Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers is a 1960 British period drama film directed by Jack Cardiff and adapted by Gavin Lambert and T. E. B. Clarke on the semi-autobiographical 1913 novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence. It stars Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, Wendy Hiller, Mary Ure and Heather Sears. Set and filmed in the East Midlands of England, the film centres on a young man (Stockwell) with artistic talent who lives in a close-knit coal-mining town during the early 20th century, and finds himself inhibited by his emotionally manipulative, domineering mother (Hiller)—a literary, psychological interpretation of the Oedipus story. Premiering at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, the film was well-received by critics and a commercial success. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards (at the 1961 ceremony), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Howard), Best Supporting Actress (for Ure), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art Direction – Black-and-White, and won Best Cinematography – Black-and-White. Jack Cardiff won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the National Board of Review Award for Best Director. Plot East Midlands housewife Gertrude Morel, miserable in her marriage, puts her hope into her son, Paul, who has the talent and ambition to become an artist, a desire that is mocked by his father, Walter, a miner who drinks heavily and sometimes shows his bitterness in violent ways. Paul finds his own desires to escape to a different life sidetracked by his mother's possessiveness but also by local girl Miriam Leivers, with whom he has an intellectual relationship that he desires to become physical. Miriam, however, suffers from her own mother's religious influence, viewing sex as sinful and dirty.