Netflix is known for bringing out-of-the-box content and it is among the major reasons why the OTT giant enjoys a great viewership as compared to others. Ever since Lady Chatterley's Lover has been released on Netflix it has been garnering positive reviews from fans. For the unversed, Lady Chatterley's Lover revolves around the sensitive topic of an extra-marital affair. Notably, it is among the top 10 movies trending on Netflix in multiple countries. Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Lady Chatterley's Lover star cast includes Emma Corrin, Jack O'Connell, Matthew Duckett, Joely Richardson, Ella Hunt, and Faye Marsay in pivotal roles. Furthermore, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is based on the book of the same name published by English writer D.H. Lawrence in 1928. Now, the question arises whether Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a true story or Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a real story or not.
The answer to this question is yes and no at the same time. Lady Chatterley's Lover is a partly true story based on the extramarital affair of Lawrence’s wife, Frieda (German Author), with the Italian infantryman Angelo Rivagli. While Lady Chatterley’s Lover shows her extra-marital affair with a gatekeeper of her husband's estate, the real story is somewhat different. Notably, In the United Kingdom, Lady Chatterley’s Lover book was considered a scandalous novel due to its erotic, immoral, and obscene content, so the book could not be published in the UK and it was banned for almost 30 years.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover True Story
As mentioned in the book Frieda belonged to the high aristocracy, as well as being a highly educated woman who dedicated her life to literature. She was a very passionate and vital woman who got pissed off with the non-fulfillment of her desires after D.H. Lawrence contracted tuberculosis which left him almost totally disabled and later led to his death. Indeed due to the extreme weakness of the writer, who could not fully satisfy the wife’s sexual desires, Frieda began a relationship with the young Italian soldier. But at the same time, the book is also inspired by the same extramarital affair between Frieda and D.H Lawrence and which became an official relationship with marriage in 1914.
Frieda was married to a renowned English philologist and literature professor and fell in love with Lawrence, a former student of her husband’s. Therefore, Clifford Chatterley’s characters and Oliver Mellors’s are both inspired by the actual events experienced by the writer. On one occasion, he was the lover; on another, he was the betrayed husband.
Who is real Lady Chatterley?
Frieda Lawrence was born as Baroness Emma Maria Frieda Johanna von Richthofen in Germany and died as Frieda Ravagli in New Mexico. In between, she became first Mrs. Frieda Weekley and then Mrs Frieda Lawrence, after her marriages first to Professor Ernest Weekley and then to the writer and son-of-a-coal-miner, D.H. Lawrence. It is pertinent to mention here that Frieda is probably best known for the fictional characters she inspired. Lawrence routinely took chunks of Frieda – her predicament, her appearance, her character, her aspirations – and spun characters as compelling as Ursula in Women in Love or as notorious as Connie Chatterley in Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Therefore, keeping long things short, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a compelling watch on Netflix, especially at a time when extramarital affairs is a matter of debate.