Sons and Lovers

Nominated for Best Picture of 1960, Sons and Lovers was adapted from the novel by D.H. Lawrence. Like Elmer Gantry, it only covers a portion of the book, this time the last half, the story of Paul Morel, a dreamy would-be artist growing up in a dreary town in the English midlands before World War I.

Paul, played by Dean Stockwell, hopes to be a painter, and is devoted to his mother, Wendy Hiller. His father, Trevor Howard, is an uncouth coal miner. Howard and Hiller are frequently at odds, and though Howard is often drunk and abusive, one senses that he's not equipped to do any real damage. But when he locks Hiller out of the house one night, Stockwell decides he can't act on a local patron's offer to send him to art school in London--he won't leave his mother alone.

Hiller's apron strings are tight on Stockwell, but the lad does have lovers. He is good friends with a local girl, Heather Sears, who is so indoctrinated by her mother's fierce religiosity that she can't let her sexual inhibitions go. Stockwell takes her virginity, but understands that for her, love can only be spiritual, not physical. He then falls into a relationship with a married but separated woman, the icily beautiful Mary Ure. She has a problem with him--he's too attached to his mother, and she can sense it.

This is a handsome film. Directed by Jack Cardiff, it's shot in moody black and white by Freddie Francis, who won an Oscar for it. The screenplay is elegantly composed, and there doesn't seem to be a wasted moment or wrong shot. But the problem at the heart of this film is the character of Paul--he's a bastard, really. You just want to shake him. He treats Sears dreadfully, and his relationship with his mother is a little twisted. She's got a part to play in that, too (when Howard accuses of her smothering him and ruining his life, the truth comes crashing down on her), but Stockwell has the stuff to grow up--he just chooses not to.

Howard was nominated for Best Actor in what was really a supporting performance, and Ure was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. As I was watching the film something nagged at me--have I read Sons and Lovers? I took a D.H. Lawrence class in college and know I read at least one of his novels (the professor was merciful and mostly assigned short stories). You know you're old when you can't remember whether you've read a book or not, even while watching the film adaptation.