University of Virginia Library

Party, Sex

What Brooks presents as
representative of Mary's
environment is grotesque and
macabre. Mary's girl friends live
their afternoons in spas, drinking
J&B; Mary's husband and his
associates inhabit a world of
continuous cocktail parties and
affairs. In the evening, the two
sexes meet and either watch
television, or go partying and
discuss sex in marriage.

The anniversary party is a
faultless scene of such ugliness and
points out why Brooks' work is
often weak. In other scenes, the
characters tell us, "I am ugly. Look
at my ugliness;" the party scene is
not hampered by "confessions"
from the characters. Furthermore,
Brooks has bowed to cliches in the
early part of the film. ("I'm not
crying for them. I'm crying for
us.") There is no need for tired
dialog when actions are capable of
conveying the desired mood.