University of Virginia Library

Now At The
Paramount

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

As a play, "Lovers and Other
Strangers" was an evening of four
short comic sketches which were
related only in that they all dealt
with sex and love or the lack of it.
Although the dialogue was often
bright, the evening didn't work,
primarily because two of the pieces
were so brief and underdeveloped
that the relative merits of the other
two (one of which was greatly
flawed in structure) were simply
not enough to satisfy a
theatregoer's appetite. At the time.
I suggested that the material was
better suited for a nightclub on the
lines of Plaza 9 or Upstairs at the
Downstairs.

Tying Together

As a film, however, "Lovers and
Other Strangers" is a more
satisfying and more rewarding
entertainment. Authors Rence
Taylor and Joseph Bologna have
adapted their original script, with
the assistance of David Zelag
Goodman, and have wisely tied the
four playlets together into a single
cohesive entity. The film is
centered around the wedding of a
young couple (whose pre-credit roll
duologue in bed almost wholly
comprised one of the original
playlets), but from this focal point
the film expands its scope to tell us
about the various romantic and
sexual escapades of their socially
polarized families.

Granted, this is a rather blatant
contrivance. But I don't think there
is any real difficulty in accepting it.
The characters and their own
personal relationships and dilemmas
are our primary concern. As in the
play, the most successful of these,
from a dramatic standpoint, is the
groom's brother's marital discord
which, to the horror of his parents,
is leading to divorce. There are,
however, other individual stories
which vie for our attention, among
them the sexual problems of the
bride's sister and brother-in-law,
the frustrating affair which the
bride's father has been having with
a family friend for ten years, and
the frantic attempts of a friend of
the groom to seduce the bride's
cousin. This last relationship could
easily have been omitted, for it
becomes tedious and downright
silly.

"Lovers and Other Strangers"
strives toward a profundity which it
never fully attains for at least two
reasons. First, there are too many
separate stories (five) and
characters (thirteen principals) for
any of them to achieve truly
substantial depth within the film's
106 minutes. It might have been to
the film's advantage for its scope to
have been a little less expansive.
Second, there is a conspicuous
absence of any real resolution in
most of the stories. The futures of
too many of the characters are left
up in the air.

Thus, what we have is a series of
brief glimpses into these characters'
personal lives. We are shown a
cross-section of society engaged in
what is supposed to be a
cross-section of romantic and
sexual plights. Some find pleasure
and happiness, others ennui or
misery. The intent, I think, is to
make a universal statement on the
subject of relations between the
sexes. Fortunately, the film is not
as trite as this tends to suggest.

Distinct Images

"Lovers and Other Strangers" is,
inescapably, episodic in nature, and
its strength lies not so much in its
whole as in certain parts. There are
some glorious moments in the film,
poignant flashes of humanity,
distinct images which stand out
above all else.

For instance, the seductive
gleam in Bonnie Bedelia's eyes as
she walks (actually, she seems to
sort of glide) fetchingly toward her
marital bed having decided to start
her honeymoon the night before
the wedding: the straight-forward
way Richard Castellano tells
Joseph Hindy that not being
happy is no reason to get a divorce,
that he himself has not really been
happy in life, only content; the
calm, mature manner in which Gig
Young reassures his scared future
son-in-law and convinces him to go
through with the wedding: the
booming and brassy voice of Anne
Meara as she argues with husband
Harry Guardino about their sex life;
and the pathetic look of despair on
Anne Jackson's face as she sits
alone in a bathroom, beginning to
realize that her lover (Mr. Young)
will never leave his wife for her.

These are small pleasures,
perhaps. But they add up and, in
the end, more than compensate for
the film's weaknesses. "Lovers and
Other Strangers" is not a witty
comedy, nor is it a serious drama.
Rather, it is a little of both - and
given the clean direction of Cy
Howard and the talents of a gifted
cast, the mixture works - not
perfectly, but for the most part,
well enough.

Bonnie Bedelia and Michael Brandon Are "Lovers"