clanciai Review of Love Among the Ruins

Love Among the Ruins (1975 TV Movie)

Laurence Olivier and Katharine Hepburn trying to find and understand each other after 30 years

[10/10 · 10 July 2019]

This is in every aspect a perfect film, and at the same time a glorious virtuoso performance by two of film history's greatest stars, for their only time together, like a tribute to both the art of the film, acting and stardom. Laurence Olivier was 68 at the time and Katharine Hepburn only ten days older,, and still they both shine and sparkle as predominantly as they ever did in the 40s. John Barry's music adds a soft dreamy touch of nostalgic beauty to it, and the play couldn't be better: an old lawyer finds an old lost love as a client on his hands, and although he remembers every minute of their affair 30 years earlier, she seems to have forgotten all about it. She is an actress and has been on top all her life, so she knows how to act. As Laurence fights with his tragical dilemma of not being able to make her remember, she puts on a splendid show of all her acting resources, and the conclusion will make you melt. George Cukor also triumphs in this one os his last films, and the 1910 settings recall all those glorious films of the 40s of nostalgic beauty looking back on the world before the first world war. This is a film never to tire of and never to forget.