Amor e Dor

I hear that Alan J Pakula was loved by his actors. I'm sure that's true and Love And Pain And The Whole Damn Thing made me notice, made me feel the love of Pakula for his actors. Here he has Timothy Bottoms in a performance of such beauty that I don;t understand why he vanished, specially after this film and The Last Picture Show. Maggie Smith builds, with Timothy Bottoms, a romantic crescendo more clear and tangible to us, the audience, than to them, those character walking at the verge of the abyss. Beautiful, smart and unforgettable.

Yes, it's too romantic. Yes, it's a fairy tale. But it's so lovely. Timothy Bottoms is a loser on a bus trip through Spain where he meets his female counterpart, Maggie Smith. Of course, she's older than he is, but they soon find out they're kindred spirits. This movie is a dream. I, of course, am a romantic, so I loved it from the moment I first saw it, when I was just a kid. If you're a romantic, you'll love it too.

This is a delightful film of coming of age, and coming to life. The one, a young man, suffocated by his blue-blood family, finds himself in the eyes of an older woman. And she, a not-quite-middle-aged spinster suffocated by her roles in life, is yearning for something to live for as she faces a final illness. He falls in love with her unaffected realism; and she with his boyish enthusiasm and unashamed wonder at the world. Together they struggle with what they see as a lack of tolerable options for such an odd couple; while learning more and more to depend on each other for much more than friendship. Together they discover Europe, and life, and each other, and themselves ... and bring us all a little more to life when they do.

I've been looking for a copy of this wonderful movie for several years. I can't imagine why it's never been released on VHS or DVD. Saw it originally in '73, caught it again on some late night movie channel. Haven't seen it since, but the memory lingers on. I STILL have a crush on Timothy Bottoms, thanks to this sweet and romantic movie! Maggie Smith is also wonderful--such a great actress.

This is a charming story with fun little vignettes (Maggie Smith exiting a "loo" unknowingly trailing toilet paper stuck to her heel) and clever dialogue throughout, set against a trip through beautiful scenery by bus and bicycle.

This heart-tugging April-August romance cannot be equaled for the lush Spanish scenery, excellent photography, haunting music, and courageous humor. A young Timothy Bottoms was fresh from his excellent performance in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, and Maggie Smith was in fine form portraying a spinster whose rose had lost its bloom. Her role is an excellent example of how a skilled, attractive actress enters a more mature, "seasoned" stage of her career. Both characters are slight misfits, fishes out of water on a cut-rate bus tour in the Spanish back-country who begin as antagonists but gradually draw closer. This is a tried formula, but in expert hands. It is a mystery why LOVE AND PAIN has never been marketed in any video format, or posted more prominently on the resume of either of its stars.