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Abstract

Written for screen by one of the greatest English dramatists and Nobel Laureate, Harold Pinter and directed by Karel Reisz, the film The French Lieutenant’s Woman, appearing in 1981, is the cinematic adaptation of John Fowles’ novel by the same name that created ripples in the literary circles in 1969. Keeping in with the appreciation of the novel, the cinematic version of The French Lieutenant’s Woman too continued to capture the imagination of the classes and the masses alike bagging several prestigious awards. The proposed paper intends to study all these variegated shades and designs that further intensify the experimental spirit of the film.

Focusing on the movie within the movie that imbues the cinematic adaptation of the novel with a quintessential Pinteresque intensity, the paper explores in depth the subtle nuances offered for intellectual probing through the ingeniously contrived sub-plot. Running as a subtle counterfoil to the main plot of Sarah and Charles, the tempestuous love affair between Mike and Anna—the actors playing Charles and Sarah respectively—the subtext of the movie invites concerted critical endeavors in exploring the intellectual conundrum that confronts us on the silver screen. The paper engages itself in the task of reading through such intellectually stimulating improvisations which subtly reflect the post-modernistic tone and tenor. For this purpose, the paper focuses especially on studying the parallels and proselytes that characterize the protagonists as Sarah and Anna in the main and the sub-plot respectively. The paper also studies the mise-en-scene devices such as light, sound, colours, camera movements, focus, background music, and different types of shots employed in the movie, all of which poetically render the rich contours of the work.

Author Biography

Prof. Pushp Lata has been associated with Department of Humanities and Languages, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani since 1994. She did her P.G.D.T.E. from CIEFL, Hyderabad and Ph.D. from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. In her 21 years’ academic career, she has held various teaching and administrative positions. Prof. Lata is a passionate teacher and an avid researcher. She received Shiksha Ratan Award 2012 for Teaching and she has 45 research papers and nine books to her credit.

Dr. Sanjay Kumar is as an Author and Consultant in English and Soft Skills Development Training. In 23 years’ academic career, he has held teaching and administrative positions in various academic institutes including BITS, Pilani, Govt PG College, Loharu, Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur and ICFAI Tech, Jaipur. He has 45 research papers and nine books to his credit. He has delivered invited lectures and talks. He conducts workshops on communication skills, personality development, verbal ability, soft skills, placement skills, reading comprehension, and documentation.

Dr. Sonal Bhagat completed her Ph.D. in 2015 from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. She is an avid reader, a researcher and a passionate creative writer. She writes poems, short stories and travelogues. She also draws and paints landscapes.

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