Women In Love (1969) ****

Ken Russell's Women In Love (1969) presents the many emotions and phases of love between men and women and between men and men. It's a film about sensuality, individuality, sexuality, possession, frustration, and breaking free of social norms—all through the lens of a cinema madman. Don't let the Academy Award win and noms fool you—Russell's version of this "love" story set in post-World War I England is personal, controversial, cinematographically and editorially experimental and absolutely of its time (the late '60s hippie movement, etc.). The four leads are all excellent, willing to go the distance in their portrayals of complex, deep-thinking, sadomasochistic individuals. The score by Georges Delerue is sumptuous but also jarring—the abruptness and juxtaposition of some of the musical queues is quite interesting. This is my kind of period drama.