In his opening paragraph to Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence writes — “We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” Although he goes on to clarify that “this was more or less Constance Chatterley’s position”, many of the historical romances on Netflix India show us that the sentiment neatly captures the plight of protagonists across centuries and countries.
In England, Constance Chatterley née Reid marries Sir Clifford who returns from the Great War, paralysed waist-down. The two retire to his country estate, Wragby Hall, where Constance finds herself with little to do other than play nurse to her husband who is curiously unruffled about his crippled life, entirely oblivious to what that might mean for his young wife. Constance finds comfort and affection in the arms of the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors, and admirably sticks by her decision even at the risk of humiliation and ostracisation.
In Russia, at the turn of the century, Matvey Polyakov in Silver Skates loses his job just before Christmas 1899. His father is diagnosed with tuberculosis while he falls in cahoots with a band of quick-footed thieves and then falls in love with an aristocrat’s daughter. All the action happens on skates, with the boys often literally skating on thin ice. With romance and survival hanging in the balance, Matvey will do what it takes to live, even when the sky is falling around his ears.
In 18th-century France, we see a noblewoman in Lady J, plotting revenge on a marquis who has dared to fall out of love with her. She prides herself for being able to resist a man’s attentions and the movie begins with her laughing at the well-known Lothario’s courtship. And yet she succumbs to his charms, only to find that, after some time has lapsed, his emotions have changed. Revenge it is while the skies fall around her, for hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
