‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’: Emma Corrin Worked With a Body Movement Coach to Embody Connie’s Double Life
In Netflix’s upcoming Lady Chatterley’s Lover, actor Emma Corrin portrays Connie, a woman torn between two men. More importantly, the character is torn between two different versions of herself.
To show Connie’s double life, Corrin worked with a body movement coach, something the actor discussed in a recent interview.
Netflix’s ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ is based on D.H. Lawrence’s novel
Based on the book by D.H. Lawrence, Netflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover explores the sexual repression of women in the early 1900s. Lawrence was known for his deep study of the subject. Many of his books focused on the idea of a person’s regeneration.
Lawrence believed one could not live fully based on mind or body alone but that mental and physical stimulation must be present in a relationship for one to be fulfilled. The author’s dominant theme is never shown as compellingly as it is with Connie in Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
In the story, Connie is married to the esteemed Clifford Chatterley (played by Matthew Duckett in Netflix’s adaptation), who suffers an injury while at war that leaves him impotent.
Connie, stimulated mentally but unfulfilled sexually in her marriage, begins an affair with the estate’s gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell). The relationship awakens her in ways that change her forever.
Emma Corrin stars as Connie in ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’
In bringing Connie’s struggle to screen, Corrin details how they and Lady Chatterley’s Lover director, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, sought to demonstrate Connie’s awakening physically. To accomplish this, Corrin worked with a movement character coach.
“We talked about Connie’s body being split,” the actor tells The Cut. “When [Connie’s] with Clifford, it’s waist up.” Corrin also shares how they and Clermont-Tonnerre worked to convey that Connie and Clifford do have an intellectual connection — a friendship, with Corrin saying, “she does try.”
But when Connie begins her affair with Oliver, she begins to change, both internally and externally. She lets her hair down. Her sense of humor shines through, and she becomes sillier and freer as she rediscovers her identity. But these changes make Connie realize Clifford does not love her for who she truly is.
Emma Corrin has played similar roles in ‘The Crown’ and ‘My Policeman’
The theme is certainly not new for Corrin, who has taken the industry by storm with their portrayal of complex women, including Princess Diana in The Crown, Marion in My Policeman, and now Connie in Netflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Interestingly, these characters have all been from period pieces that canvas several decades worth of history. This brings to light the progression of women’s sexual liberation (and the lack thereof) from the 1920s (when Lady Chatterley’s Lover is set), through the ’50s (My Policeman), up to 1990 (when The Crown Season 4 concludes).
But perhaps even more interestingly, these roles see Corrin portraying women involved in a love triangle: Diana, most famously, between Prince Charles and Camilla and then later becoming involved with James Hewitt; My Policeman’s Marion, who is entangled between her husband, Tom, and his lover, Patrick; and now Connie.
More importantly, though, in each of these characters lies Lawrence’s favorite theme: A person’s quest for a deeper, more fulfilled existence through sexual and mental connection — a prevalent theme today.
