(Wo)men in Love

Holy moley, am I all tingly and energized this morning. BC and I saw Ken Russell’s Women in Love last night, which should have been called Men in Love, as the sexual tension between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed so overpowers their heterosexual fumblings. Alan Bates, the cynic in search of depth is drawn to Oliver Reed’s intensity and desire to posses, but Reed is obsessed with Glenda Jackson, and who wouldn’t be?, but she leaves Reed to freeze in the snow and runs off to Germany with a big poof! The film explores the very complex desires of these characters in wonderfully subsersive ways. In once scene Oliver Reed beats a horse while Glenda looks on, excited and disgusted by his cruelty. Unlike the horse, Glenda’s not going to be tamed. Almost every line is underscored by the sexual longings of the principal characters–a roller coaster ride through late-60’s sexual fragmentation. It’s time to revisit Ken Russell.

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