The French Lieutenant's Woman
The French Lieutenant's Woman

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)


The French Lieutenant's Woman

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1978)

Budget (GBP) 4,000,000
Distribution Company

United Artists   (Distributor | Est. Unknown)

Release Date 18 September 1981
Black and White No
Regional Release No
Release Notes Canada 18 September 1981 (Toronto);
USA 18 September 1981 (New York City, New York) (premiere);
USA 18 September 1981 (limited);
UK 15 October 1981 (London);
USA 16 October 1981;
Italy 20 November 1981;
Norway 1 December 1981;
Australia 3 December 1981;
Denmark 18 December 1981;
Spain 18 December 1981;
Portugal 25 December 1981;
Finland 1 January 1982;
Netherlands 28 January 1982;
Ireland 29 January 1982;
Japan February 1982;
Argentina 11 February 1982;
West Germany 11 March 1982;
Greece 12 March 1982;
Sweden 12 March 1982;
France 17 March 1982;
Uruguay 26 March 1982;
Belgium 29 April 1982 (Gent);
Mexico 17 December 1982;
Hungary 20 October 1983;
Greece 9 October 2003 (Panorama of European Cinema);
Serbia 28 February 2005 (Belgrade Film Festival);
Italy 17 October 2009 (Rome Film Festival).
Description Pinter adaptation of John Fowles' 1969 novel. The film intercuts the stories of two romantic affairs. One is within a Victorian period drama involving a gentleman palaeontologist, Charles Smithson, and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as "the French lieutenant's woman." The other affair is between actors Mike and Anna, playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep play the lead roles.
Language English

Linked Productions

No linked Production have been added to this production record yet.

Linked People

John Fowles (1926 - 2005)

Creative | Author (original novel)


Harold Pinter (1930 - 2008)

Creative | Screenplay


Leon Clore (1918 - 1992)

Production | Producer


Geoffrey Helman (1930)

Production | Associate Producer


Tom Maschler (1933)

Production | Associate Producer


Carl Davis (1936)

Creative | Music


Freddie Francis (1917 - 2007)

Creative | Director Of Photography


John Bloom (1935)

Creative | Film Editor


Patsy Pollock (1946)

Creative | Casting


Assheton Gorton (1930 - 2014)

Creative | Production Designer


Allan Cameron (1944 - 2018)

Creative | Art Director


Norman Dorme (1927)

Creative | Art Director


Terry Pritchard

Creative | Art Director


Ann Mollo (1933)

Creative | Set Decoration


Tom Rand

Creative | Costume Designer


Sue Barradell

Creative | Makeup Artist


Simon Thompson

Creative | Hairdresser


Chris Burt (1942)

Production | Production Manager


Richard Hoult (1945)

Creative | Assistant Director


Peter Kohn

Creative | Second Assistant Director


Matthew Simmons

Creative | Third Assistant Director


Paul Tivers (1953)

Creative | Third Assistant Director


Trisha Edwards

Production | Property buyer


Dennis Fruin

Technical | Props Master


Toddy Roche

Production | Property buyer


Sally Scott (1939)

Creative | Artist


Fred Walker

Technical | Construction manager


Andy Aitken

Technical | Plasterer


Mark Fruin

Technical | Standby Props


Cliff Robinson (1930)

Creative | Assistant Art Director


Peter Russell

Technical | Junior draughtsman


Rocky Phelan

Technical | Sound Assistant


Bill Rowe (1931 - 1992)

Technical | Sound Re-recordist


Don Sharpe (1929 - 2004)

Technical | Sound Editor


Ivan Sharrock (1941)

Technical | Sound Recordist


Ken Weston (1947 - 2001)

Technical | Boom operator


Don Banks (1949)

Technical | Sound camera


Lionel Strutt

Technical | Adr mixer


Alan Bryce (1927 - 2000)

Technical | Special effects


Nobby Clark

Technical | Special effects


Paul Corbould (1961)

Technical | Special effects


Ricky Farns

Technical | Special effects


John Humphreys

Creative | Sculptor


Garth Inns

Technical | Special effects


Michael White

Technical | Special Effects Technician


Nick Wass

Technical | Optical cameraman


Alan Annand

Technical | Clapper loader


Frank Connor

Technical | Still Photographer


Jim Dawes

Technical | Grip


Gordon Hayman

Technical | Camera operator


Roy Larner

Technical | Gaffer


Tim Ross

Technical | Focus puller


Steve Blake

Technical | Electrician


John Matthews

Technical | Best boy


Maureen Booth

Technical | Wardrobe assistant


Austin Cooper

Technical | Wardrobe assistant


Brenda Dabbs

Technical | Wardrobe supervisor


Joanna Johnston

Technical | Assistant to cotume designer


Jeremy Hume

Technical | Assistant editor


Chris Kennedy

Technical | Second assistant editor


Chris Ridsdale

Technical | Assistant editor


David Barron

Technical | Location manager


Barry Beckett

Technical | Location manager


Peter Dolman

Technical | Location manager


Carl Davis (1936)

