The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( film ) - wikipedia The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( film ) The French Lieutenant 's Woman Original film poster Directed by Karel Reisz Produced by Leon Clore Written by Harold Pinter Based on The French Lieutenant 's Woman by John Fowles Starring Meryl Streep Jeremy Irons David Warner Music by Carl Davis Cinematography Freddie Francis Edited by John Bloom Distributed by United Artists Release date 18 September 1981 Running time 127 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Budget $8 million Box office $26,890,068 The French Lieutenant 's Woman is a 1981 British romantic drama film directed by Karel Reisz, produced by Leon Clore and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. It is based on the novel by John Fowles. The music score is by Carl Davis and the cinematography by Freddie Francis. The film stars Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. Other featured actors include Hilton McRae, Peter Vaughan, Colin Jeavons, Liz Smith, Patience Collier, Richard Griffiths, David Warner, Alun Armstrong, Penelope Wilton, and Leo McKern. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards. Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing ( Adapted Screenplay ). Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production notes 4 Awards and nominations 4.1 Academy Awards 4.2 BAFTA Awards 4.3 Golden Globe Awards 4.4 Other awards 5 References 5.1 Bibliography 6 Further reading 7 External links Plot This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( September 2010 ) The film intercuts the stories of two affairs. One is a Victorian period drama involving the gentleman palaeontologist Charles Smithson and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as `` the French lieutenant 's woman ''. The other story is between the 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. John Fowles ' The French Lieutenant 's Woman had multiple endings, and the two parallel stories in the movie have different outcomes. In the Victorian story, Charles enters into an intensely emotional relationship with Sarah, an enigmatic and self - inflicted outcast he meets while visiting his fiance Ernestina ( Lynsey Baxter ) in Lyme Regis. The two meet secretly in the Lyme Regis Undercliff, and eventually have sex in an Exeter hotel. This leads to Charles breaking his engagement, but Sarah then disappears. In social disgrace after being sued for breach of promise, Charles searches for Sarah, fearing she has become a prostitute in London. After three years, Sarah, who has a job as a governess in the Lake District, contacts Charles to explain that she needed time to find herself. Despite Charles 's initial anger, he forgives her, and the two are reconciled. They are finally seen boating on Windermere. In the modern story, the American actress Anna and the English actor Mike, both married, are shown as having an established affair during the making of the film. As filming concludes, although Mike wishes to continue the relationship, Anna becomes increasingly cool about the affair, and avoids Mike in favour of spending time with her French husband. During the film wrap party, Anna leaves without saying goodbye ; Mike calls to Anna from an upstairs window as she drives away, using her character 's name Sarah. Cast Meryl Streep as Sarah Woodruff / Anna Jeremy Irons as Charles Henry Smithson / Mike Hilton McRae as Sam Emily Morgan as Mary Charlotte Mitchell as Mrs. Tranter Lynsey Baxter as Ernestina Jean Faulds as Cook Peter Vaughan as Mr. Freeman Colin Jeavons as Vicar Liz Smith as Mrs. Fairley Patience Collier as Mrs. Poulteney John Barrett as Dairyman Leo McKern as Dr. Grogan Penelope Wilton as Sonia Production notes Harold Pinter and Karel Reisz worked on the script in 1979, with Leon Clore as producer, and with whom Reisz regularly worked in their company Film Contracts, formed many years earlier. Leon had produced Reisz ' Morgan : A Suitable Case for Treatment. The film