Carnal Knowledge (released in theaters on June 30, 1971), is a provocative and emotionally raw drama. The narrative spans several decades in the lives of two college roommates, Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel).
Beginning in the 1940s at Amherst College, the plot follows their contrasting approaches to women and intimacy.
Both men fall for the same woman, Susan (Candice Bergen), a relationship that sets the stage for a lifetime of competition and dissatisfaction.
While Sandy pursues a traditional path toward marriage and domestic stability, Jonathan becomes a serial womanizer, obsessed with a physical ideal that leaves him perpetually unfulfilled and increasingly bitter.
As the years pass into the 1960s and 70s, the film tracks their declining psychological states. Jonathan enters a volatile, destructive relationship with Bobbie (Ann-Margret), a vulnerable woman whose desire for marriage clashes with his deepening misogyny and fear of emotional connection.
Sandy, meanwhile, seeks a youthful escape from his mundane marriage through an affair with a younger woman, Jennifer (Carol Kane).
Directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jules Feiffer, the film utilizes sharp, stage-like dialogue to expose the emptiness of the “sexual revolution.”
The story culminates in a stark look at the men in middle age, featuring a notable appearance by Rita Moreno as Louise, as Jonathan finds himself trapped in a hollow ritual of self-delusion, unable to bridge the gap between his carnal desires and true human intimacy.
Jack Nicholson and Candie Bergen in Carnal Knowledge (Photo/Embassy Pictures)
Reception for Carnal Knowledge
Carnal Knowledge grossed $12.3 million at the box office.
Roger Ebert gave Carnal Knowledge four out of four stars in his review.
Legacy
Carnal Knowledge‘s legacy is defined by its unflinching honesty and its role in dismantling the romanticized myths of American masculinity.
Upon its release in 1971, the film was a lightning rod for controversy, even facing a landmark obscenity trial in Georgia that eventually reached the Supreme Court, where its status as art was upheld.
It is remembered for Nicholson’s powerhouse performance, which cemented his transition into the most formidable dramatic actor of his generation, and for Ann-Margret’s career-defining turn, which earned her an Academy Award nomination and reinvented her public image.
Nichols’ clinical, almost voyeuristic direction transformed the film into a seminal work of the “New Hollywood” era, influencing decades of character-driven dramas about the failure of the nuclear family and the complexities of gender dynamics.
It remains a stark, uncomfortable, and essential piece of cinema that continues to provoke discussion regarding its cynical yet piercing insights into the fragility of the male ego and the commodification of desire.
