Carnal Knowledge (1971)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Just what I expected

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Despite it's subject matter, Carnal Knowledge directed by Mike Nichols from a script by cartoonist Jules Feiffer is a dud without a single likable or really interesting character. Nicholson's grating, Bergen lame and simpering, Ann-Margret more tiresome than the role calls for and non-actor Art Garfunkal keeps his head above water more or less. In support, a worn looking Rita Moreno has a good bit as a prostitute, Carol Kane cast for her freakish appearance says nothing and Cynthia O'Neal is repellently smug. Nichols' film is a series of cartoon panels with no sense of any life surrounding the characters. Nichols appears to have been influenced by the films of Bergman and Antonioni though he lacks their brilliance. The result is a dim view of human relationships that is unpleasant and pointless.

The men in Carnal Knowledge know that there is a connection between sex and happiness, but they don't know how to grab them and bridge the gap. We first meet them as young collegians, impressionable, horny, and hugely vulnerable. Sandy (Art Garfunkel) and Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) know nothing about how the world of romance works, but Jonathan feels the need to act as though he is wiser than Sandy, a Lothario with a line of invisible women in his wake.One would expect the brash and shrewdly confident Jonathan to get a girl first, but it is actually Sandy, who finds and wins the attention of the intelligent Susan (Candice Bergen). Susan is perhaps too strong-willed to be tied down to Sandy, who is sensitive and much too lenient on the opinions of his peers. Eventually, Jonathan sets aside the burgeoning feelings of his friend and begins an affair with Susan himself, which doesn't end gracefully.Carnal Knowledge spans the next few decades, with Sandy and Jonathan's sexual hang-ups rarely changing. Sandy dreams of the girl who has the brains to match the bust, while Jonathan is so focused on t*ts-and-a*s that a great body is the number one priority, an emotional connection a close second. Sandy ends up marrying Susan; Jonathan has a string of affairs that hits its climax when he meets Bobbie (Ann-Margret), a voluptuous but needy redhead.The film doesn't preach; it studies. There are some people who are able to decipher the needs of the opposite sex with ease, making for blissful unions that last for years. But then there are the rest of the population, who never really get over the kiss-and-tell days of high school and remain to be too obsessed with sex to start and maintain a meaningful relationship. The film is about that unfortunate crowd.Carnal Knowledge doesn't have the same punchiness it once did in 1971 — today it feels rather tame — and, in some senses, doesn't go as deep and it could. Movies with miserable characters at its center can often times be so good that we don't get depressed along with them: Mike Nichols, who directed the film, earlier turned the anger of a souring marriage into a glowing black comedy with tragic components in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. That film managed to be enormously affecting, but it also didn't make you feel like a pile of sh*t by the end. And in John Cassavetes' Love Streams, the dreary existences of Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands) and her brother (Cassavetes) were fleshed with such extraordinary performances that their lives remained interesting long after the film ended.Carnal Knowledge has the ensemble drama characteristic in which the four main characters — Jonathan, Sandy, Susan, and Bobbie — carve out a net of sexual frustration around each other to the point in which life turns into a prison of dissatisfaction. Their world only revolves around each other. The outsiders, found in the other woman archetypes of Rita Moreno, Cynthia O'Neal, and Carol Kane, act as happy little pills, taking the leading men away from their own banal existences, periodically, only to ground them in reality once again. Nicholson and Garfunkel are terrific, and repositioning Margret from sex goddess status to that of a dramatic figure works quite well. Many say the film is a dark comedy, but I found no humor in its realm, and I looked in every nook and cranny. Some might find Sandy and Jonathan's failures to be melancholily funny, but, throughout the film, I was hopelessly depressed. Carnal Knowledge's components are spotless, but it forgets to do anything besides tell a story of constant grieving — maybe some can take it, but I certainly can't.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

Sandy (Arthur Garfunkel) and Jonathan Fuerst (Jack Nicholson) are college roommates in the late 40s. They meet Susan (Candice Bergen) at a party. Sandy is more sensitive and loses his virginity to her. Susan cheats on Sandy with the cruder Jonathan. Sandy and Susan eventually marry. As the years go by, Jonathan becomes a picky ladies' man. Sandy is unsatisfied with his stale home life with Susan. Jonathan has a sexy new girl Bobbie (Ann-Margret).The talk is frank from the two guys. It is edgy for its times. The plot does meander. It's a lot of sex and relationship talk from the characters. It's not really about the characters getting from point A to point B. It's more about these distinct characters crashing against each other over the years. It's certainly worthwhile to see what was considered risqué at a specific time. Also Ann-Margret was damn sexy.

I just recently watched Carnal Knowledge. I didn't really care for it. My main reason for watching it was because I have adored Ann-Margret all these years since the 60's when she first came on the scene.I didn't want to watch carnal Knowledge when it first came out because I heard that Ann-Margret did nude scenes in them. I know that sounds silly but back then that was a big deal for me. More and more stars were starting to do nude scenes I am mostly writing this review to respond to fedor8's review titled "Good Comedy/Drama" She stated that Ann-Margret had silicone breast Implants done. She is wrong. Ann-Margret states in her biography that she wrote in the early 90's that she deliberately gained thirty lbs to look more like the way Bobbie would look. Ann-Margret did a fanatic job. Jack Nicholson also was great.