Women in Love (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1920 in the Midlands mining town of Beldover, two sisters, Ursula (Jennie Linden) and Gudrun Brangwen (Glenda Jackson), discuss marriage on their way to watch the wedding of Laura Crich (Sharon Gurney), daughter of the town's wealthy mine owner (Alan Webb), to Tibby Lupton (Christopher Gable), a naval officer. At the village's church each sister is especially fascinated by a particular member of the wedding party – Gudrun by Laura's brother Gerald (Oliver Reed) and Ursula by Gerald's best friend Rupert Birkin (Alan Bates). Ursula is a school teacher and Rupert is a school inspector; she remembers his coming to her classroom and interrupting her botany lesson to discourse on the sexual nature of the catkin.

The four are later brought together at a house party at the estate of Hermione Roddice (Eleanor Bron), a rich woman whose relationship with Rupert is falling apart. When Hermione devises, as an entertainment for her guests, a dance in the "style of the Russian ballet", Rupert becomes impatient with her pretensions and tells the pianist to play some ragtime. This sets off spontaneous dancing among the whole group and angers Hermione. She leaves the room. When Birkin follows her into the next room, she smashes a glass paperweight against his head, and he staggers outside. He discards his clothes and wanders through the woods. Later, at the Criches' annual picnic, to which most of the town is invited, Ursula and Gudrun find a secluded spot, and Gudrun dances before some Highland cattle while Ursula sings I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles. When Gerald and Rupert appear, Gerald calls Gudrun's behaviour "impossible and ridiculous", and then says he loves her. "That's one way of putting it", she replies. Ursula and Birkin wander away discussing death and love and end up making love in the woods. The day ends in tragedy when Laura and Tibby drown while swimming in the lake; she has pulled him under.

During one of Gerald and Rupert's discussions, Rupert suggest Japanese style wrestling. They strip off their clothes and wrestle in the firelight. Rupert enjoys their closeness and says they should swear to love each other implicitly, but Gerald cannot understand Rupert's idea of wanting to have an emotional union with a man as well as an emotional and physical union with a woman.

Ursula and Birkin decide to marry while Gudrun and Gerald continue to see each other. One evening, emotionally exhausted after his father's illness and death, Gerald sneaks into the Brangwen house to spend the night with Gudrun in herbed and then leaves at dawn.

Later, after Ursula and Birkin's marriage, Gerald suggest that the four of them go to the Alps for Christmas. At their inn in the Alps, Gudrun irritates Gerald with her interest in Loerke (Vladek Sheybal), a homosexual German sculptor. An artist herself, Gudrun is fascinated with Loerke's idea that brutality is necessary to create art. While Gerald grows increasingly jealous and angry, Gudrun only derides and ridicules him. Finally he can endure it no longer. After attempting to strangle her, he trudges off into the snow to die. Rupert and Ursula and Gudrun return to their cottage in England where he grieves for his dead friend. As Ursula and Rupert discuss love, Ursala says there can't be two kinds of love. She asks, "Why should you?"

"It seems as if I can't" Rupert responds, "yet I wanted it ".