The Rainbow (film)
| The Rainbow | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by |
Dan Ireland William J. Quigley |
| Written by |
D. H. Lawrence Ken Russell Vivian Russell |
| Starring |
Sammi Davis Paul McGann Amanda Donohoe |
| Music by | Carl Davis |
| Cinematography | Billy Williams |
| Edited by | Peter Davies |
| Distributed by | Vestron Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Rainbow is a 1989 British drama film directed by Ken Russell. The story, adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel The Rainbow (1915), is a prequel to Lawrence's Women in Love (1920).
Sammi Davis stars as Ursula, a sheltered young pupil, then schoolteacher, who's taken under the wing (sexually and otherwise) by the more sophisticated Winifred (Amanda Donohoe). Glenda Jackson appears as the mother of the character she played in Women in Love.
Leonard Maltin commented that "Many beautiful and striking moments don't quite gel, but still worth watching". The film was entered into the 16th Moscow International Film Festival.
Set during the final years of England's Victorian era, Ursula Brangwen is the eldest of several children of wealthy Derbyshire farmer Will Brangwen and his wife Anna. Ursula, since age 3, has a fascination with rainbows and after one rainstorm, she runs off with a suitcase hoping to look for a pot of gold at the end of it. Will tries to ease her fascination by making her peanut butter and jam sandwiches with several spreads of different flavoured jam resembling a rainbow.
During her teenage years, Ursula falls into a same sex romance with her older swimming and gym teacher Winifred Inger, while at the same time, Ursula also begins having romantic feelings for Anton Skrebensky, a student at the nearby boys high school who plans to enlist in the Army after graduation. Ursula and Winifred spend romantic weekends together at Winifred's house as well as hiking in the hills around the area. Winifred introduces Ursula to an artist friend of hers whom encourages Ursula to model in the nude for his paintings, and when the artist, Mac, makes sexual advances towards Ursula and refuses to pay her for her modeling, she walks out.
One weekend, Ursula brings along Winifred as her chaperone when she visits her father's wealthy older brother, Uncle Henry, who becomes smitten with Winifred and, after a short courtship, proposes marriage to her. Winifred accepts which creates jealousy in Ursula.
Feeling abandoned and alone after Winifred leaves her to marry Uncle Henry, and Anton goes off to fight in the Second Boer War in South Africa, Ursula decides to restart her life by becoming a school teacher. After graduation from high school, Ursula moves to London where she takes a job as a schoolmarm at a poor elementary school in the East End where she becomes quickly appalled by the lack of discipline and hygiene among the impoverished children she is forced to teach (many of whom are illiterate child laborers). She also fends off sexual advances by the lecherous headmaster of the school, who uses physical discipline to settle unruly students. Ursula initially refuses to go to that level of physical punishment for her class. But after being provoked a few too many times by one belligerent boy who uses a slingshot to pelt her with small stones, Ursula finally loses her temper and violently beats the child with a cane in full view of the class and school staff. While her violent outburst actually works to pacify her students, and makes the headmaster not to make anymore inappropriate passes at her, Ursula is guilt-ridden by her own actions and as a result, she quits her job when the school year ends.
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