Review of Blume in Love (1973) by Walter M — 26 Dec 2007

[font=Century Gothic]"Blume in Love" starts in Venice where divorce lawyer Stephen Blume(George Segal) is ruminating about his 6-year marriage and divorce to Nina(Susan Anspach), a social worker, and wonders where it all went wrong. Could it be right at the end when he did the cliched thing by having sex with his secretary, Gloria(Annazette Chase), which is followed by Nina tossing him out on the street? After a quickie divorce in Las Vegas, Blume runs into Arlene(Marsha Mason), an attractive acquaintance, who is also divorced. It is not long before they are having sex, too.[/font].

[font=Century Gothic]Written and directed by Paul Mazursky, "Blume in Love" is an unsettling, honest and eventually disturbing movie about love and marriage in modern day America. It may appear on the surface that Blume and Nina have vastly different jobs but maybe Blume is also aiding people by helping them to get out of bad marriages. In fact, the movie's central point is to find your own way, and that may not always mean marriage. In the 1970's people were exploring themselves in novel ways which is what Nina is attempting to do but Blume is too square to keep up.(He has a habit of returning to Venice. It does seem beautiful but still...) After the marriage is over, Blume tries to move on and try new things but love does not end simply at a divorce. So, he obsesses madly.[/font].