For this writer, Meryl Streep is the most compelling element of Karel Reisz’s 1981 film The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Playing both Victorian outsider Sarah Woodruff and contemporary actor Anna, she gives the film’s two timelines their most vivid point of connection. But the comparison with John Fowles’s novel is not a simple contest: the book’s narrator and multiple endings pose challenges that the film answers with a story of its own.
What changes between the novel and the film?
John Fowles’s novel appeared in 1969. The 1981 film, directed by Karel Reisz and written for the screen by Harold Pinter, runs 123 minutes. The adaptation keeps the Victorian romance between Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson, but adds a contemporary storyline about the actors playing them: Streep plays Sarah and Anna, while Jeremy Irons plays Charles and Mike. The Criterion Collection’s film record identifies the dual roles and runtime; the Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue records the film as an adaptation of Fowles’s novel.
That framing changes the comparison. The novel’s narrator is not merely a voice telling a period love story: as Criterion essayist Lucy Bolton explains, the omniscient narrator views nineteenth-century events through a twentieth-century lens and comments on subjects ranging from clothing to religious belief. Fowles also gives the novel multiple endings. The film’s actor characters and their relationship create a cinematic frame for the Victorian plot rather than simply reproducing the novel’s narrative voice. Bolton’s essay discusses these adaptation challenges.
Why Streep’s two performances make the film work
Sarah and Anna are not interchangeable versions of one woman. Sarah belongs to a Victorian society that restricts women’s choices; Anna is a contemporary actor working within the film’s production story. Streep has to make both roles legible while allowing the audience to feel the distance between them. Her performance becomes the film’s most immediate way to register the shift between its periods and its two kinds of story.
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Bolton reads Sarah as trying to establish subjectivity and creativity amid those restrictions. Charles initially assumes the conventional role of rescuer, but Sarah’s decisions unsettle his understanding of her. That tension makes a straightforward portrayal of Sarah as a passive romantic heroine inadequate. Bolton describes Streep’s Sarah as balancing attraction with distance and points to changes in physical behavior between Sarah and Anna. This is a critic’s interpretation, not a measurable ranking of the film’s components; the case for Streep as its best element is an aesthetic judgment.
What each medium does best
| Comparison | Fowles’s novel | Reisz’s film |
|---|---|---|
| Narrative perspective | An omniscient narrator comments on the Victorian story from a twentieth-century perspective, including its social and cultural details. Bolton’s Criterion essay discusses this approach. | The film uses the contemporary actors and their relationship as a frame around the period story. Criterion’s film record identifies the parallel roles. |
| Endings | The novel has multiple endings, a structural feature the film must address in a different medium. Bolton’s essay identifies this as an adaptation challenge. | The parallel contemporary storyline provides a cinematic frame for the material; it is not simply a reproduction of the narrator’s voice or the book’s structure. |
| Sarah’s agency | Fowles’s narrative gives readers access to a story in which Sarah’s actions challenge Charles’s assumptions. Bolton’s reading situates this struggle within Victorian restrictions on women. | Streep’s performance conveys the tension through her portrayal of Sarah, alongside the contrasting role of Anna. Bolton highlights the difference in their physical behavior. |
The book is the more direct choice for readers interested in Fowles’s narrator and the construction of its endings. The film offers a different strength: it makes the relationship between the Victorian tale and the people performing it part of the drama, with Streep’s double role carrying much of that contrast.
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Recognition and where to explore the film
Streep’s performance received substantial awards recognition, though awards are not proof that any one element is objectively the film’s best. The Academy’s 54th Academy Awards record lists five nominations for the film at the 1982 ceremony, including leading actress for Streep and adapted screenplay for Pinter. BAFTA’s film-actress record lists Streep as the 1982 winner for The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
Criterion lists Blu-ray and DVD editions. Its Blu-ray listing describes a 2K digital restoration and supplements including interviews with Streep, Irons, editor John Bloom and composer Carl Davis, an interview with Ian Christie, a 1981 South Bank Show episode, and a Lucy Bolton essay. See Criterion’s edition details. The BFI Shop also lists a Criterion Blu-ray identified as Region B; check regional compatibility and current availability before purchasing. BFI Shop listing.
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