"You have beautiful eyes," moans the married Frenchman to the unattached
American woman while the Parisian sun shines off the timeless Seine.
"You have beautiful eyes," groans the American woman to the married
Frenchman while they frolic through the streets of love's favorite city.
"You're beautiful when you're angry," he says, when she objects to his
two-timing.
"But I love you," she answers, her lips wet with anticipation.
This is just a sampling of this year's cinematic equivalent of the worst
romance novel ever written. From script to scenery, "Until September" is a
complete disaster.
Karen Allen portrays a horticulturist from St. Louis on a whirlwind
European trip. Unfortunately, for us, she misses her plane to Warsaw and is
stuck in Paris for a few, seemingly endless days. Fortunately, for her, she
runs into a Parisian banker (Thierry Lhermitte) who immediately wants to haul
her into the sack. She thinks that's disgraceful behavior on the part of a
married man. But, after a few glasses of burgundy and a book on fine wines,
she's more than ready to indulge in some of the most sexless sex scenes ever
portrayed on film.
Allen, off her spunky performance opposite Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the
Lost Ark," had re-established her reputation as a feisty actress. However, off
her dopey performance here, her stock has bottomed out. Ditto for Thierry
Lhermitte whose anonymity is destined to continue unabated.
Richard Marquand, who previously directed Donald Sutherland in "Eye of the
Needle" and the "Star Wars" gang in "Return of the Jedi," has his eye to the
ground in this one. The Paris locations look as if they were shot on a back lot
and the story is about as sophisticated as "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Paris."
You might as well wait until "Until September" plays on television opposite
a rerun of "Green Acres."
Copyright © 1984 Globe Newspaper Company