While it's hard to fault Sir Ian McKellen's physical impersonation or Janet Suzman's fiery loyalty, this biopic of D. H. Lawrence's later years in exile with his German wife Frieda conveys little of the controversy his writings caused, or the literary intent that informed his pioneering depiction of sex.
It focuses on their travels after the publishing and burning of his novel. They move to the United States and then to Mexico, where Lawrence contracts tuberculosis and returns to England briefly before settling in Italy where he writes Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Neat cameos from John Gielgud and Ava Gardner only compound the disjointed nature of the narrative, which becomes increasingly conventional the closer Lawrence gets to death.