40 Quilates

"40 Carats" is a surprisingly good movie. While Ullmann and Albert have little chemistry together, they nevertheless make a sweet pair, because they are both enormously appealing individually. Gene Kelly adds a few nice moments and leads a likable supporting cast. The film is slightly overlong but more mature than you might think.

This a breezy comedy based on a hit Broadway play and one of the few worthwhile comic tales depicting the relationship between a younger man and an older woman. While on holidays, visiting Greece, a divorced real estate agent encounters by chance a vital young man, and they have a brief romantic interlude.

She leaves him while he is sleeping and escapes back to New York. Regaining the cherrished stability she has conquered as a lady executive, she settles down on her lovely apartment where she lives with her daughter and her mother. Until - very much in the fashion of every Broadway farce there is - they receive an unexpected visitor. Peter Latham, the man our main character had an affair with while in Greece. But now, he is introduced as a friend of her daughter's.

After constant bickering, they decide to get married, but will their relationship last?

'40 Carats' is a light, entertaining and cheerful movie, filled with beautiful, rich people whose vain problems serve as the basis for an plot. The characters have social status written all over their foreheads and their reaction to the plot's major complications are clever one-liners encouraged by greek drinks and the prospect of a happy, happy ending. The film does not attempt to be deep, for it's subject is a rather delicate one - the producers were aiming for time-filling entertainment and they really did it.

But this film suffers mostly from the miscasting of Liv Ullmann, Ingmar Bergman's norwegian muse. No matter how versatile the wonderful Ms. Ullmann can be, she is a rather indelible case of typecasting - used to play such profound characters whose heartaches and emotional flaws we can relate to, she seems uncomfortable portraying a futile woman whose psyche isn't that complex, after all. The one scene in which her character really makes the transition between a woman caught in a whirlwind of happenings and a woman whose pain is overwhelmingly intense, nevertheless, is a cinematic gem. In this scene she confronts her future in laws.

Another highlight of the film is Michel Legrand's beautiful soundtrack that includes the love theme 'In Every Corner Of The World', and Gene Kelly's performance as Liv Ullmann's annoying first husband.

All in all, this is a movie whose delicate subject provokes a barrier that keeps it from being a great film, but is, nevertheless, sheer cinematic delight.

I do love this little film. I also think Edward Albert is the only actor is this film who isn't overacting. Or miscast. I could watch this film all day, just to watch Edward. He has to be about the most beautiful young man ever put on the planet. In this film he is charming and a complete breath of fresh air, however quaint that may sound. The premise of a woman old enough to be the man's mother become romantically involved was BIG at the time. When the scene is relaxed and the acting natural, it's a lovely film to watch. In scenes of awkward overacting, Edward stands out as a natural, his uniqueness, talent and intelligence radiate from his face. I am not so sure of the comedy rating of this film. It's actually quite serious part of the time. I wish he had been given more excellent parts to play throughout his career.

"40 Carats" - a light and cheerful comedy is the only comedy I've seen Liv Ullmann in. She plays Ann Stanley, forty years old Manhattan Real Estate agent divorcée who lives with her mother and 16 years old daughter. On her vacation in Greece, she meets 22 years old Peter Latham (Edward Albert), and they spend the night together. Ann quietly disappears into the early morning hours, leaving him with the memories of the night and nothing else - no address or telephone number. Peter later returns to New York, where one evening he arrives to pick up a date for the evening. Guess, who his date's mother is?

What follows is, IMO, funny and charming romantic comedy with wonderful supporting performances from Gene Kelly (as Ann's first annoying husband), Binnie Barnes and Deborah Raffin. I've read some comments that Liv was miscast and was not comfortable playing such a light comedy after all the profound and tragic characters she had played for Bergman. I don't think so. For me, one of the most memorable scenes of the film is the one after Liv (Ann) returns home from her vacation and is asked what Greece was like? Ann turns to face a camera, smiles, and says, "Greece glows under the sun" - but it is her face, her smile, her eyes that glow. If ever the saying, the eyes are the soul's mirror, is true, it is about Liv's eyes. There are kindness, tenderness, strength, and something even more attractive than beauty itself in them - the goodness of her soul.

"40 Carats" was a very pleasant surprise for me. I hope that it will be released on DVD soon and become available for all admirers of Liv Ullmann and of funny and clever romantic comedies.

Beautiful 36, no… 38, no… 39, no… 40-year-old Liv Ullmann (as Ann Stanley) from Norway originally is driving through gorgeous Greece when her car overheats. Along comes handsome 22-year-old Edward Albert (as Peter Latham) from Pittsburgh, USA on a motorcycle. Believing herself too old to ride a motor bike, Ms. Ullmann instead strips down to her underwear for a swim with Mr. Albert. One thing leads to another and they have sex on the beach. Perhaps feeling a little old and out of sorts after the act, Ullmann leaves Albert while he sleeps...

Back home in New York, guess who arrives to pick up Ullmann's daughter for a date?

At first this seemed like it was going to be a drama, but it's obviously a comedy by the time Ullmann and Albert meet in New York. It probably would have been funnier if a woman more experienced in situation comedy played Ullmann's part, but the film does garner some chuckles. Although Albert does look like the younger of the two, the age difference seems more like ten than twenty years. Ullmann appears closer to Albert's age than she does to ex-husband Gene Kelly (as Billy Boylan). Respected elder Binnie Barnes (as Maud Ericson) does well in her last feature.

****** 40 Carats (6/28/73) Milton Katselas ~ Liv Ullmann, Edward Albert, Gene Kelly, Binnie Barnes