Fleshy indeed...
Added 1/15/2010
Of all the films to expose the average man's view of relationships, and the manipulated understanding of just what it means to engage in said relationships, `Carnal Knowledge' is certainly one of the best. From the very first conversation to the final haunting frame, this film is so honest in it's brutality that one cannot help but be repulsed by the very aspects of this film that make it so engrossing.
Can you see yourself?
The film revolves around two friends, Sandy and Jonathan, as they filter through relationship after relationship in order to find satisfaction with the fairer gender. From college through to adulthood, these two men approach their relationships with the same tenacity yet a different emotional makeup leaves them with drastically different outcomes. Sandy is the softer of the two, the one who is easily manipulated by Jonathan's views and ideals, but his tenderness sets him apart, despite his desire to be more like Jonathan. Jonathan is really the heart of the film, for he epitomizes all that is wrong with the self-destructive pattern set out by many young men today. His desire to attain everything `fleshly' leaves him empty and unable to truly connect and love another person, let alone himself.
As I have decided to dedicate the better part of today to Jack Nicholson, I'm going to focus on him here, since his performance really carries this film for me. I adore Ann-Margret here (rightfully so), but this is Nicholson's movie. This is a perfect example of Nicholson building on the persona he created for himself early in his career, but this is one of the best uses of that persona. While I love his work in `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or `The Last Detail', for me this is a much richer and deeper performance. He paints Jonathan with such blunt strokes that it would be easy to form a disgust for him, yet he layers those strokes with undeniable inner struggle, showcasing the emptiness that his character is trying so desperately to fill. His lack of understanding in the subject of relationships (both intimate and platonic) aids in his downfall. He doesn't know what it means to be a friend.
I know someone just like him; sadly.
The rest of the cast is stellar, but they do take a backseat to Nicholson for me. Ann-Margret is astonishing as Jonathon's jilted lover Bobbie. Her ability to convey that loss that comes from loving a man who cannot love you the right way is heartbreaking. Art Garfunkel is surprisingly strong here. I really loved the way his performance contrasted Nicholson's in almost every manner. He understood how to play that coy and naïve best friend role flawlessly. I also really liked was Candice Bergen did here. Her portrayal of Susan was sensitive, earthy and believable.
As many have noted (critics and fans alike), this is one of those films that begs to be discussed and dissected. It is the definition of controversial, but that is welcome in this case for Mike Nichols understands what he is doing here. He has a respect for the film subject and so it never comes across as sloppy or, worse yet, trashy. This is sincere and earnest and HONEST and that makes it one of the better films to broach the darker side of displays of love (or affection).
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lots of scenes cut out
Added 12/30/2009
I was looking for the uncut version. It was a christmas gift and the person I gave it to was not satisfied, they wanted the uncut version.
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Ridiculous
Added 10/31/2009
Carnal Knowledge had all the intelligence of sixth-grade boys giggling during a game of Spin the Bottle. I've met a lot of half-wits in life but they were geniuses compared to the pubescent mentality of the characters in this film. These were college students? Were there really people this goofy in college? Yes, in this and that way, certainly including me feeling my blind way through an overwhelming cosmos. But to call this film "intelligent" is like giving a nobel prize in physics to an adolescent boy upon smoking his first cigarette. Carnal Knowledge can be summarized with one word: ridiculous.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Depressing
Added 9/10/2009
The story opens in the fifties, and cool Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and timid Sandy (Arthur Garfunkle) are college freshmen with one thing on their minds. Their deed-doing adventures soon begin but as we follow them over the next twenty years, we see they still haven't figured women out at all.
This movie was considered very risqué in 1971, and still retains some shock value from the coarse and passionless way the two men talk about and experience the opposite sex. Though Nicholson was in his thirties, he still pulls off being a giggling college freshman. As his character ages, he becomes the bitter and worldly-wise man he's played so often and so well. Garfunkle (then a wildly successful folk singer) was a good choice as the bumbling young man who needs his roommate's prodding to go all the way with his girl (a lovely, young Candice Bergen). Ann-Margret was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jonathan's tarty, miserable lover.