Creative | Conductor


Brian Gascoigne

Creative | Music Arranger


Christopher Palmer

Production | Music assistant


Richard Booz

Technical | Transportation captain


Colin Morris

Technical | Driver


Len Cave

Production | Production accountant


Kay Fenton

Production | Continuity


Mon Mohan

Creative | Title Designer


Julia Robinson

Production | Production Assistant


Mark Mostyn

Production | Runner


Karel Reisz (1926 - 2002)

Creative | Director


Linked Organisations

No Linked organisations have been added to this production record yet.

Characters

Sarah Woodruff (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Meryl Streep (1949)

Anna (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Meryl Streep (1949)

Charles Smithson (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Jeremy Irons (1948)

Mike (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Jeremy Irons (1948)

Sam (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Hilton McRae (1949)

Mary (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Emily Morgan

Mrs Tranter (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Charlotte Mitchell

Ernestina Freeman (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Lynsey Baxter (1959)

Mr Freeman (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Peter Vaughn (1923 - 2016)

Vicar (The French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Colin Jeavons

Mrs Fairley (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Liz Smith

Dairyman (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: John Barrett

Dr Grogan (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Leo McKern (1920 - 2002)

Nathaniel Dyson (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Edward Duke

Sir Tom Burgh (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Richard Griffiths

Montague (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Michael Elwyn

Mrs Endicott (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Toni Palmer

Serjeant Murphy (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: David Warner

Grimes (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Alun Armstrong (1946)

Davide (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Gerard Falconetti

Sonia (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Penelope Wilton (1946)

Tom Elliott (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Orlando Fraser

Girl (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Frederika Morton

Second Girl (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Alice Maschler

Boy (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Matthew Morton

Mrs Poulteney (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Patience Collier

Mrs Tranter's Maid (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Vicky Ireland

Mrs Poulteney's Maid (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Claire Travers-Deacon

Cook (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Jean Faulds

Girl on Undercliff (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Arabella Weir

Boy on Undercliff (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Ben Forster

Dr Grogan's Housekeeper (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Catherine Willmer

Asylum Keeper (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Anthony Langdon

Delivery Boy (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Graham Fletcher-Cook

Third Assistant (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Richard Hope

Betty Anne (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Cecily Hobbs

Lady on Train (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Doreen Mantle

Lizzie (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Joanna Joseph

Red Haired Prostitute (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Judith Alderson

Prostitute (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Cora Kinnaird

Fisherman (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Michael Dickins

Clerk (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Performer: Peter Fraser

Woman (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Janet Rawson

Actress at Wrap Party (French Lieutenant's Woman) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Performer: Georgina Hale

Linked Awards

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Picture

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Actress: Meryl Streep

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Art Direction

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Editing

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award

1981

Nominated: Best Costume Design

British Academy Award

1981

Nominated: Original Film Music

Golden Globe

1981

Nominated: Best Screenplay-Motion Picture

Donatello Award (Italy)

1982

Won: Best Foreign Screenplay

Donatello Award (Italy)

1982

Nominated: Best Actress: Meryl Streep

Academy Award

1982

Nominated: Best Actress: Meryl Streep

British Academy Award

1981

Won: Best Actress: Meryl Streep

Linked Places

The cobb, Lyme Regis

The iconic image of Anna at the end of the cobb in Lyme Regis harbour was used widely on publicity for the film.


Resources

David Ansen, 'The Woman on the Quay', Newsweek, 21 September 1981, p.96-98 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

Tony Whall, 'Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman: Only the Name Remains the Same', Literature/Film Quarterly 10.1 (1982), p. 75-82 (Paper-based)

Type: Article

The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1981 (URL)

Type: Trailer

External Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq_Pmrwq6Ik

Original trailer.

Sources

IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082416/

URL

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_French_Lieutenant%27s_Woman_(film)

URL

Film summary from this source.

Sharp Cut: Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process

Steven H. Gale, Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003)

Academic book

Contains chapters on each of Harold Pinter's filmed screenplays and includes a bibliography of reviews of films up to 1999.