Marriage takes a sour turn when a middle-aged husband falls for a young and sexy woman. Things get even more complicated when his wife starts a hot affair with a young lover of her own.
A self-centered university lecturer thinks it's quite all right that he has taken one of his students as a lover, but is deeply hurt when his wife retaliates by taking a similar approach with a visiting carpenter. His announcement that he is off to the family holiday home for some skiing with his paramour is met by his wife insisting she and her young joiner go too, and the four set off for an awkward time in the snow.
Hopkins, in spectacles, plays professor and romps with a '10'
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 ****
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