Liaisons secrètes

I echo the sentiment of the other reviewer. This is so much more than a soap opera...

I caught this movie on the late show about 20 years ago and if recall correctly, was going through the end of a relationship at the time. The movie struck a chord, though frankly I'm not sure why I received it's message so deeply. This is my favorite Kirk Douglas movie by far. Kirk is not known for subtlety but he's great here.

I typically judge movies by their ring of truth, and this one has it in spades.

A must see...

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.

What I liked in this movie was the way the screenplay, as well as the director, gets close to what happens in real life. I mean, the doubts that assault many people when they think they have already got what society makes us consider as the right stuff: a job, a wife, sons. People in this situation one day realize that their life is empty in many senses, and they search for understanding in someone else outside their home inner circle. Only one thing annoyed me: the ending leaves the character played by Douglas in a very comfortable situation, considering he's the real motor of all the thing; besides, Maggie's (Kim Novak) husband (John Bryant) disappears from action in a very important, in my opinion, moment. Leaving apart these last things I consider as faults, the whole movie deserves to be watched; I think it's profitable and can make all of us take a minute or two for a meditation.

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

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.