Perfect Understanding

"Perfect Understanding" is a simply dreadful film--very, very dated, dull and filled with folks you really cannot relate to or like. It also features the rather odd romantic pairing of Gloria Swanson and Laurence Oliver--a pairing that doesn't quite work.

The film begins with Swanson singing--something you just don't need to hear unless you are a masochist. Fortunately, Olivier's character didn't love her singing either, though otherwise they play rich folks who have nothing better to do than go to parties, travel the world and talk...a lot. And one of the things they love to talk about is their love for each other. However, Swanson's character is apprehensive to marry, as she's afraid that over time their love will fade. So, they agree to marry and stay married until they begin to argue (ooo, how romantic).

The biggest problem about this film is that it was the Depression and folks were out of work. So, such a mannered and dull film involving the rich and lazy seems strange--and hard to enjoy. The characters seemed rather one-dimensional and annoying. In particular, Swanson's acting didn't help, though Olivier did a nice job in spite of the film's many shortcomings. Dull and probably not worth your time.

Yes, yes, I know that Sir Laurence thought that all his films before "Wuthering Heights" were garbage. But this is a forgotten gem. Sure, people may not like it, and I get why, because this film doesn't introduce anything new. It's got Judy (Gloria Swanson), an actress I really like, paired with Nick Randall (Laurence Olivier), in a film that involves at first, a good deal of fluff, and then it takes a turn for the dramatic. Honestly, I have to say, the last half hour of the film didn't impress me. Yes, I'm a sucker for fluff and light-hearted stuff, and the fact that Laurence Olivier was looking his best here, at age 26, didn't really predispose me not to like this film. But I have to say about the character of Nick, he was a complete blockhead in the last half hour. He admitted his mistake and wanted forgiveness, but when he thought that Judy did the same thing, gosh, he totally flew off the handle and absolutely frustrated both me and her. You did the same thing, Nick, so you may as well take responsibility. But the jealousy part plays out very realistically, so I don't mind too much. The ending was a bit rushed, though.

Still, watch this movie if you're either a Laurence Olivier fan who just wants to see him (and not mind characters being blockheads), or if you're a Gloria Swanson fan. Nothing new, but enjoyable all the same.

Gloria Swanson had formed a film company just to make this film. Unfortunately, this is precisely the type of film that her most famous character, Norma Desmond, likely wanted to make in Sunset Boulevard.

It is really a silent film with dialog replacing the text screens. The actors make grand extravagant gestures, turn their faces to and fro while fluttering their eyelids. The incessant music swells at appropriate moments to indicate high drama. The dialog seems like a nuisance to be summarily added and neglected - after all Swanson had done pretty well for all those years without dialog - why worry about that now.

The quite modern premise of the film, a semi-open marriage, and the conflict brought on by the juxtaposition of the end of the flapper era avant-garde attitudes with the conservative Victorian mores ensconced in the judicial attitude towards divorce should have made the film more interesting that it was.

However, the only real interest and tension is generated by incredible boat race where cocktails are drunk at every station to make the race more difficult! Prohibition was about to be repealed and the celebration of alcohol consumption in such stark contrast to today's attitudes is fascinating.

Tighter editing, better pacing and dialog might have made this worthwhile. As is, it is a curio from the early years of sound, and of interest to the historian and perhaps to the film buff as a primer on the world of Norma Desmond.

American expatriate Gloria Swanson is living it up pretty good and meets up with society playboy Laurence Olivier and the two fall in love as it were and get married. But both are used to high living and going their own way. So a Perfect Understanding is reached whereby they do just that and they vow never to quarrel.

Well that's easier said than done. And Larry heads off to the continent and the Riviera as he always does partying hearty. Gloria prepares home and hearth. Larry however has mantrap Nora Swinburne chasing him and when Gloria hears about she rebounds and right there is good old John Halliday to catch her.

Gloria Swanson as it turned out had a great singing voice and at the closing credits gets to sing a song with the rather ungainly title I Love You So Much I Hate You. Good voice, mediocre song, but she probably had it tacked on to a mediocre film for those who remembered her singing Love Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere from The Trespasser.

As for Olivier, up to now I had only seen one of his films before As You Like It. I'm not as hard as he is on himself when he was widely quoted as saying that William Wyler taught him the art of acting on film and that everything he did before Wuthering Heights was garbage. This second one I saw though would validate what he said.

Quite frankly the lives of these society twits got about as much interest from me in the 21st century as it did when it was shown in Depression UK and USA. Word of mouth made the public stay away in droves. And the public is always right.

I first saw Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd" (1950) and loved her in the movie. She played an actress who was past her prime yet behaved as though she was in her heyday. Throughout the movie it was as though she was always on stage, which is how I imagine actors and actresses behave when they try to hold on to their glory days. Her movements, expressions, and speech were exaggerated like there was a camera focused on her at all times.

After watching "Perfect Understanding" I realize that's just the way Gloria Swanson acts. As good as she was in "Sunset Blvd" she was equally terrible in "Perfect Understanding." The speech, the expressions, and the behavior were exaggerated and made even more comical by the music. And she and Joan Crawford have mastered the frozen, wide-eyed, crazy look which looks so unnatural.

In "Perfect Understanding" Swanson plays Judy Rogers, a high society woman from America who was in love with Nicholas Randall (Laurence Olivier), a high society man from England. The two were crazy in love, but Judy wasn't keen on the idea of marriage, no matter how many times Nicholas proposed. Eventually, Judy gave in and agreed to marry Nicholas with a contract stating that they'd always have a "perfect understanding" and that they'd "never be husband and wife but lover and mistress. And above everything else, to remain individual."

To Judy, jealousy was an ugly trait only to be found in commoners or the insecure. She'd have the opportunity to put her beliefs to the test because orbiting around her and Nicholas was Stephanie (Nora Swindburne), a married woman who was unabashedly in love with Nicholas. She would ruin her own marriage as well as Nicholas's if given the chance.

"Perfect Understanding" followed a predictable pattern. Unfortunately, it was another high-society movie involving grand exclamations of love and affection as well as rampant infidelity. It's a tired theme that's simply redone with new actors and a slightly adjusted script. The moment I saw Stephanie ogling Nicholas I knew what we were in for. There was nothing novel about this movie nor was there anything worth watching unless you're a fan of Gloria Swanson or Laurence Olivier.

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