Ce plaisir qu'on dit charnel

C’est comme si Jack Nicholson jouait sa propre personne, donc il n’a peut-être pas été si difficile pour lui de livrer la remarquable performance qui nous est présentée. Attention, je ne remets nullement en question ses talents d’acteur, d’autant que ses scènes, en particulier celles avec Ann Margret, sont redoutables et ne laissent pas intactes les personnes sensibles. Mike Nichols a pondu un drame très réussi sur la recherche éternelle de l'idéal d'amour, de beauté, de bonheur intérieur et d'harmonie dans les relations. Mais une telle chose existe-elle ou est-ce un genre  « d’oiseau bleu » ? (18/08/2017)

Discours de conversation précis, ouvert, direct et cynique. Ce film de quarante ans est une preuve que nous, les êtres humains, ne changeons pas, mais que l'environnement dans lequel nous vivons change. Les personnages y traitent les mêmes problèmes et obtiennent les mêmes résultats que nous aujourd'hui. Brillamment intemporel. Il faut également voir la conversation de trente ans plus jeune de Mika Nichols Mika Nicholsa Closer, qui est comme un remake de ce film, situé dans un environnement moderne et encore plus cynique. (08/09/2009)

Jack Nicholson played here what he does best. A womanizer who bangs anything he lays his eyes on. I did not enjoy it, especially as this movie started to lack the drama sometime during the beginning of the screenplay. (04/09/2013)

A cool retro conversational drama about the sex life of a few ordinary people in an extraordinary time, which even after all these years is surprising mainly because (as POMO has already said) the human nature hasn't really changed since then, and behind some of the phrases and morsels of wisdom from the mouths of the main characters we can certainly recognize ourselves. It's a shame that the script gradually runs out of breath and I was getting very bored by the end, and not even the exceptional Nicholson or the exceptionally well cast Garfunkel could prevent that. In short, slightly above-par. 65% (27/08/2013)

Unlike the artificial world of Shortbus, Carnal Knowledge explores sexuality that is not detached from emotional and societal bonds. The film tells the story of two friends who have different relationships with sex and women. One of them longs for true love and family life, while the other, played effortlessly by Jack Nicholson, has a purely consumeristic relationship with sex and women. Despite their different ideals and desires, both ultimately realize disappointment in their own ways. The film is set in the successful American middle-class environment and through its characters, it depicts both America in the 70s, which underwent a successful sexual revolution, and the development of both characters during adolescence and midlife crisis. I must say that if a person chooses a man like lawyer Jack Nicholson as a friend, they don't need any enemies in life anymore... Overall impression: 80%. A psychological drama the way it should be. (23/07/2009)