Liaisons secrètes

Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas positively steam up the screen in this well-done film depicting a torrid suburban affair in Eisenhower's sexually repressed America. It is a great story and is singlehandedly responsible for my being a huge Kim Novak fan. Not only was (is) she undeniably beautiful, she is a remarkable actress. Look for Walter Matthau in a villainous turn, and the great Ernie Kovacs in one of his final performances.

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1960. I loved it then, and I still find it appealing 4 decades later. I was a teenager in the 50's and Kim Novak was the epitome of beauty and sexuality for that era, and she is at her peak in this role. There is so much to say about this movie; Kirt Douglas strong masculine performance, with Novak complimenting him with her subdued, almost melancholy performance. The storyline is simple, Kirt and Kim are both married, but not to each other. Kim is love starved, her husband he a cold individual, who is more interest in open the mail, than opening her blouse, he spurns her attempts at romance at every turn. I can't imagine that happening with a woman like her. I don't know if the director was aware of it at the time, but her husband today would be view as a repressed homosexual,but in the 50's any hint of that was taboo. Kirt has a nice enough wife and 2 children and seems to be somewhat content, but apparently under the surface smothers a restlessness, that I don't think he was even aware of existed. When he sees Kim at a school bus stop where they both drop off their child, he is smitten. He pursues her, she resists in the beginning, but when her husband continues to ignore her, she gives in. The results are a passionate affair resulting in 2 destroyed marriages and the separation from each other. There are a few subplots that keep the story moving but it is Kim and Kirt who set the screen on fire

Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak star in this tale of love found outside of an unhappy or rather a dull, or shall we say, a trapped marriage in suburban America. Kirk is an architect who likes to build to suit his tastes rather than conform to the mundane, everyday buildings and houses that the masses use on a day to day basis. Barbara Rush is his wife, who tries to help him get jobs, but maybe she "doesn't understand him," and what he's trying to do in his career and with his life. So Kirk feels trapped by her expectations of him. Kirk meets Kim, by way of the school bus stop; they both have sons that go to school together. Kirk hears talk about Kim and her husband, who are new to the block. She is really neglected by her husband, who is not affectionate at all, and very cold to her basic needs. Kim hears talk about him, the architect and his wife. They start an alliance, when, after talking to her at the grocery store, he later invites her to see a client's vacant lot, on which a new house will be built, one he will design, obviously. She is hesitant at first, for many reasons, some of which we can guess and some we can't. One clearly is that, there is a time and place for social interaction that is acceptable. As an adult and spouse and parent, you know what your boundaries are. But when you're unhappy or find the opposite sex attractive, sometimes it feels like...maybe. She tells him to turn back as this doesn't feel right, but then she loosens up a little. Long story short, this is a movie, right? This deals with infidelity head on and doesn't hold back in its realistic portrayal of who gets hurt. Real emotion and raw feelings are brought to the surface, and we are able to see real, complicated people and the after effects of Kirk's actions. All this drama is heightened by expert actors in the leads, but Barbara Rush is particularly good as the wronged wife. And Walter Matthau gives a very understated performance as a neighbor who turns out to be an opportunist too. Having said all that, me being single and unable to really relate to this situation, I don't know that I would re-watch this. It may be more enjoyed by those who have had brief affairs. But its unsentimental treatment of the subject matter doesn't mince words with its viewers. We know what's what. But what becomes of a couple who may have gone past the point of no return? Is there a marriage that is salvageable after infidelity? "Strangers When We Meet" is about people looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places and learning from it. Hopefully, we, as viewers, can too.

I was totally shocked when I saw this film as a kid, home sick from school. Here was one of my movie heroes, Kirk Douglas and the lovely Kim Novak at her sexiest, and they were NOT doing good things in their neighborhood. Ahhhhhhhhh... so THIS is what was happening while I was at school.

This "adult" themed soaper showed that Hollywood was beginning to change its tune when it came to dealing with issues like infidelity. Douglas plays a successful architect who starts an affair with Novak because he's, well, bored. Douglas' macho performance is tempered a bit and we really feel that he is in love with Novak. This isn't a tawdry affair, we're supposed to believe, because Douglas' performance is so strong. It isn't until late in the film do we realize that these types of affairs are incredibly damaging to all involved and that there are no heroes here.

For establishing a subtle ground-breaking subject matter, for a strong Douglas performance, for the neat cars and a really cool barbecue on the patio (hello 60s... you can just see the neighborhood gang out there, firing up the steaks, sipping on gin and tonics and watching a space shot on one of those metal portable TVs) and most of all for the gorgeous Kim Novak, this soaper has a little more depth than you'd expect.

Watch it.

In an earlier commentary I said that the only good things in this film were Barbara Rush and the final scene. Besides, Leonard Martin gives it only **1/2. Well, Leonard Maltin and I were wrong. I have just seen it once more and now I think it is a honest and real look at the dissatisfaction and crisis of the conjugal life in the middle class. The characters and scenes between Maggie and her husband are underwritten, Kirk Douglas overacts as usual, but:

Very intelligent the relation between Altar and Larry, being the first a counterpoint of the second. At last, Altar "did it" but he is alone and envies the conjugal life of his friend ("Don't throw everything away").

Very real and moving the crisis between Eve and Larry. What a good and wasted actress was Barbara Rush!, her character almost steals the show.

Other good moments: Larry stress and lack of control in the party at his home, his wife smiling and saying: "I want you sober", the fight between Larry and Felix under the rain, the cross cutting between Maggie in the kitchen as a housewife and herself putting her earrings in the motel "after the sin", etc., etc.

A great idea is the parallel between the building of the house and the love story, the beautiful visit at the house with the tape measure and the moving farewell in the already finished house.

Last but not the least, the visuals: The elegant use of the widescreen and the long takes, the smooth camera movements and tracking shots (for instance, the first scene in the Larry's kitchen or in the "tape measure" scene or at the very beginning of the film). The beautiful cinematography and color, always a pink or red spot in the frame (the Larry's jacket, a cushion in the Altar's apartment, the Maggie's dress, a fruit dish in the kitchen), etc.

Well, as you can see one can't trust his first impressions. I like this film