Review of Carnal Knowledge (1971) by Sakari L — 20 Dec 2007

With Jack Nicholson's fame rising and Mike Nichols still hot from the success of The Graduate comes Carnal Knowledge, a challenging film dealing with relationships and the hardships therein.

The film begins over black screen credits in which we hear a conversation taking place between Nicholson's charcater Jonathan and his college roommate Sandy (played by Art Garfunkel) about women. Soon after we see the dynamic between them. Jonathan the all-knowing advice giver and Sandy the wide-eyed naive, both desperate for a chance to cop some action from the opposite sex. Sandy meets Susan (Candice Bergen) and they begin a relationship. Sandy spends his evenings disclosing all information about this to Jonathan who becomes intrigued. Jonathan and Susan start an affair behind Sandy's back. Suddenly, we're in New York. Jonathan and Sandy are grown up, Sandy is married to Susan and Jonathan is still looking for fresh meat.

Jonathan is the character we spend the most time with after the college segment. Nicholson's character is weak, angry and confused and he plays him with so much passion and complexity that it's often hard to figure out what he wants, which is true for the character himself. Garfunkel's character arc is played surprisingly well by the singer, visibly hardening and maturing while Jonathan remains childlike. Ann-Margret plays Bobbie, Jonathan's eventual girlfriend and she underplays her role to perfection, never resorting to the teary-eyed mess that most women were stereotyped to be at the time.

Nichols' style is even more evident here than in The Graduate, sometimes to the point of overkill. He uses devices like training his camera often on only one subject during scenes involving several subjects, long single shot takes and stylish lighting schemes. The film is shot almost as a play, the camera spectates and lets the performances do the talking, telling you where to look as would a spotlight. As a result, some people may find it difficult to watch, although anyone who enjoyed Nichols' more recent Closer will find something interesting here. This is not a light and happy film. It's subject matter is heavy and at times disturbingly bleak. Groundbreaking for it's time, Carnal Knowledge is definately worth a look for Nicholson fans and a must for Nichols fans.