Le parfait accord

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.

"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.

That's the song Gloria sings over the closing credits; the reverse could be emblematic of the film, a trying-to-be-chic trifle that is nonetheless amusing in its stilted sophistication and odd cinematography. Gloria and Olivier swan about modern London--she's an American interior decorator, he appears to be independently wealthy--and do some rather pre-Code making out before deciding to marry. Misunderstandings quickly pile up as each, though nominally terribly terribly in love with each other, contemplate extramarital affairs. There's also intrigue about his suspicion that she's carrying someone else's child--it's far too racy to have been made in the U.S. at the time, and was filmed in Britain by Gloria's production company. The dialogue strains to be Somerset Maugham witty and the supporting cast is nothing special, though Miles Malleson has a nice bit. Gloria is certainly glamorous and good at eye-batting, and Olivier, playing a spoiled bachelor it's hard to root for, has some charm. Also fun is the hilariously overemphatic musical scoring--every comma seems to be accentuated with a crescendo. Not much of a movie, but an interesting look at two stars at uncomfortable times in their film careers.

A young, moustached Olivier looks extremely ill at ease in this good-looking but garrulous and boring marital drama set in the South of France but with hardly any of the cast actually leaving the studio. He later called it "the worst film ever made"; presumably that was before he made 'The Betsy'!

Perfect Understanding (1933)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

With her star quality fading, Gloria Swanson went to England to produce this melodrama, which when released would just harm her career even more as it failed with both fans and critics. Judy (Swanson) and Nicholas (Laurence Olivier) agree to get married with the "perfect understanding" that they never argue or disagree. All goes as planned until Nicholas takes a trip to Cannes where he falls for another woman. PERFECT UNDERSTANDING is the perfect example of legends doing an awful film. There's really no doubt about it but this thing is just deadly dull from the word go and it never picks up any steam. It's easy to see why the movie was such a disaster when it was originally released but the most confusing thing is why Swanson decided to produce this herself and in England. I mean, this type of melodrama was flowing from every small and major studio in America so going to England really didn't do anything to improve the film. Even worse is that we have so many boring dialogue scenes that just drag everything out that the viewer will be wanting to stick sharp knives in their eyes. Things don't get any better once Olivier does the cheating as we get some pretty boring situations leading to a finale, which is just downright awful. It seems the film wants to return to Swanson's glory silent days because the picture really does look and feel like a silent at times but it's done in such a way that the entire thing just seems old-fashioned and it just doesn't work with the dialogue. Swanson is good in her role but sadly she's not given too much to do. Olivier is excellent in his part but one wishes the great performance was going towards a better cause. PERFECT UNDERSTANDING had pretty much been forgotten for over seven decades until it was brought back up to the surface but sadly, only die-hard fans of the stars should even bother with it.