In Praise of Older Women

To be very honest, I can't really disagree with some of the negative reviews out there concerning this film. But every once in a while, some movie appeals to you and deep down you know that it's really not that good. As for this one, I've seen it a few times and I always enjoy it.

The film basically covers all of Berenger's sexual adventures with women who are somewhat older than he is. While he seems to fall deeply in love with them, these relationships don't seem to work out for him.

I really don't know what point this film is trying to make. Berenger's first real intimate relationship with Karen Black ends when he's unfaithful to her, his next one when he goes to Canada to escape turmoil in his country and leaves his rebel woman behind, the third woman is simply frigid and dumps him after he finally gets her off and finally he can't make it work with Helen Shaver.

I simply enjoy the movie. Tom Berenger is my favorite actor and he's very appealing here, as always. On the whole, this film is well acted, Karen Black very good especially. The movie looks good enough, with convincing settings, but I think it was produced on a relatively low budget. It's fairly dramatic at times, especially when he has to leave one girlfriend behind in war ridden Hungary.

This movie ain't spectacular or anything, but I like it.

One quibble; what's with that poster. Seems like a porno flick, definitely not the cover for this film.

Tom Berenger plays a young Hungarian having flings with older women.

Pretty much a soft soft soft core porn flick. Really, boy meets girl, boy seduces girl, girl sleeps with boy.

Why are the women such sluts in this film? They will have sex at any opportunity given. Not once does Tom Berenger get turned down for sex. It is quite a boring film but it seems ever 2 minutes Tom Berenger has a new bed buddy. So it ain't that bad. But if you're looking for entertainment, this film aint for you.

My rating.. 1/5.

'In Praise of Older Women' is one of those films I first saw on late night tv in the 90's as a teen and I cannot lie. It was definitely strong sexual themes, content that caught my eye. I've never forgotten it, but only by chance do I revisit and find myself appreciating it for other elements now. Largely because it's plot headlined by Tom Berenger goes for gravitas in matters of love and fails spectacularly.

András Vayda (Berenger) a young boy in war torn 1940's Hungary loses his father and is raised solely by his mother. An able go between for American GI's, black market supplies grants him his first taste of female pleasure. Now older he finds young women his age difficult and his search for love, sex turns to the mature set. As his country, world changes before him so does he and it's one romance after another, lessons in heartbreak and moving on.

Watching this now, I was surprised at what we young men used to find arousing. We've come a long way with nudity in cinema and what's on display is relatively tame and in much shorter bursts than I recalled. Though I'm not sure what light to view the young boy's encounter with a prostitute under anymore. Erotic? Fantasy? Distasteful?

When that wasn't occupying my mind it was me trying to keep a straight face. Buying into Tom as an awkward young man (he was nearly thirty here) and a bit when he reveals contemplating suicide if he didn't get the nerve to ask Maya (Karen Black) to have sex. Then later on offering a woman a ceramic ashtray as a gesture of love. What?

My younger self enjoyed the sex, appreciation for older women even if I couldn't grasp the cinematic badness going on, historical elements. The mature me can see 'In Praise of Older Women' is not a great film and bungles many of it's ideas, theme, but still retains an interesting notion or two.

"In Praise of Older Women" is relatively true to the excellent psychological/philosophical novel it is based on. However, the problem is that all its intellectual elements (such as its theories about the reasoning behind promiscuity) are removed in the adaptation. The result is a soft porn movie which is unintentionally hilarious due to awkwardness and bad acting. Andras, the skirt-chasing protagonist, is presented as a dip who throws a temper tantrum when one of his lovers leaves him and delivers lines like "Give us the grand tour, pops." or "This exquisite antique ashtray could be yours if you promise to become my lover." as awkwardly as if he actually knew how lame he sounded (which Tom Berenger, who played him, probably did). A bad acting award should also go to the girl who played Andras´s first teenage girlfriend. She delivers her lines as if the characters she talked to were puppies or newborn babies but then, as my friend pointed out, she actually does act like a stupid flirty girl in her early teens who does not know what she wants in a boyfriend. The actresses who play Andras´s more adult girlfriends admittedly do a better job but still, they mostly play along with the soft porn cliche of upper class semi-intellectuals who treat sex as if it was art collecting or jogging. What do they see in a dork like Andras at their age anyway ? Also, what´s the deal with some of the Hungarian characters having Hungarian accents and the other Magyars having AMERICAN accents ? Nevertheless, I must reemphasize that this movie is fun. It made me laugh more than most typical "comedies" and some of the dramatic scenes, such as the one where Andras must flee Hungary , actually do work dramatically. The sex scenes, while pretty mild by today´s standards, look relatively realistic. The insights into Hungarian culture are interesting too. Nevertheless, trash is trash and I love it !

Well, this film was made to fill a niche that no longer exists. Like the old B-movies sort of went away when that area fell to television, this film was soft-core before cable channels filled that niche. And, it does so better, having B-list actresses, rather than D-list and former porn actresses. Most of the actresses did really solid work, especially Karen Black, Marilyn Lightstone, and Helen Shaver. Tom Berenger was awkward to the point of being painful to watch, but I doubt that it is due to bad acting. That is almost certainly the director's vision. The dialogue was also painfully awkward, but that only makes sense. The background of the 1956 Hungarian uprising made for some interest as well. The film is intended to be sexy, so consider that when deciding to view this one.