The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Enemies, a Love Story
Comedy · Drama · Romance · 1989
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Movie details
Enemies, a Love Story
“The war was over. But can there ever be peace for a man with three wives?”
1989 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 59m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.5 / 10
2.6K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
89 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Enemies, a Love Story?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Elder Son
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Paul Mazursky
Written by
Roger L. Simon · Paul Mazursky
Ron Silver
Herman Broder
Anjelica Huston
Tamara Broder
Lena Olin
Masha
Małgorzata Zajączkowska
Yadwiga
Alan King
Rabbi Lembeck
Judith Malina
Masha's Mother
Rita Karin
Mrs. Schreier
Court is in session
Put Enemies, a Love Story on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.