was shot in 1980 on location in Lyme Regis, Exeter, London docks, and Lake Windermere. Studio sets were built at London 's Twickenham Studios to Assheton Gorton 's period - perfect designs. The opening shot in the film establishes the dual stories by having the assistant director mark the shot with a clapper board, and then run out of the shot to reveal the Victorian seaside front, with Charles ' and Ernestine 's taking the air. The audience is given alternating sequences of a rigid Victorian society, and the more relaxed modern life of a working film crew, revealing the great moral divide between past and present. Prostitution, Considered in Its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects, an 1857 book by William Acton, is referenced in the film when Streep 's character mentions that in 1857 there were 80,000 prostitutes in the London and that one house in 60 functioned as a brothel. The book was published in 1969. Its transfer to the big screen was a protracted process, with film rights changing hands a number of times before a treatment, funds, and cast were finalized. Originally, Malcolm Bradbury and Christopher Bigsby approached Fowles to suggest a television adaptation, to which Fowles was amenable, but producer Saul Zaentz finally arranged for the film version to be made. A number of directors were attached to the film : Sidney Lumet, Robert Bolt, Fred Zinnemann, and Miloš Forman. The script went through a number of treatments, including one by Dennis Potter in 1975 and by James Costigan in 1976, before Pinter 's final draft. Actors considered for the role of Charles Smithson / Mike included Robert Redford and Richard Chamberlain, and Sarah / Anna included Francesca Annis, Charlotte Rampling, Gemma Jones, and Fowles ' choice Helen Mirren. The award - winning music was composed by Carl Davis and performed by an unidentified orchestra and viola soloist Kenneth Essex. Awards and nominations Academy Awards Nominations Best Actress in a Leading Role : Meryl Streep Best Art Direction - Set Decoration : Assheton Gorton, Ann Mollo Best Costume Design : Tom Rand Best Film Editing : John Bloom Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium '' Harold Pinter. BAFTA Awards Wins Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music : Carl Davis Best Actress : Meryl Streep Best Sound : Don Sharp, Ivan Sharrock, Bill Rowe Nominations Best Film : Leon Clore Best Actor : Jeremy Irons Best Cinematography : Freddie Francis Best Costume Design : Tom Rand Best Direction : Karel Reisz Best Editing : John Bloom Best Production Design / Art Direction : Assheton Gorton Best Screenplay : Harold Pinter Golden Globe Awards Win Best Actress : Meryl Streep Nominations Best Motion Picture -- Drama : Leon Clore Best Screenplay : Harold Pinter Other awards Evening Standard British Film Award Best Film : Karel Reisz David di Donatello Awards : Best Screenplay for Foreign Film : Harold Pinter Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards : Best Actress : Meryl Streep References Jump up ^ `` The Unstoppables ''. Spy : 94. November 1988. ISSN 0890 - 1759. Jump up ^ `` The French Lieutenant 's Woman ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 April 2013. Jump up ^ Gale, p. 245. Jump up ^ Fowles, John ( 2004 ). `` The French Lieutenant 's Diary ''. Granta : The Magazine of New Writing ( Granta 86 : Film ). ISBN 0 - 903141 - 69 - 8. OCLC 237843976. Jump up ^ `` The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( 1981 ) : Awards ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 31 December 2008. Bibliography Gale, Steven H. Sharp Cut : Harold Pinter 's Screenplays and the Artistic Process. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0 - 8131 - 2706 - 8. Further reading Bayer, Gerd ( 2010 ). `` On Filming Metafiction : John Fowles 's Unpublished ' The Last Chapter ' and the Road to Postmodern Cinema ''. English Studies. 