University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

Playing The Chauvinist's Game

By PAUL CHAPLIN

I don't know where I should
start to talk about "Carnal
Knowledge," except to say that I
think Jules Feiffer and Mike
Nichols make a formidable team of
writer and director. Both have
previously proved their excellence:
Nichols with his Broadway
productions and "The Graduate,"
and Feiffer with his cartoons and
script for "Little Murders." With
their combined efforts, and an
extremely talented cast, "Carnal
Knowledge" ranks among the best
films of 1971.

College Days

The film takes two young men
from their college days in the mid forties,
and follows them into the
seventies, observing how they live
with, act with, and talk about
women. You might even say that
Sandy and Jonathan are your
typical American boys, but they are
typical in the same way that those
creatures in Feiffer's cartoons are
typical of Americans. The boys are
male chauvinists to the nth degree,
and the women who fade in and
out of their lives are "ball-busters,"
but, damn, those boys love tits and
"wouldn't kick her outta bed."

At Amherst, both are virgins,
eyeing every girl they see. Jack
Nicholson as Jonathan is the
"experienced" one, who advises

Sandy, played by Art Garfunkel,
the one who needs all the help he
can get. When Sandy finds a nice
looking girl, Jonathan urges him to
go "all the way" but later decides
to see how great his roommate's girl
really is.

This first half of the film will
strike home to every male. The
dialogue, amazingly true, makes
one realize how stereotyped most
males are in their conception of
women. The unique element of the
triangle relationship is Susan,
portrayed by Candice Bergen, a girl
much smarter than either fellow,
who can easily play the games with
both boys and still come out ahead.

The years pass and Jonathan
and Sandy are out of college but
still lusting after everything in a
skirt. Sandy is "happily" married
and Jonathan is establishing a
relationship with a busty model.
The model is the real surprise of the
film, in case you haven't heard, for
the part is the first one that has
permitted Ann-Margret the role
which Hollywood previously denied
to her, or any actress for that
matter.

Time passes and Sandy and
Jonathan are worse off then they
were when the film started. Not
only are their sex lives confused,
but their emotions are beginning to
give way. One doesn't want to
spend too much time even thinking
about how the film could end if
Feiffer had decided to cover
another five years in their lives.

Looking Boyish

Art Garfunkel is very good as
Sandy, but I will never be
convinced that he is capable of
acting. The two big roles he's
played in Nichols' films do not
demand much of the actor, except
looking boyish and mystified,
which is definitely one quality that
Garfunkel can project. The pivotal
role of Jonathan is superbly played
by Jack Nicholson, and the praises 1
gave to the ladies' acting should be
extended to his as well.

Nichols' direction is
toned down somewhat from
"Catch-22," yet it still has that
certain look that I recognize as
being, well, a "Mike Nichols look."
There is frequent use of close-ups,
giving the impression that
Nicholson and Garfunkel are
talking to us, and the device works
quite well.

Extremities

I can only use superlatives to
describe Feiffer's script. I had read
it several times prior to seeing the
film and was delighted with what I
thought sounded quite natural. On
the screen however, I realized how
wrong I was, for the dialogue is real
to the point of extremities, making
the characters, especially the males,
appear to be stereotypes.

This is important to realize, for
these creatures are no more "real"
than the people of "Little
Murders," the difference being that
Alan Arkin's direction and the
script let us know that the film was
a comedy. "Carnal Knowledge" is
never a comedy and never attempts
to be one, at least to my way of
thinking. What little laughter I
made was tempered with the
thought that I was snickering at
those dumb male chauvinists, and I
was certainly not one of those, ha, ha!

But the sense of identity is so
strong throughout the film that you
can't walk away without some
change in your attitude toward sex.
I realize that my remarks have been
addressed to the male audience, but
"Carnal Knowledge" is about men
and their weaknesses. It is not a
film that Women's Lib will
embrace, for the women are, at
best, minor characters and sex
objects. We never know how they
think or feel, at least inwardly, for
isn't it possible that they may be
playing games just as Jonathan does
with Susan?

"Playboy"

The most ironic thing I had read
about the film appeared in
"Playboy," being their review
which praised the film for showing
the warped attitudes men have
about their women, thinking them
to be simple objects of sexual
pleasure. Yes, the film does cover
that area, and even got
Ann-Margret to start thinking
about being a "sex kitten." For this
alone, "Carnal Knowledge" should
be seen—it's better to have your
mind provoked in the theatre than
to realize at age 45 that you may be
a Jonathan or Sandy.

(Now at the University)