The lovely actress Marina Hands as Lady Chatterley, whose husband, wounded in World War I, is wheelchair bound, is finding herself more restless and unfulfilled by the minute. Her health is fine. What she needs is the physical release and warm feelings that come from sex. There’s nothing wrong with her that a good hump on the floor of the gamekeeper’s cabin won’t alleviate. Ferran takes time getting there—the first sexual escapade doesn’t happen until about three quarters of an hour into the film—and the director’s leisurely approach of cinematic foreplay sets the tone with plenty of shots of nature and Lady Chatterley’s contemplative moods.

Although the frustrated and bored wife is initially sexually attracted to Oliver Parkin, the game-keeper, tenderness between them develops gradually. Jean-Louis Coulloc’h plays him not as a stud, but as a lonely, strong and earthy man who treats the woman as if he has a gentle creature in his trust. In Hands’ interpretation, Lady Chatterley approaches sex with wide-eyed, innocent curiosity and is joyously open to the experience without any trace of guilt. Exploration is the order of the day, only the exploring is done with more clothes on than one would think comfortable (We have already seen Hands’ attractive naked body when she looks in the mirror in the privacy of her room.)

It takes nearly two hours into this almost three-hour film before the lovers get completely nude, but once they do, it is full steam ahead both in bed and as they share a feeling of liberation romping naked through the rain and making love amid the leaves and dirt. There is a playful scene when they are back indoors and decorate each other’s privates and elsewhere with flowers.

Love for each other blossoms, and the latter part of the film deals with the obstacles that stand in their way, even though a bond has been established that has given new meaning to both their lives, with sex having been the catalyst but far from the be all-end all.