Directed by:
Christopher MilesScreenplay:
Alan PlaterCinematography:
Ted MooreCast:
Ian McKellen, Janet Suzman, Ava Gardner, Penelope Keith, Jorge Rivero, Maurizio Merli, John Gielgud, Massimo Ranieri, Sarah Miles, Julian Fellowes (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
In his first starring role, Sir Ian McKellen gives a sensational performance as D. H. Lawrence in the impressively mounted and acted biopic (Variety) Priest of Love. Working alongside Hollywood legend Ava Gardner and director Christopher Miles, McKellen shows Lawrence in all his rebellious grandeur, thumbing his nose at authority while still managing to write masterpieces. The film begins with the English government burning copies of The Rainbow, and continues through his exodus around the world, joined by his combative wife Frieda (Janet Suzman). From his destructive sojourn to the American Southwest, to an earth-shaking visit to Oaxaca, and finishing with his erotic adventures in Italy, Priest of Love provides a colourful and insightful portrait of Lawrence's life and art. He had one last great shock left in him, though, and the film closes with the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, and the uproar that greeted its sexually explicit prose Lawrence's last great statement of rebellion before he succumbed to tuberculosis in 1930. Priest of Love provides a beautifully shot portrait of one of the great artists of the 20th century. (Odeon)
(more)Cast
Ian McKellen
UK
Best movies:
Pet Shop Boys: Videography (1991) (video compilation)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Janet Suzman
South Africa
Best movies:
And the Ship Sails On (1983)
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Ava Gardner
USA
Best movies:
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
The Long Hot Summer (1985) (TV movie)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
Penelope Keith
UK
Best movies:
Secret Ceremony (1968)
Death Comes to Pemberley (2013) (TV movie)
A Touch of Love (1969)
Jorge Rivero
Mexico
Best movies:
Columbo (1971) (series)
Soldier Blue (1970)
Rio Lobo (1970)
Maurizio Merli
Italy
Best movies:
The Leopard (1963)
Violent City (1975)
Death Dealers (1976)
John Gielgud
UK
Best movies:
The Elephant Man (1980)
Gandhi (1982)
The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV movie)
Massimo Ranieri
Italy
Best movies:
I Hate Summer (2020)
Operazione pilota (2007) (TV movie)
The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)
Sarah Miles
UK
Best movies:
Julian Fellowes
Egypt
Best movies:
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) (TV movie)
Florence Nightingale (1985) (TV movie)
Shadowlands (1993)
Andrea Occhipinti
Italy
Best movies:
The Sea Inside (2004)
The Family (1987)
Two Women (1988) (TV movie)
Helen Mirren
UK
Best movies:
The Audience (2013) (theatrical recording)
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC (2016) (theatrical recording)
Prime Suspect (1991) (TV movie)
Sean Mathias
UK
Best movies:
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) (TV movie)
White Mischief (1987)
James Faulkner
UK
Best movies:
Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989) (series)
Deceptions (1985) (TV movie)
Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
Graham Faulkner
UK
Best movies:
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
Roger Sloman
UK
Best movies:
The 10th Kingdom (2000) (series)
Foyle's War (2002) (series)
Hawks (1988)
Shane Rimmer
Canada
Best movies:
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Batman Begins (2005)
Gandhi (1982)
Francesco Carnelutti
Italy
Best movies:
The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV movie)
The Moro Affair (1986)
Il papa buono (2003) (TV movie)
Roberto Bonanni
Best movies:
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Forget Paris (1995)
A Bay of Blood (1971)
Cyrus Elias
USA
Best movies:
Dem Mörder verfallen - Eine Frau in Gefahr (1999) (TV movie)
Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980) (TV movie)
The Octopus (1984) (series) - actor, a.f.