Changement de saisons

This film was well written by Erich Segal of Love Story fame and by the producer, Martin Ransohoff. It is a comedic farce, but it is also touching and poignant and the characters are all quite likable and well developed. One reviewer didn't see the point to it all, but the point was that life does not end with marriage and middle age. We all have our temptations and we do the best we can with the complexities that confront us. No character in this film meant harm to any other and the result of each person's actions were not to be tidied up with easy answers. The consequences of the decisions made by the husband, the wife, the husbands girlfriend, the wife's boyfriend, and the girlfriend's father were left for us to ponder. Only the daughter, with the idealism of youth, could blissfully move on without considering what bends in the road she might face in her future. Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLane and the other cast members do a fine job with the material. I liked it very much and strongly recommend it.

"A Change of Seasons" is a film that makes polyamory seem fun and sophisticated. Call me old fashioned, and I really am, I can't relate to the plot...and that might explain why the reception to this film was cold, at best--with three Razzie Award nominations.

Shortly after the story begins, Karyn Evans (Shirley MacLaine) guesses that her husband, Adam (Anthony Hopkins), is having an affair with one of his college students (Bo Derek). But instead of being angry or hurt, Karyn gets herself a young stud of a boyfriend. And, to make things REALLY weird, the four of them go on a couples vacation together! Complications arise when the Evans' daughter shows up...and is naturally shocked by her parents' behavior.

I think how much you enjoy the film certainly will be affected by your views on polyamory and adultery. For me, it's not a funny topic and I found it hard to relate to the characters. Some might not feel this way and might enjoy the plot.

But for me, it wasn't just the story that left me flat. I rarely talk about this with any film, but the music in this movie was just godawful!! Every time the singing began, my skin crawled....it was THAT saccharine and awful. The music of the Carpenters was like acid rock compared to the stuff in "A Change of Seasons"

Overall, a couple good actors in a script that might have worked better had the film actually been a comedy. Some real laughs would have improved it...as well as ANY other soundtrack!

Advertised as a wacky marital sex romp (with allusions to wife-swapping), this Erich Segal script surprises by being a mostly sobering look at a marriage between two middle-agers (Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins) which has faltered and can't really be rectified. Released alongside a spate of similar middle-age-crazy comedy-dramas (including MacLaine's "Loving Couples", which she made back-to-back with "Seasons"), this one has the added appeal of seeing serious-minded Hopkins romancing Bo Derek (fresh off her triumph in "10" and usually out of her clothes). The writing is often achingly 'cute', with hardly a wink to the audience to let us know co-writer Segal is in on the joke. However, the more thoughtful moments (integrated unobtrusively by director Richard Lang) offer some insight into what breaks up a marital union, and both MacLaine and Hopkins have strong scenes. ** from ****

Quirky, thoroughly offbeat erotic comedy is ultimately worth seeing, despite its talkiness and its occasionally stagy direction. It sure deals with some serious subjects in a less-than-plausible way (the characters are way too calm and civilized), but its gentle eccentricity, and the appealing performances by the entire cast (Bo Derek is stunning!), leave you with a nice impression. Fair film.

Anthony Hopkins plays a University professor engaged in an affair with a young student(Bo Derek, the perfectly cast "10"). His wife(played by Shirley MacLaine)finds out about it, but rather than divorce him, instead has an affair of her own with a young carpenter who just so happens to be doing work in their home. Hopkins is none to pleased by this, yet the four of them nonetheless go on a skiing trip together at their vacation cabin, where relationships will come to a head, since their college age daughter also arrives with her boyfriend...

Good actors cannot do much with such mundane material. Its attempts to be "modern" about the morality of affairs is awkward and unconvincing, and the film is mostly dreary and unsatisfying, though Bo Derek lights up every scene she is in(especially in the hot tub!)