I didn't like the movie much because of its unresolved episodic scenes and the callous approach to what women would call "romance." Although I can see its place in movie history as a barrier-breaking, in-your-face film about things people didn't really talk about back then, it still left me feeling sad and empty.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Caustic and involving
Added 8/2/2009
The Bottom Line:
A "romantic" movie in the vein of Mike Nichols' more recent "Closer," Carnal Knowledge features thoroughly unlikeable yet very relatable characters who evolve from college to adulthood without ever maturing in the matter of love and relationships; with perfect performances by the leads and an inspired finishing scene, it's a very good film.
3.5/4
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Fleshy indeed...
Added 1/15/2010
Of all the films to expose the average man's view of relationships, and the manipulated understanding of just what it means to engage in said relationships, `Carnal Knowledge' is certainly one of the best. From the very first conversation to the final haunting frame, this film is so honest in it's brutality that one cannot help but be repulsed by the very aspects of this film that make it so engrossing.
Can you see yourself?
The film revolves around two friends, Sandy and Jonathan, as they filter through relationship after relationship in order to find satisfaction with the fairer gender. From college through to adulthood, these two men approach their relationships with the same tenacity yet a different emotional makeup leaves them with drastically different outcomes. Sandy is the softer of the two, the one who is easily manipulated by Jonathan's views and ideals, but his tenderness sets him apart, despite his desire to be more like Jonathan. Jonathan is really the heart of the film, for he epitomizes all that is wrong with the self-destructive pattern set out by many young men today. His desire to attain everything `fleshly' leaves him empty and unable to truly connect and love another person, let alone himself.
As I have decided to dedicate the better part of today to Jack Nicholson, I'm going to focus on him here, since his performance really carries this film for me. I adore Ann-Margret here (rightfully so), but this is Nicholson's movie. This is a perfect example of Nicholson building on the persona he created for himself early in his career, but this is one of the best uses of that persona. While I love his work in `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or `The Last Detail', for me this is a much richer and deeper performance. He paints Jonathan with such blunt strokes that it would be easy to form a disgust for him, yet he layers those strokes with undeniable inner struggle, showcasing the emptiness that his character is trying so desperately to fill. His lack of understanding in the subject of relationships (both intimate and platonic) aids in his downfall. He doesn't know what it means to be a friend.
I know someone just like him; sadly.
The rest of the cast is stellar, but they do take a backseat to Nicholson for me. Ann-Margret is astonishing as Jonathon's jilted lover Bobbie. Her ability to convey that loss that comes from loving a man who cannot love you the right way is heartbreaking. Art Garfunkel is surprisingly strong here. I really loved the way his performance contrasted Nicholson's in almost every manner. He understood how to play that coy and naïve best friend role flawlessly. I also really liked was Candice Bergen did here. Her portrayal of Susan was sensitive, earthy and believable.
As many have noted (critics and fans alike), this is one of those films that begs to be discussed and dissected. It is the definition of controversial, but that is welcome in this case for Mike Nichols understands what he is doing here. He has a respect for the film subject and so it never comes across as sloppy or, worse yet, trashy. This is sincere and earnest and HONEST and that makes it one of the better films to broach the darker side of displays of love (or affection).
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
lots of scenes cut out
Added 12/30/2009
I was looking for the uncut version. It was a christmas gift and the person I gave it to was not satisfied, they wanted the uncut version.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Ridiculous
Added 10/31/2009
Carnal Knowledge had all the intelligence of sixth-grade boys giggling during a game of Spin the Bottle. I've met a lot of half-wits in life but they were geniuses compared to the pubescent mentality of the characters in this film. These were college students? Were there really people this goofy in college? Yes, in this and that way, certainly including me feeling my blind way through an overwhelming cosmos. But to call this film "intelligent" is like giving a nobel prize in physics to an adolescent boy upon smoking his first cigarette. Carnal Knowledge can be summarized with one word: ridiculous.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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