The Virgin and the Gypsy

The Virgin and the Gypsy

Year: 1970

Runtime: 95 mins

Language: English

Director: Christopher Miles

DramaRomance

A minister’s daughter, raised on her father's teachings of God, meets a charismatic gypsy who introduces her to a different notion of heaven. Adapted from D.H. Lawrence’s posthumously published novel, the film follows the prim English girl’s growing sexual attraction to the vigorous gypsy, culminating in a dramatic dam burst that mirrors the fulfillment of her longing.

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Timeline & Setting – The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970)

Explore the full timeline and setting of The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

1920s

The events unfold in the late 1920s Britain, a period when rural communities clung to propriety even as modern ideas began to seep in through travel and contact with outsiders. It is an era marked by lingering class codes, gender norms, and social expectations within small-town life. The interwar atmosphere provides a backdrop for personal awakenings and the tension between duty and desire.

Location

Midlands rectory, Gypsy encampment, Parish of the village

The story centers on a gloomy rectory in the Midlands, a symbol of rigid tradition and church oversight. Nearby, a travelling Gypsy encampment introduces a contrasting world of freedom and improvisation. The setting juxtaposes the provincial domestic sphere with the tented, nomadic life that represents a different kind of vitality.

🏰 Rural England 🏡 Midlands rectory 🧭 Gypsy encampment

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:53

Main Characters – The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970)

Meet the key characters of The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Yvette (Joanna Shimkus)

Yvette is a young woman returning from a French finishing school who feels stifled by the Midlands rectory’s rigid rules. She is drawn to the Gypsy’s wildness and to the possibility of freedom offered by the Eastwoods, challenging her father’s authority. Her awakening culminates in a decisive act of rebellion when she slaps Leo at his 21st birthday party.

💃 Free Spirit 🗝️ Rebellion 🌹 Self-Discovery

Lucille (Harriet Harper)

Lucille is Yvette’s sister, more reserved and bound by the rectory’s expectations. She provides a stabilizing counterpoint to Yvette’s restlessness and mirrors the tension between sisterly loyalty and the lure of social defiance.

👭 Sister Bond 🧭 Conformity 🌸 Innocence

The Gypsy (Franco Nero)

The Gypsy is a dark, arrogant man of few words who embodies a counterculture that unsettles the rectory’s order. His presence invites Yvette to imagine freedom beyond church and family, while his wife’s fortune-telling adds a mystique of danger and revelation.

⚜️ Charisma 🌀 Enigma 🔥 Danger

The Rector (Maurice Denham)

The Rector is a pedantic guardian of tradition who prizes church order over personal happiness. He disapproves of the Eastwoods and attempts to keep Yvette within the bounds of propriety, heightening the drama as authority clashes with desire.

🧭 Conservatism 🗳️ Authority ⚖️ Discipline

Leo Wetherall (Jeremy Bulloch)

Leo is the wealthy, entitled son of an industrialist who believes he has the right to marry Yvette. His confidence and social privilege expose the cracks in the social hierarchy, and his authority is challenged when Yvette publicly rebukes him at his birthday celebration.

💎 Privilege 🎭 Vanity 🗣️ Charm

Major Eastwood (Mark Burns)

Major Eastwood is a defiant, socially liberal figure who defies the parish’s conventions through his affair with Mrs Fawcett. He offers Yvette a model of independence and a sense of possibility beyond the rectory’s walls.

🎖️ Nobility 🕊️ Rebellion 💔 Forbidden Love

Mrs Fawcett (Honor Blackman)

Mrs Fawcett is a neighbor who flouts convention through her affair with Major Eastwood, embodying a more liberated social circle. She acts as a catalyst for Yvette’s exploration of desire and autonomy, signaling that life beyond the rectory is possible.

💋 Secret Love 🗝️ Defiance 🏛️ Social Pressure

Mary (Jan Chappell)

Mary is the housemaid who becomes entangled in the gypsy’s world. Her presence adds a layer of adult sexuality and complexity to the household dynamics, illuminating the film’s exploration of desire and power within unequal social spaces.

🔎 Witness 🧹 Domestic Life ⚡ Temptation

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:53

Major Themes – The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970)

Explore the central themes of The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🗝️ Rebellion

Rebellion against stifling propriety drives the plot as Yvette wrestles with the rectory’s rules and the parish’s expectations. The narrative shows how quiet defiance can destabilize a tightly controlled domestic world. Each act of transgression tests loyalty, piety, and family bonds, culminating in a bold confrontation that reshapes relationships.

💼 Class

Class boundaries structure who may pursue whom and who is deemed acceptable company. The Eastwoods and the Gypsy encampment challenge the parish’s corridor of status, exposing gaps between wealth, power, and personal desire. Yvette’s choices push against the social codes that govern the rectory and church life.

💃 Agency

The characters seek autonomy within constraining roles, using intimate relationships to carve out space for personal choice. Their decisions confront male authority and religious oversight, reframing agency as a form of self-definition rather than mere rebellion. The arc portrays growth through courageous, if controversial, self-assertion.

✨ Fantasy

Fortune-telling and the Gypsy encampment evoke a sense of fantasy that contrasts with the rectory’s dour reality. Yvette’s fantasies of love and freedom clash with communal verdicts, highlighting the pull between dream and duty. The final revelations offer a liberating counterpoint to strict propriety.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 18:53

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