Um Marido de Reserva

I found the film extremely hard to watch. I saw it on Netflix and I kept stopping it after fifteen or twenty minutes and resuming it the next day until I got through the whole thing.

I generally like Shirley Maclaine and Richard Attenborough and I like splashy British psychedelic 60's movies like "Casino Royale" and "What's New Pussycat" However, Maclaine was unexpectedly listless and dull and Attenborough, despite a brave attempt, could not bring a spark of life to the movie. The great sets are wasted in a movie that seems to want to be hip or hippie, but doesn't know how.

Someone named James Booth is the real star. It was a surprise to see such an unknown actor actually given more screen time than big stars like Maclaine and Attenborough. I kept thinking he was going to disappear from the movie, but instead his part just grew bigger and bigger to the point of pushing the other stars out. To be fair, He apparently did star in five or six movies low budget, moderately successful films in the 60's, but then went into playing mostly guest star television roles for the next 40 years. He plays a part that desperately needs the zaniness of Peter Sellers. One feels as if the part of Ambrose Tuttle, a crazy spaced out genius was written with Sellers in mind. Booth is much too laid back for the absurd cartoon style of the character and the work.

The movie is visually quite interesting, but it pitches, rolls and jumps all over the place. Sadly, the director seems to know nothing about directing actors or scenes. The actors seem to be talking directly to the audience and not each other. This has the effect of making the movie seem like a long episode of the 1960's television show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in," but without any jokes. The wonderful time that all the characters appear to be having is not infectious, but annoying.

Anyways, I give the movie one star for Maclaine, one star for Attenborough and one star for the sets, but everything else is a gigantic bore in the film. If you're heavily stoned when watching, as the filmmakers appear to have been when putting this mess together, you can add another three stars.

I teach a high-school Film History class and use this movie to give the students a real taste of the 60's. London is the setting for this film, and London was the THE happening place in 1968. The Art Direction is superb. Every scene gives a visual clue to the styles and sensibilities of that "mod" generation. The costumes designed by the famous Zandra Rhodes were on the cutting edge for their time. I'd kill for one of those dresses today. The plot is silly,sweet and no great shakes, but this film captures the spirit of the time better than any I've seen. I waited for 25 years for this movie to come out on video, and finally received it from my husband on our 25th wedding anniversary. I believe some scenes were cut for the video, but it still remains our all-time favorite movie, if only for the nostalgia it evokes. My students LOVE it!!

I am hesitant when recommending this movie, not because I doubt the movie, but because I doubt people. There are so many criticisms that non-believers could throw at THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM - that it's silly, obvious, crude, cartoonish, dated - but they would all be beside the point. The point is that this movie is a sweet-natured ding-bat adolescent pro-feminist look at sex and marriage in a world where people don't seem to have naughty bits - except women, whose most noticeable naughty bits need to be covered by industrial strength brassieres. The dialogue is a step above Benny Hill, but the performances (Shirley MacLaine, Richard Attenborough, James Booth and even [briefly] John Cleese) lift it to the level of Noel Coward, just by putting an aching sincerity into the outlandish situations. Most memorable, however, is the art direction, costume design, and editing, all of which take off from Carnaby Street and land somewhere on the planet Swinging Mod Paisley Surprise. The editing is particularly trippy, with deliberate disjunctions of time and space that give the title character an almost otherworldly cool. And why reach for THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM when there are so many other relics of Mod London in the late sixties to choose from? Because, like Linus's pumpkin patch, it's really and truly very sincere: whereas other movies of the period where aimed cynically at the youth market, T.B.O.M.B. is aimed at adults.

This movie is completely charming. I've never seen a more wonderful Shirley MacLaine. I fell in love with her. If you liked the Austin Powers films, then you will especially enjoy the costumes and decor of this movie. The artworks that Mrs. Blossom creates are terrific. With the recent public appearance of the polyamory community, it's apparent that the idea of being in love and devoted to two people, and being "faithful" to them both, is still relevant. As a small, funny movie, it still asks some good questions about the nature of relationships and fidelity. Bravo.

This light-as-a-bubble comedy annoyed me at first with its giddy farcicality but slowly won me over with the gentle wisdom at its core. Polyamory may not be for everybody, but in this story it transforms life for the three main characters: a lonely housewife, her businessman husband, and her underachieving lover. The story moves right along and takes some clever, unexpected turns before arriving at an enormous final irony. All the performances are good.

(Special note to "Zulu" fans: "Blossom" contains a few sly allusions to that great film, including scenes where James Booth shows up in a red tunic. The effect is somewhat incongruous, though, because Tuttle's voice and manner are completely unlike Hookie's.)