Carnal Knowledge

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Alec B An extremely unpleasant movie, I get that is kind of the point but I think that the screenplay does get a little repetitive. Fortunately the performances are top notch across the board suggesting deeper complexities in the characters. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review Henry M While it was interesting to see Art Garfunkel's and Jack Nicholson's characters change over time, I found this movie to be largely adolescent. The emotional manipulation carried out by the male characters was hard to watch, without any of the development or depth of Five Easy Pieces (1970). The swing music was enjoyable, the technicolor film was enjoyable. But overall, one of those movies made purely for the male gaze. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/07/23 Full Review Tic Toc M This is a perfect film. The script is as tight as a script can be....and it's from Jules Pfeiffer. The direction is as good as it gets for 1971.....or for any year.....and that's Mike Nichols at the absolute top of his game. Ditto the cinematography from Giuseppe Rotunno whose other credits include The Leopard, Satyricon, Amarcord, All That Jazz. And the acting. Jack Nicholson notching up yet another incredible performance. Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen and Ann Margaret are perfectly cast, as are Rita Moreno, Cynthia O'Neal and Carol Kane who is completely memorable with not one line of dialog. If you're going to study the work of ANY of the names I just mentioned, there is no way around this movie. If you want to see the absolute greatest films of 1971, there is no way around this movie. If you want to see the absolute greatest films of the 70s....or ever, there is no way around this movie. It's essential. Add to that it's sociological importance, both as a groundbreaking work of 1971, but as a period piece, documenting the social mores that changed so much and so fast over a short time span. Not to mention male/female dynamics; two guys, one puts women on a pedestal, one treats them like crap. If this doesn't dissect that premise down to a tee, nothing does. Ann Margaret's greatest performance, bar none. And Jack Nicholson.....he had blown the world away in "Easy Rider" in '69, then again in "Five Easy Pieces" in 1970. And this was his third groundbreaking, iconic performance, it almost became an annual thing. He would continue to do groundbreaking, iconic performances in '73, '74 and '75. And not just performances in good movies, but high-caliber classic masterpieces of cinema. Like "Carnal Knowledge". A perfect movie. How this film does not have a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes is beyond me. There is no way this movie could be more perfect. If I had to point to perfection in cinema, this is one example I'd point to. It achieves what it set out to do 100%, and whether or not one "likes" it or "gets" it or wants to project something on to it doesn't really matter. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/05/23 Full Review Audience Member A powerful study of misogyny. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member A brilliant film that still lacerates 50 years after its release. Sometimes funny but really remarkably sad. The saddest character of them all is Bobbie played by the gorgeous Ann-Margret --- proving for the first time what an excellent actress she is. She has no sense of self and her desperation is palable. Everyone knows she is every man's fantasy but her. Nicholson is so brave to play such a despicable man but he is brilliant. A classic. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member A film that starts off well with an intriguing college love triangle relationship. However, the rest of the film is dead boring. I suppose Nichols wanted to show the downfalls for these male characters only looking for women based on their looks. I believe he wanted to show this for Nicholson's character who was portrayed to be only interested in a woman's appearance. Nicholson and Margret's interactions are quite interesting but these scenes go on for so long that I lost interest in these characters. It was disappointing that Bergen's character disappears halfway through the film as I wanted to see how her character evolved. Garfunkel's character hardly appears in the film as well after the college scenes. The last two scenes of the film, while showing how these characters have aged, is so quickly wrapped up and poorly executed. Ann-Margret was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at that year's Oscars and, while she was good, she was not as good as Leachman and Burstyn in The Last Picture Show. Overall, a disappointing film from Mike Nichols that starts off well but has some serious pacing issues in the film's second half. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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