We discuss the ending of the Netflix film Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022), which will contain spoilers.
If you don’t know the story of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, it’s about the physical attraction that cannot be ignored. You have Lady Constance Chatterley (Emma Corrin), who marries an officer in the military. A man of esteem and distinction, Sir Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett), comes home and suffers a crippling injury in during the first World War. He is now paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. This was not what Lady Chatterley had in mind when marrying Clifford. They left London’s lively nightlife and culture for the small coal mining town of Wragby. A home where Clifford’s family spent holidays.
Clifford won’t let anyone touch him but his wife, regulating herself into a nursemaid and almost mother-like figure. This is something for which she has never aspired. To make things worse, her husband has resigned himself to stopping all physical relations with her. Clifford thinks the sound of the pitter-patter of little feet will solve all her problems. What is Clifford’s plan? For Constance to take on a lover, a man of esteem and good lineage, like him. If they play their cards right, they can have a family without anyone knowing she had an affair. Then, when she is “with child,” it will look like they started their own family.
However, she chooses Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), a former military lieutenant and now gamekeeper on the Chatterley property. His brief backstory is that he caught his wife cheating on him during the war with several men. However, she will not grant him a divorce. Oliver now lives in a little shack on Chatterley’s property. None of the men that Clifford chooses for his wife interest her, but she finds solace, passion, and love with the gamekeeper. The lady of the house falls for Mellor’s masculinity, sensitive touch, and attraction that she cannot ignore.
When Constance tells Oliver she may be pregnant, he is upset. Not only because his child, for all intents and purposes, won’t be his, but Constance was using him like a horse at a stud farm. (Jeez, some men cannot take a compliment). Eventually, they make up and find themselves with their clothes spontaneously being ripped off and continue the most incredible sex in the history of humankind. And that’s when Oliver’s brother-in-law arrives.
Constance hides, and he threatens Oliver that his sister still gets half his military pension. Oliver kindly asks the member of his family to leave with his shotgun. The brother-in-law returns later and finds a book with Lady Constance Chatterley’s name in it. (This isn’t exactly a pair of underwear, after all). He spreads the rumor across town, and soon, word gets back to Clifford, who fires him immediately and hires hands to escort him off his property. Constance is there at the time, and Oliver says he will find her before he leaves.
So, that leaves us with the question of what the plan is from here. Initially, Lady Chatterley lets her husband know about the project, which may be in motion. He is pleased until he finds out it was with Mellors, the gamekeeper. This brings up the issue of classism, as his offspring would not be with a man who would produce a child suitable to his genes. There is also the issue of putting his wife with a man that is not her equal. This exchange has Clifford’s wife disgusted with her husband, who looks down on the community that works for him and around him. As if they are beneath him. (There is also the issue of Clifford bringing in a machine to help with coal production, which cuts much of the workforce).
This is the breaking point for Constance. She tells Clifford that Oliver is one of the best men she has ever known. So, does Constance leave her husband for Oliver? Yes, and she asks for a divorce. He refuses, but Constance leaves anyway, moving in with her sister. Her pregnancy continues and begins to show. Where all her snobby equals look down upon her. Eventually, Oliver sends her a letter that arrives. Oliver is staying in a small village in Scotland. While reading the letter, we see her make her way to his home. She finds a desolate cottage that looks deserted. As she walks into the yard, she looks over the beautiful countryside feeling sad, empty, and alone. We then see Oliver walk up from behind and wrap her arms around Constance.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover ending explained
D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was only published to the public in 1928 in Italy. Eventually, it made its way to Europe in the 1960s, causing an uproar over its sexually explicit nature and a woman having an affair. The themes were lurid at the time. Imagine someone caring about the component of physical attraction and needs when it comes to love. While the movie, like the book, seems like a conventional victorian story, what lies underneath is full of social morality issues that were then considered radically unconventional.
Constance not staying by the side of her husband, who is now physically disabled, would be unheard of at the time. The use of sex, profanity, and expanding women’s roles outside the social norms is sincere. This is revolutionary because it changed how stories were written. The story is just as much about censorship as it does about love and human relationships. Combing the classic tale of love conquers all while also recognizing taboo subjects are just as crucial as fairy tale themes.
What did you think of the ending of the Netflix film Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)? Comment below!
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