Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973)

How sad is this?

From my favorite movies..

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Diane and I watched this understated but lovely film on TV last evening. We both thought that it was a gorgeous film, superbly acted by both Bottoms and Smith who played their characters accurately from beginning to end.As opposed to other commentators I found the script married perfectly with believability as well as drama in that I just watched the film and, in its slow pace, let the peacefulness of the film roll over me. The slow pace of the film allowed me to admire the cinematography which I thought was exemplary in that the slowness allowed the viewer to take moments looking at the scene. This quietness allowed the camera shots to become beautiful stills with an existence on their own. The director chose the shots but the cinematographer decided what to do with the shot selected and his decisions were generally perfect.Other commentators found the story too improbable but we let the mood of the film envelope us. The motivations of the two characters could easily be seen. The scenario many not be the most common but the circumstances of the story could easily find traction in many situations.We loved the film; it was so different from the mindless junk being served to us by Hollywood today.

A lonely spinster (Maggie Smith) and an alienated teenager (Timothy Bottoms) meet in Spain, become friends, and then lovers.This film is interesting mainly as a curiosity, with a 40-years-younger Maggie Smith playing a romantic lead and cavorting in jeans and sneakers. It's a low-budget movie, filmed on location in Spain, that never quite came together for me. I didn't particularly like or understand either Smith's character or that of Timothy Bottoms, who plays her much-younger suitor. They are both unsympathetic and distant and the writing isn't very good. The first half of the story moves at a snail's pace with little dialogue and even less action. Their awkward romance never rang true for me and didn't touched me emotionally.Smith isn't as old as she's supposed to be and Bottoms looked older that he should, so they didn't create quite the odd couple they should have. The movie was neither a good comedy nor drama and I didn't care much for it.

This film remains alive in my memory in the form of its emotional impressions (the term "bittersweet" may be overused here but is completely appropriate) as well as the final chords of the soundtrack, which darkly underline the story's conclusion. I'm with everyone here astonished that this film's still not available for personal acquisition. It's not as if it was a misstep for either of the stars, something to be kicked under the rug; if anything it's akin to "Harold and Maude" (but not an imitation...the resemblance is superficial). I can still feel this film in my blood, though it must be 20 years since I last saw it.

This is a great low key film. Maggie Smith is wonderful in this off beat drama/comedy. She did this I believe after " The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie " but her performance is clearly up to that standard. It really is a very sweet love story with the ups and downs of a relationship between Maggie and Timothy Bottoms. His performance is also very good and kept very low key much like the film in general. I don't know why it is not available on DVD or VHS? I happen to have recorded it off of a Canadian Broadcast years ago. I have also tried searching a number of rental house to no avail. If Mr. Pakula reads this please find away to make this little gem of a film available to everyone. Thank You.