An odd duck. Liz Taylor shines in this philosophical novel about the sexual revolution. The interesting relationship web is undone by some cringey speech play that understands the structure of classic screwball dialogue but seems jaded by it. The Old Hollywood is dying but the filmmakers haven’t noticed yet.
Every character is unreasonably direct and have a database of puns and idioms to drop in any conceivable situation. For example, a scene in which two ladies are playing cards: “You seem distracted. You should be laying your hearts on the table rather than spades. Talk to me, what’s troubling you?” And so on, in every scene. The characters explicitly lay out the themes and conflicts, say something witty/poetic, and leave.
I love these kinds of themes, especially in the context of the olden days and concepts such as “heels” and “hussies.” Even the word “slut” is used, which was a real shockeroo. There are some incredibly distracting stylistic choices here though.
And, the ending stinks.
An odd duck. Liz Taylor shines in this philosophical novel about the sexual revolution. The interesting relationship web is undone by some cringey speech play that understands the structure of classic screwball dialogue but seems jaded by it. The Old Hollywood is dying but the filmmakers haven’t noticed yet.
Every character is unreasonably direct and have a database of puns and idioms to drop in any conceivable situation. For example, a scene in which two ladies are playing cards: “You seem distracted. You should be laying your hearts on the table rather than spades. Talk to me, what’s troubling you?” And so on, in every scene. The characters explicitly lay out the themes and conflicts, say something witty/poetic, and leave.
I love these kinds of themes, especially in the context of the olden days and concepts such as “heels” and “hussies.” Even the word “slut” is used, which was a real shockeroo. There are some incredibly distracting stylistic choices here though.
And, the ending stinks.
