University of Virginia Library

Banal Music

Francis Lai's score is banality at
its worst. The music is a rare blend
of his own style, made popular in
"A Man and a Woman," and faked
Chopin and Mozart. After the final
confrontation between O'Neal and
Milland, you can actually predict
when the thousand violins will blare
from behind the screen, and as soon
as they do, there won't be a dry eye
in the house.

There are several things about
"Love Story" that annoy me. The
first is how everyone associated
with the film is calling it a new
creation, a type of rebuttal to nasty
"X" and "R" rated films. I can
count several films which have had
better treatments of love, and were

better made, such as "Women in
Love," "Midnight Cowboy," "The
Sterile Cuckoo," or "The Boys in
the Band." "Love Story" tries to
capitalize by touching as may bases
as possible, while still being "clean
and wholesome."

This is my second complaint.
Both Segal and Hiller were very
shrewd with the handling of the
material in the film. "Love Story"
pulls as much as it can from other
successful films, a device
Hollywood never tires of playing.
Remember "Little Fauss and Big
Halsy?" "Love Story" is like
"Romeo and Juliet" without
Shakespeare. It borrows the snow
from "Doctor Zhivago" and gives it
the same treatment "Elvira
Madigan" gave picnics. The
tinkering piano score also recalls
"Elvira," and in a strange way, the
similarity of these two films
continues through the end scenes.