Coming Through (1985) is a weird little made-for-TV movie that weaves together two stories set in two different timelines, each dealing with D.H. Lawrence, either directly or indirectly. Now, when I say it is “weird,” I don’t necessarily mean that it’s bad. In fact, after I settled into the quirky storytelling, I actually came around to deciding that I rather enjoyed it.
It stars a very young and precocious Kenneth Branagh as D.H. “Bert” Lawrence, Helen Mirren as his paramour/future wife Freida, and is intercut with the story of a modern woman, Kate, played by Alison Steadman, who has come to Nottingham to study D.H. Lawrence’s life. Kate is hit on by David (Philip Martin Brown), who claims to be an expert in all things Lawrence and takes her around the city to various sites associated with the author, all while clearly trying to get into her knickers. Kate, of course, calls him out repeatedly on being a “bullshit artist” but allows herself to be ferried around while the two discuss Lawrence’s life, and the scenes flash back to Lawrence from childhood through university and finally as a burgeoning author and poet with Marxist leanings, who falls in love with the married German aristocrat, Freida Weekley.
The film does a fair job of giving context to Lawrence’s early life as the son of an alcoholic collier who simultaneously wanted his son to do better and also resented him for actually doing it, as well as Lawrence’s complicated relationships with the women in his life, from his mother to his best friend, Jessie, to the women he had affairs with and finally Freida, who left her husband and children to marry Lawrence. That last part is only really alluded to in a final speech where Lawrence lays out the consequences of Frieda divorcing her husband to be with him, but it does a pretty good synopsis of what actually happened.
Robin Fraser-Paye designed the costumes. His credits include some pretty solid historical flicks, including 5 episodes of the third season of Poirot (1989-2013) and Sharpe (1994-1997), both series being known for hyper-authentic approaches to costume. Other than that, the bulk of his work was done pre-1980, and was primarily focused on BBC historical miniseries. That’s not a knock, btw. The late 1960s to late 1970s was the heyday of the BBC historically accurate miniseries. So, let’s take a peek at the costumes from Coming Through!
Have you seen Coming Through (1985)? Tell us what you think in the comments!
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Thanks, Sarah–this looks kind of fascinating.
P.S. Not the most compelling of titles, though!
Good grief, the DERRY GIRLS would devour this Kenneth Branagh alive …
(No, this isn’t really relevant to the article, I’m just convinced that BELFAST makes an alarmingly perfect prologue to DERRY GIRLS and am always amused to imagine how Sir Ken might have cropped up in the show – I mean if they can get Liam Neeson, the sky’s the limit!).
I recently discovered that Priest of Love is available on Amazon. It’s about the end time of Lawrence (America and Mexico). As I recall the costumes were pretty good. But, I thought the costumes in Naughty Marietta were good at that time. Live and learn.