Karel Reisz

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

An astounding array of talent came together for the big-screen adaptation of John Fowles’s novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman, a postmodern masterpiece that had been considered unfilmable. With an ingenious script by the Nobel Prize–winning playwright Harold Pinter, British New Wave trailblazer Karel Reisz transforms Fowles’s tale of scandalous romance into an arresting, hugely entertaining movie about cinema. In Pinter’s reimagining, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep star in parallel narratives, as a Victorian-era gentleman and the social outcast he risks everything to love, and as the contemporary actors playing those roles in a film production, and immersed in their own forbidden affair. Shot by the consummate cinematographer Freddie Francis and scored by the venerated composer and conductor Carl Davis, this is a beguiling, intellectually nimble feat of filmmaking, starring a pair of legendary actors in early leading roles.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1981
  • 123 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #768

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interviews with actors Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep, editor John Bloom, and composer Carl Davis
  • New interview with film scholar Ian Christie
  • Episode of The South Bank Show from 1981 featuring director Karel Reisz, novelist John Fowles, and screenwriter Harold Pinter
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Lucy Bolton

New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interviews with actors Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep, editor John Bloom, and composer Carl Davis
  • New interview with film scholar Ian Christie
  • Episode of The South Bank Show from 1981 featuring director Karel Reisz, novelist John Fowles, and screenwriter Harold Pinter
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Lucy Bolton

New cover by Eric Skillman

The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Cast
Meryl Streep
Sarah/Anna
Jeremy Irons
Charles/Mike
Hilton McRae
Sam
Emily Morgan
Mary
Charlotte Mitchell
Mrs. Tranter
Lynsey Baxter
Ernestina
Jean Faulds
Cook
Peter Vaughan
Mr. Freeman
Colin Jeavons
Vicar
Liz Smith
Mrs. Fairley
Patience Collier
Mrs. Poulteney
John Barrett
Dairyman
Leo McKern
Dr. Grogan
Credits
Director
Karel Reisz
Produced by
Leon Clore
Screenplay
Harold Pinter
Based on the book by
John Fowles
Director of photography
Freddie Francis
Editor
John Bloom
Music
Carl Davis
Production designer
Assheton Gordon
Associate producers
Tom Maschler
Associate producers
Geoffrey Helman
Costume designer
Tom Rand

Current

Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons on The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons on The French Lieutenant’s Woman
When they starred together in The French Lieutenant’s Woman in 1981, Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons were not yet the movie icons we know them as today. Though Streep had already won a best supporting actress Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer and Irons was…
The French Lieutenant’s Woman: A Room of Her Own
The French Lieutenant’s Woman: A Room of Her Own

Director Karel Reisz and writer Harold Pinter’s brilliant adaptation of John Fowles’s novel focuses on the experiences of women in two radically different eras.

By Lucy Bolton

True-Crime Classics, the Century’s Best Sci-Fi, Linklater’s Characters

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True-Crime Classics, the Century’s Best Sci-Fi, Linklater’s Characters

Writer Harold Schechter shares a list of five true-crime films that encapsulate the essence of fear—including collection favorites In Cold Blood, The Honeymoon Killers, and Badlands—in the Library of America’s biweekly Moviegoer column.

Composer Carl Davis on Creating a Theme
Composer Carl Davis on Creating a Theme
For over fifty years, the brilliant composer and conductor Carl Davis has been enriching cinema with his evocative film scores. Although well-known for his silent movie work—he's created orchestrations for the re-releases of films like Harold Lloyd…
Criterion Designs: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Criterion Designs: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a film with the look of a lush period piece and the structure of postmodern metafiction. When it came time to design the cover, we wanted something that would emphasize the ways the film makes you aware of itself as…

By Eric Skillman