Liv Ullman, lovely in a series of chic early-'70s outfits, is not quite right for the cougar part played memorably onstage by Julie Harris (and Lauren Bacall on tour). She never relaxes, she doesn't look like she's having fun, and the chemistry between her and Edward Albert, as the 22- year-old she falls into bed with, is hardly overwhelming. The miscasting doesn't end there, with Gene Kelly rather creepy as the weak but loving ex-husband who sets things right for the mismatched couple; not for the first time, he seems more in love with himself than anyone around him, and it's embarrassing to watch his character try and pass himself off as 40. Some good character actors hang around and do what they can to make the stage machinery work-- Binnie Barnes, Don Porter, Nancy Walker--and there's some picturesque Greek location filming, and a pretty Michel Legrand theme. But the stage-rhythm dialog doesn't resonate, the outcome's never in doubt, and Liv looks like she'd be much happier being miserable in an Ingmar Bergman opus.

Thought provoking, eye-brow raising and VERY funny in all the right places! Long before Demi Moore walked out hand-in-hand, in Public, with Ashton Kutcher, this film went "public" with the possibility that a younger man, (who was strong, handsome and had both his own business and LOT of money already in his pocket!), could find an older woman, (who wasn't broken down or bitter about life!), attractive, desirable and worth "fighting for"! The romance between Peter Latham and Ann Stanley, (played with sensitivity and subtle humor by both Edward Albert, Jr., and Liv Ullman respectively), begins one dusky night in Greece and culminates after he accidentally finds her again in New York.Ann had originally gone to Greece for a bit of a "final fling" before she felt "compelled by societal convention" to settle into "matron-hood", (that time in life after having been a Wife and Mother, and now, with her marriage over, and her daughter grown; she was no longer "on the market" as it were for any of the "usual" things that most men supposedly wanted out of a woman... So, she'd just "concentrate" on running her own Interior Design business and "forget" about "Love" ever coming into her life again...) However, Peter's feelings were a bit bruised when he woke up the next morning after their romantic tryst, alone and went looking for Ann, thinking that he and she had just begun a wonderful relationship.Realizing that he'd been (essentially), sexually "used" by Ann, he chalked the night up to a "wonderful fling" that he'd just have to "get over".The real mayhem begins (again!), when Ann's daughter comes home one evening and announces that she's got a date with a friend of a friend.... And, yes... The man who shows up to go on the blind date with Ann's daughter is the man that Mom already got to "know"! Peter! Subtext and double entendres play out in a scene that is both hilarious, squirm-worthy and exciting all at the same time when Peter wants to know why Ann behaved "so cowardly" in regards to the way she left him in Greece.Peter wants to know why Ann would be so Puritanically inclined now that she's back in the "real world", and sets out to win her love all over again!Liv Ullman, (formerly directed by the legendary Ingmar Bergman!), is a most unlikely "cougar", and Edward Albert, Jr. a most decidedly un-cub-like "cub" in this priceless gem of a film.Everyone is of legal age, which only begs the question, "Was society ever so truly closed-minded?" The answer, sadly is, they still are! The only real problem with the film, here, is that it's NOT readily available anywhere!

I first saw this movie when I was in high school in the 70's. I love old movies and have an extensive DVD library. This movie takes me back to high school memories. I took a movie class in high school and this was the first movie I ever saw with this actress. I collect all kinds of movies and this one will soon be in my collection. This is my first writing of any comment on movies that I have seen or would like to see. I saw an article in a book about Liv Ullman and got to thinking of movies I have seen her in in the past. 40 carats was one of them. I just wanted to say thanks for the opportunity to let me write to you and tell you this.

This a breezy comedy based on a hit Broadway play and one of the few worthwhile comic tales depicting the relationship between a younger man and an older woman. While on holidays, visiting Greece, a divorced real estate agent encounters by chance a vital young man, and they have a brief romantic interlude.She leaves him while he is sleeping and escapes back to New York. Regaining the cherrished stability she has conquered as a lady executive, she settles down on her lovely apartment where she lives with her daughter and her mother. Until - very much in the fashion of every Broadway farce there is - they receive an unexpected visitor. Peter Latham, the man our main character had an affair with while in Greece. But now, he is introduced as a friend of her daughter's.After constant bickering, they decide to get married, but will their relationship last?'40 Carats' is a light, entertaining and cheerful movie, filled with beautiful, rich people whose vain problems serve as the basis for an plot. The characters have social status written all over their foreheads and their reaction to the plot's major complications are clever one-liners encouraged by greek drinks and the prospect of a happy, happy ending. The film does not attempt to be deep, for it's subject is a rather delicate one - the producers were aiming for time-filling entertainment and they really did it. But this film suffers mostly from the miscasting of Liv Ullmann, Ingmar Bergman's norwegian muse. No matter how versatile the wonderful Ms. Ullmann can be, she is a rather indelible case of typecasting - used to play such profound characters whose heartaches and emotional flaws we can relate to, she seems uncomfortable portraying a futile woman whose psyche isn't that complex, after all. The one scene in which her character really makes the transition between a woman caught in a whirlwind of happenings and a woman whose pain is overwhelmingly intense, nevertheless, is a cinematic gem. In this scene she confronts her future in laws.Another highlight of the film is Michel Legrand's beautiful soundtrack that includes the love theme 'In Every Corner Of The World', and Gene Kelly's performance as Liv Ullmann's annoying first husband.All in all, this is a movie whose delicate subject provokes a barrier that keeps it from being a great film, but is, nevertheless, sheer cinematic delight.