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‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ (1981): A Few Thoughts on a Postmodernist Movie
I’ve wanted to see this movie for a long time now. Here are my thoughts on Meryl Streep’s and Jeremy Irons’ performances, and more. Spoilers included.
I just watched The French Lieutenant’s Woman, and while I was impressed with the acting, the movie didn’t bowl me over.
I loved the way it started, with Sarah on the jetty in her cape, turning her head to bore her gaze into poor Charles. I also appreciated the postmodernist device of the frame, of a story within another story. Still, I felt the Victorian-era story was too drawn out while also not fledged enough. There weren’t enough threads to it, enough ingredients in the pudding. Ultimately, it felt like a vanilla concoction. I like vanilla, but for a story that seemed to have bet on some spice, there wasn’t enough of the latter in the movie.
Meryl Streep played her part beautifully, as she always does, but I felt, nevertheless, that she was pushed into doing more mannerisms than powerful acting in the embedded story. When Sarah tells Charles her putative story about her involvement with the French lieutenant, I felt she was indulging in these mannerisms. Not so, however, when she was in bed with Charles — oh…
