I just saw this movie last week on Turner Classic Movies. I just stumbled upon it and though it was a slow starter, I was delighted I stayed with it. Timothy Bottoms seemed so very young and Maggie Smith was such a realistic, but lively spinster, that it wasn't too far into the movie before you knew that something exciting was going to happen between these two. I almost didn't watch after seeing the title, but after watching it to the very end, the title does seem to fit. If you ever have a chance to see this movie on TCM, and you are somewhat a romantic, or have ever dreamed or have fallen in love on a vacation, please watch this movie.

And just as funny, with two wildly eccentric characters finding comfort in each other through an improbable but funny series of circumstances which bind them together during a tour of Spain. They're the least organized of all the tourists, eventually getting away from the tour group to do some exploring on their own.And they're not the only eccentrics in the story. There's a wonderful scene where MAGGIE SMITH gets advances from a man who fancies himself a bird whistler and whose idea of a courtship is to present himself at her hotel room with his favorite bird on his shoulder. "I like fish," she tells him after a wacky scene where she has to put up all of her resistance against his pursuit of romance. Another funny sequence has a titled nobleman living in a castle making the same sort of attempt to lure Smith into a romantic liaison.But the film really belongs to the bewildering relationship between the repressed Maggie (who reveals later that she has a fatal illness), and the young man from a wealthy family of over-achievers who just wants to get away from family control over his destiny. He finds a kindred spirit in Smith but admits to her that she can be "a pain in the ass" at times. Both find themselves in a lot of foolish situations.All of it is done with expert timing from both leads who turn in finely nuanced performances amid some hysterically funny scenes that will have you gasping for breath at the absurdity of it all.Unfortunately, the script flounders badly toward the end and overall the story loses the satisfaction of some of the earlier moments in telling an unusual tale of a May/September romance. It could have used a bit more editing before release and never became a huge hit with the public.The color photography in Verona and Madrid is gorgeous, and the story benefits from a sense of humor that never lets up as we follow their misadventures across the Spanish landscape in rain and shine. All of the supporting performances are first rate.

This is a delightful film of coming of age, and coming to life. The one, a young man, suffocated by his blue-blood family, finds himself in the eyes of an older woman. And she, a not-quite-middle-aged spinster suffocated by her roles in life, is yearning for something to live for as she faces a final illness. He falls in love with her unaffected realism; and she with his boyish enthusiasm and unashamed wonder at the world. Together they struggle with what they see as a lack of tolerable options for such an odd couple; while learning more and more to depend on each other for much more than friendship. Together they discover Europe, and life, and each other, and themselves ... and bring us all a little more to life when they do.

This heart-tugging April-August romance cannot be equaled for the lush Spanish scenery, excellent photography, haunting music, and courageous humor. A young Timothy Bottoms was fresh from his excellent performance in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, and Maggie Smith was in fine form portraying a spinster whose rose had lost its bloom. Her role is an excellent example of how a skilled, attractive actress enters a more mature, "seasoned" stage of her career. Both characters are slight misfits, fishes out of water on a cut-rate bus tour in the Spanish back-country who begin as antagonists but gradually draw closer. This is a tried formula, but in expert hands. It is a mystery why LOVE AND PAIN has never been marketed in any video format, or posted more prominently on the resume of either of its stars.