionalu0026quot; fruition of his lust for Gudrun before he traipses off to his need for u0026quot;sleepu0026quot; is just one of the profound insights herein. Gudrunu0026#39;s perfervid knowledge of same and HER need for self-validation is equally insightful. But it is the closing two u0026quot;scenesu0026quot; that aptly sum up Lawrenceu0026#39;s vision and Lawrenceu0026#39;s perceptions: 1: The authoru0026#39;s fictional personification who, tearfully, pronounces: u0026quot;He should have loved me. I offered him.u0026quot; 2: The closing dialog between u0026quot;manu0026quot; and u0026quot;wife,u0026quot; that,ruefully, evinces the u0026quot;gulfu0026quot; between u0026quot;normalityu0026quot; and u0026quot;perversion. Alan Bates was a revelation in u0026quot;Georgy Girl,u0026quot; and his performance here is no less full and professional AND persuasive. Lawrence was much less u0026quot;physiczl,u0026quot; forget healthy, but Bates captures the essence of the authoru0026#39;s u0026quot;spirituality.u0026quot; Some find Reed u0026quot;hammyu0026quot; and one-dimensional, but his performance here is deeper than that. Finally, I believe that, in its own inimitable way, this conjunction of author, fan, and cineaste is nonpareil, likr the Merchant/Ivory u0026quot;Mauriceu0026quot; or u0026quot;todayu0026#39;su0026quot; u0026quot;Brokeback Mountain.u0026quot; That Glenda Jackson looks like Tony Curtis in drag is amusing of course, and that macho types canu0026#39;t abide the slow u0026quot;paceu0026quot; of superficial crawlings must be expected, as in u0026quot;get on with it.u0026quot; They will NEVER perceive, much less understand, just exactly WHAT is that is ongoing. u0026quot;Loveu0026quot; and u0026quot;lustu0026quot; and fruition and loss are herein embodied in the ripemess of a mere u0026quot;fig,u0026quot; as in figment or figurative.”