Changement de saisons

How can two future Oscar winners star in a movie and have zero chemistry? Try a hackneyed plot, pedestrian direction with self-important pretentious, a grandiose score, and pointless dialogue. The cinematography is excellent, though, and the supporting cast, especially TV-veteran Edward Winter (best performance in film) is surprisingly robust, considering the material (EXCEPT Bo Derek, or course, whose notoriety from 10 is one of the reasons this was rushed to the big screen prematurely.

A middle-aged husband (Anthony Hopkins) falls for a beautiful young woman (Bo Derek). His wife (Shirley MacLaine) starts her own affair in retaliation.

I caught this in a theatre in Massachusetts in 1980. It was filmed on location around there and I was curious to see how the state looked on the big screen. There was a bit of controversy while the film was being shot here--Hopkins HATED working with Derek because she refused to rehearse. He threatened to quit more than once. After seeing the film I wish he had quit! The script is by the numbers and not even remotely funny (this was supposed to be a romantic comedy). MacLaine and Hopkins do their best with the material but not even their considerable acting talents can save this. Every single event was predictable and boring. Also Derek's complete lack of acting talent is almost painful to watch. I don't care how beautiful she is--the woman just can't act! Hopkins hatred for her comes through loud and clear.

This did nothing for the stars careers. Derek already had "10" out and Hopkins had "The Elephant Man" but MacLaine did this and another dreadful "comedy" called "Loving Couples" at the same time. She did point out in her book that they were both awful and almost ruined her career. Good thing she did "Terms of Endearment" a few years later.

I had blocked this movie out completely but I saw a bit of it on TV recently and all the bad memories came rolling back. Also if you're just watching this to see Derek nude it happens during the opening credits and that's about it. A really bad film--1 all the way.

This film was well written by Erich Segal of Love Story fame and by the producer, Martin Ransohoff. It is a comedic farce, but it is also touching and poignant and the characters are all quite likable and well developed. One reviewer didn't see the point to it all, but the point was that life does not end with marriage and middle age. We all have our temptations and we do the best we can with the complexities that confront us. No character in this film meant harm to any other and the result of each person's actions were not to be tidied up with easy answers. The consequences of the decisions made by the husband, the wife, the husbands girlfriend, the wife's boyfriend, and the girlfriend's father were left for us to ponder. Only the daughter, with the idealism of youth, could blissfully move on without considering what bends in the road she might face in her future. Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLane and the other cast members do a fine job with the material. I liked it very much and strongly recommend it.

It is sad that a film with good actor/actress as Hopkins and MacLaine did not perform well as one may expect. They were husband and wife, the first one a professor who falls in love with one of his girl- students. He simply informed his wife of this event as if nothing would happen, but this was a mistake. His wife decided to have a young lover, and all four informed went together to the mountain in holidays!!! Only in films this phenomenon can be seen. Then their daughter is also coming to the mountain with his boy-friend and his future father-in- law, who immediately falls in love with the mother of his future daughter-in-law. I think that sometimes the director wanted to make the film more comic because as a drama it was lost. The final result is not the best.

Great "find" in video stores boasts a really good script regarding the sexual strayings of a mid-life couple. Anthony Hopkins plays the philandering husband (Bo Derek the young hot tart) and Shirley MacLaine plays the wife who takes up with a lover of her own. This topic is now "hot" again what with Oscar winner "American Beauty" not to mention the whole Monica-Clinton affair. Don't let Bo Derek's name keep you from watching this film (and why should it when Anthony Hopkins and Shirley MacLaine are the leads?) Bo does the "Bo" thing early on (in a hot tub no less) so this film really does offer the best of all worlds. Should be watched with another Shirley MacLaine movie with a very similar plot that was released the same year (1980) called "Loving Couples" (with James Coburn the philandering husband and a young Susan Sarandon the young hot tart). They were released between "Being There" (1979) and "Terms of Endearment" (1983) so if you are wondering what Shirley MacLaine did between her two very different roles in those films here's your answer. Shirley is charming. Great entertainment.