The French Lieutenant's Woman (film)

The French Lieutenant's Woman
Original film poster
Directed by	Karel Reisz
Produced by	Leon Clore
Written by	Harold Pinter
Based on	The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
Starring	Meryl Streep Jeremy Irons David Warner
Music by	Carl Davis
Cinematography	Freddie Francis
Edited by	John Bloom
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	18 September 1981
Running time	127 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$26,890,068

The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1981 British romantic drama film directed by Karel Reisz, produced by Leon Clore and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. It is based on the novel by John Fowles. The music score is by Carl Davis and the cinematography by Freddie Francis.

The film stars Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons with Hilton McRae, Jean Faulds, Peter Vaughan, Colin Jeavons, Liz Smith, Patience Collier, Richard Griffiths, David Warner, Alun Armstrong, Penelope Wilton, and Leo McKern.

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), but both lost to On Golden Pond.

The film intercuts the stories of two affairs: one a Victorian period drama involving the gentleman palaeontologist Charles Smithson and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, "The French Lieutenant's Woman"; the other between the actors "Mike" and "Anna", playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep play the lead roles, but in line with John Fowles' source novel having multiple endings, the two otherwise parallel stories have different outcomes.