Jay Dwivedi

Since I fell in love with Natalie Wood after watching The West Side Story and I love retro movies, I decided to watch it more than 40 years after it was released.  What impressed me was that some things never seem to change.  The issues that two couples Natalie Wood and Robert Culp playing Bob & Carol Sanders, and Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon playing Ted & Alice Henderson were struggling with in the 60s are still the same: the lack of honesty among couples and the society at large, the hangups that we all have (I wonder why we are so cold to each other or why we do not really make extended eye contact — along the lines suggested by Steve Martin in the movie Baby Mama — and why we turn into individuals we are not in order to just get along), the desire to do things that we really want to do but cannot because of how we will be judged by our spouses and society.

Having said that polyamorous people are far more outspoken about their choices though swinging is not for all couples, as the movie concludes.  In fact, as the movie seems to show that despite a desire to be truly honest and open with each other, most people are unable to handle the truth and get totally freaked out when they realize that their place in bed can be taken by another person.  I must conclude, therefore, that couples who manage to remain married their whole life while following a swapping/open relationships do trust their spouses and respect their individualities.

I am sure that if you are closed minded and conservative, this movie will offend you, but if you are open minded and willing to watch a very insightful movie about friendships and marriages, it has a lot of food for thought.