While bicycling through the Spanish countryside, Walter, the aimless young son of a doctor, makes the acquaintance of proper, middle-aged, clumsy and secretive Lila. He falls in love with her, but she is resistant.
Acting
Maggie Smith's physical comedy of repression is absolute masterclass.
Cinematography
Spanish countryside so gorgeous you'll want to bike badly.
Direction
Pakula finds uneasy tenderness in what could be pure cringe.
Director
Alan J. Pakula
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Alan J. Pakula's only romantic comedy; he made it between The Parallax View and All the President's Men, which explains the creeping dread underneath.
The title comes from a Leonard Cohen lyric—yes, really—and the film captures that specific early-70s moment when studio romances could still be small, strange, and morally messy.
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