The Rainbow

Ken Russell – 1989 – England  

The second of three adaptations by Ken Russell of the works of D.H. Lawrence – the others being Women in Love (1969) and Lady Chatterley (1993).  The Rainbow is not as rich and sensuous in comparison to Women in Love, but few films are, so that is perhaps not a fair criticism.  As always, Lawrence’s motifs of class strife, the plight of coal miners, and burgeoning female passion being at odds with Victorian English mores are at the fore.  Sammi Davis is Ursula Brangwen, a strong-willed young woman coming to terms with society’s expectations for girls in her social rank; the most that is expected of her is to marry someone convenient before she gets too old.  There is to be no ambition, no romance, nor any other personal desires.  As in all of Russell’s best films, there is a pulsing vitality in his direction of both the actors and the camera that compliments Lawrence’s paganistic themes of nature versus society.  At a time when Russell’s career was considered to be in decline, The Rainbow appears a young man’s film, full of the life and blood that were frequently missing from similar but more respectable British period films of the time like those of James Ivory.