From the Collection: Carnal Knowledge
Mike Nichols’ 1971 drama Carnal Knowledge has been added to the Criterion Collection.
Amid the sexual revolution and social upheaval of the early 1970s, acclaimed director Mike Nichols delivered a zeitgeist-defining examination of American mores. Sharply written by Jules Feiffer, this acerbic drama flashes through more than twenty years in the lives of two college buddies (Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel) whose casual chauvinism is all fun and games—until it’s not. As the women who suffer and see through the friends’ insecure posturing, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, Rita Moreno, Carol Kane, and Cynthia O’Neal form an extraordinary ensemble that gives the film its soul. So controversial that it became embroiled in an obscenity case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Carnal Knowledge remains startling for its unnervingly frank look at postwar masculinity.
Here’s What the Disc Includes:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute
- New program with Mike Nichols biographer Mark Harris and film critic Dana Stevens
- New interview with film-editing historian Bobbie O’Steen
- Conversation from 2011 between Nichols and filmmaker Jason Reitman
- Q&A with screenwriter Jules Feiffer
- Radio spot and trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New cover by Catarina Sampaio
- PLUS: An essay by scholar Moira Weigel and a 1971 piece from American Cinematographer about the look of the film
Mike Nichols and Jack Nicholson were two major players in the rise of New Hollywood in the late 60s and 70s. Nichols burst onto the scene in the late 60s, directing films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate, for which he won a Best Director Oscar, and immediately cemented himself as one of the premier directors in Hollywood. Nicholson started getting small acting roles as early as the mid-1950s, but it was his performance in 1969’s Easy Rider that started his trajectory as one of the biggest and best actors in the world, culminating in a decade that saw him receive five Oscar nominations, including one win for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Yet despite their importance and success during the New Hollywood era and how famous they were, Carnal Knowledge, the first of their two collaborations together (the other being 1975’s The Fortune), seems to have gotten overshadowed by their other films during that time, despite being as good.
Carnal Knowledge is an outstanding film. It’s complicated, raw, and at times tough to watch, but is ultimately a masterclass in writing and acting. Nicholson gives one of his most brutal performances, playing a real son-of-a-bitch who thinks he has life and women figured out, only for him to become an empty shell void of any emotion. Nicholson is joined by a stellar supporting cast, including an inspired Art Garfunkel, and heartbreaking turns by Candace Bergen and Ann-Margret. I was gripped by the razor-sharp dialogue from Jules Feiffer, Nichols’ assured direction, and the powerful and resonant themes. Carnal Knowledge is two masters coming together at the peak of their powers, and the result is stunning.
You can find Carnal Knowledge on the Criterion Collection website or wherever you find Criterion DVDs.
More From the Collection
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How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
From the Collection is an analysis of non-new-release movies, whether seen on DVD, streaming, or in a theater. It includes a brief history of the film, a review of the film, and content about the experience of seeing the film and/or the contents of the film’s DVD.
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