"The Art of Love" is a good comedy and not so subtle satire, with a slightly dark side. It has a cast of top stars of the day. James Garner plays Casey Barnett, Dick Van Dyke is Paul Sloane, Angie Dickinson is Laurie Gibson and Elke Sommer is Nikki Dunnay. Among a very good supporting cast are Ethel Merman as Madame Coco La Fontaine, Carl Reiner as Rodin, and Miko Taka as Chou Chou.
The time is the md-1960s, and Barnett and Sloane are expatriate American artists living in Paris. Sloane is serious about panting, and is a good painter but has only been able to sell an occasional piece. Barnett is a writer who hasn't been able to sell a book. But he's more interested anyway in the night life and ladies than in writing. The two bachelors share a flat, which is paid for by an allowance that Sloane receives from his family back home.
Sloane decides to chuck it in and go back home, where his fiancé is waiting for him. That means Barnett will lose his only means of support. But then, something happens that changes everything and turns their world into a hilarious, somewhat dark and even illegal existence.
After Sloane jumps in the Seine to save Nikki whom he thought had jumped in to commit suicide, he is presumed dead himself. Barnett then starts to sell his paintings which, in the art world of the film were valuable now that the artist was dead. When Sloane turns up alive, Barnett convinces him to stay in hiding so they can reap the profits. He hides out at Madame Fontaine's house of women entertainers. When fiancé Laurie comes to Paris looking for Paul, Barnett meets her and gives her the sad news.
When Sloane finds out that Barnett has swept his fiancé off her feet, he plans to get even. So, he arranges details to make it appear that Barnett may have bumped him off. It works so well that Barnett is about to be guillotined. Only Sloane can save him, but will he be in time before the blade falls?
The darkness in this comedy is obvious. Director Norman Jewison said later that he regretted the implication of the film that an artist's works would be worth more when he was dead than alive. Yet that is the very core around which the humorous and tangled plot develops.
The humor here is mostly in the situations, which are a hoot at times. There are some antics, but mostly it's clever directing and shooting with a screenplay that creates the funny situations. It's not a comedy of dialog. And, while entertaining for many, it's not a family film or even one for impressionable teens.
The time is the md-1960s, and Barnett and Sloane are expatriate American artists living in Paris. Sloane is serious about panting, and is a good painter but has only been able to sell an occasional piece. Barnett is a writer who hasn't been able to sell a book. But he's more interested anyway in the night life and ladies than in writing. The two bachelors share a flat, which is paid for by an allowance that Sloane receives from his family back home.
Sloane decides to chuck it in and go back home, where his fiancé is waiting for him. That means Barnett will lose his only means of support. But then, something happens that changes everything and turns their world into a hilarious, somewhat dark and even illegal existence.
After Sloane jumps in the Seine to save Nikki whom he thought had jumped in to commit suicide, he is presumed dead himself. Barnett then starts to sell his paintings which, in the art world of the film were valuable now that the artist was dead. When Sloane turns up alive, Barnett convinces him to stay in hiding so they can reap the profits. He hides out at Madame Fontaine's house of women entertainers. When fiancé Laurie comes to Paris looking for Paul, Barnett meets her and gives her the sad news.
When Sloane finds out that Barnett has swept his fiancé off her feet, he plans to get even. So, he arranges details to make it appear that Barnett may have bumped him off. It works so well that Barnett is about to be guillotined. Only Sloane can save him, but will he be in time before the blade falls?
The darkness in this comedy is obvious. Director Norman Jewison said later that he regretted the implication of the film that an artist's works would be worth more when he was dead than alive. Yet that is the very core around which the humorous and tangled plot develops.
The humor here is mostly in the situations, which are a hoot at times. There are some antics, but mostly it's clever directing and shooting with a screenplay that creates the funny situations. It's not a comedy of dialog. And, while entertaining for many, it's not a family film or even one for impressionable teens.