91 ( 8 ) : 893 -- 906. doi : 10.1080 / 0013838X. 2010.517301. Gale, Steven H. ( 2001 ). `` Harold Pinter 's The French Lieutenant 's Woman : A Masterpiece of Adaptation ''. In Gale, Steven H. The Films of Harold Pinter. Albany : State University of New York Press, Albany. pp. 69 -- 86. ISBN 9780791449318. External links FowlesBooks.com -- The Official John Fowles web site The French Lieutenant 's Woman on IMDb The French Lieutenant 's Woman at Rotten Tomatoes Works of John Fowles Novels The Collector ( 1963 ) The Magus ( 1965, revised 1977 ) The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( 1969 ) The Ebony Tower ( 1974 ) Daniel Martin ( 1977 ) Mantissa ( 1982 ) A Maggot ( 1985 ) Non-fiction The Aristos ( 1964 ) The Tree ( 1979 ) Wormholes ( 1998 ) Film adaptations The Collector ( 1965 ) The Magus ( 1968 ) The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( 1981 ) Harold Pinter Plays The Room ( 1957 ) The Birthday Party ( 1957 ) The Dumb Waiter ( 1957 ) A Slight Ache ( 1958 ) The Hothouse ( 1958 ) The Caretaker ( 1959 ) A Night Out ( 1959 ) Night School ( 1960 ) The Dwarfs ( 1960 ) The Collection ( 1961 ) The Lover ( 1962 ) Tea Party ( 1964 ) The Homecoming ( 1964 ) The Basement ( 1966 ) Landscape ( 1967 ) Silence ( 1968 ) Old Times ( 1970 ) Monologue ( 1972 ) No Man 's Land ( 1974 ) Betrayal ( 1978 ) Family Voices ( 1980 ) A Kind of Alaska ( 1982 ) Victoria Station ( 1982 ) One for the Road ( 1984 ) Mountain Language ( 1988 ) The New World Order ( 1991 ) Party Time ( 1991 ) Moonlight ( 1993 ) Ashes to Ashes ( 1996 ) Celebration ( 1999 ) Remembrance of Things Past ( 2000 ) Dramatic sketches The Black and White ( 1959 ) Trouble in the Works ( 1959 ) Last to Go ( 1959 ) Request Stop ( 1959 ) Special Offer ( 1959 ) That 's Your Trouble ( 1959 ) That 's All ( 1959 ) Interview ( 1959 ) Applicant ( 1959 ) Dialogue for Three ( 1959 ) Umbrellas ( 1960 ) Night ( 1969 ) Precisely ( 1983 ) `` God 's District '' ( 1997 ) Press Conference ( 2002 ) Apart From That ( 2006 ) Screenplays The Caretaker ( 1963 ) The Servant ( 1963 ) The Pumpkin Eater ( 1963 ) The Quiller Memorandum ( 1965 ) Accident ( 1966 ) The Birthday Party ( 1968 ) The Go - Between ( 1970 ) The Homecoming ( 1969 ) Langrishe, Go Down ( 1970 ) The Proust Screenplay ( 1972 ) The Last Tycoon ( 1974 ) The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( 1981 ) Betrayal ( 1982, 1983 ) Victory ( 1982 ) Turtle Diary ( 1984 ) The Heat of the Day ( 1988 ) Reunion ( 1989 ) The Comfort of Strangers ( 1989 ) The Handmaid 's Tale ( 1990 ) Party Time ( 1992 ) The Trial ( 1993 ) The Dreaming Child ( 1997 ) The Tragedy of King Lear ( 2000 ) Sleuth ( 2007 ) Related articles Works Bibliography Characteristics Honours and awards Relationship with academia The Harold Pinter Archive in the British Library Harold Pinter and politics Art, Truth and Politics Pinter 's People Films directed by Karel Reisz Momma Do n't Allow ( 1955 ) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ( 1960 ) Night Must Fall ( 1964 ) Morgan -- A Suitable Case for Treatment ( 1966 ) Isadora ( 1968 ) The Gambler ( 1974 ) Who 'll Stop the Rain ( 1978 ) The French Lieutenant 's Woman ( 1981 ) Sweet Dreams ( 1985 ) Everybody Wins ( 1990 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_French_Lieutenant%27s_Woman_(film)&oldid=806423337 '' Categories : English - language films 1981 films 1980s romantic drama films British films British romantic drama films Films based on British novels Films based on romance novels Films based on works by John Fowles Films directed by Karel Reisz Screenplays by Harold Pinter United Artists films Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe - winning performance Films set in England Films set in Dorset Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from September 2013 EngvarB from September 2013 Articles to be expanded from September 2010 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Italiano עברית Lietuvių Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 21 October 2017, at 23 : 08. 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Question: who starred in the french lieutenant's woman
Answer: Meryl Streep