Film

Loving Couples

Name: Loving Couples
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 1980
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, James Coburn, Susan Sarandon, Stephen Collins, Sally Kellerman

Romantic comedy

A sophisticated romantic comedy about two successful doctors whose marriage has gone stale, triggering a cascade of affairs and reckonings. Shirley MacLaine and James Coburn anchor a witty exploration of desire, commitment and the gap between who we think we are and who we've become. It's urbane, funny, and genuinely concerned with its characters' emotional lives.

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The Four Seasons1981

Alan Alda and Rita Moreno lead an ensemble through three seasons of marriage, friendship and desire. Like Loving Couples, it treats adult relationships with intelligence and humour, refusing easy judgments about who's right.

But The tone wobbles between comedy and genuine sadness; some scenes land softer than others. It's also very much a 1981 film, which shows.

Starting Over1979

Burt Reynolds navigates divorce and new love with the same warm awkwardness MacLaine brings here. A tender comedy about rebuilding after things fall apart, with real character work beneath the laughs.

But The second half meanders a bit, and some of the humour depends on now-dated assumptions about gender. It can feel slight.

The Goodbye Girl1977

Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason's chemistry crackles in this story of two mismatched people learning to want each other. Witty, romantic, and genuinely moving about why love requires work.

But The pace is deliberately slow and conversational. If you want plot propulsion, you'll feel the drag.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

La Collectionneuse1967

Both treat infidelity not as melodrama but as a window into how desire, commitment and self-deception operate in affluent, articulate couples.

Rohmer's film about infidelity and desire on the French Riviera shares Loving Couples' fascination with how smart people rationalize their wants. It's erotic, witty and genuinely about ideas, not just plot.

But There is almost no conventional narrative drive. Long conversations about philosophy and feeling will feel indulgent or pointless if you're not in the right headspace.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore1974

Ellen Burstyn is magnificent as a widow rebuilding her life. Scorsese directs a romantic comedy that's also about autonomy and self-discovery, with real tenderness underneath the turbulence.

But It's darker and more unglamorous than Loving Couples. The tone is uneven—some scenes are brutally sad.

Breakfast at Tiffany's1961

Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard circle each other with intelligence and style. A meditation on emotional avoidance and the courage required to let someone in, wrapped in glamour and wit.

But The supporting racial caricature is appalling. The ending, though earned, feels conventional compared to what precedes it.

Moonstruck1987

Cher, Nicolas Cage and Danny Aiello in a comedy about marriage, passion and the possibility of second chances. Funny and romantic in equal measure, with real depth under the charm.

But It's broad in places, with sentimentality that could feel saccharine if you're not in the mood. Some of the supporting characters are cartoons.

Two for the Road1967

Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney's marriage unfolds non-linearly across a French holiday. Funny, sexy and unsparingly honest about how desire and resentment coexist in long relationships.

But The non-linear structure can feel gimmicky. It's also somewhat dated in its assumptions about gender roles, even as it questions them.

Kramer vs. Kramer1979

Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in a film that takes marriage dissolution seriously without abandoning warmth or humour. Devastating and smart in equal measure.

But It's more courtroom drama than comedy. Some viewers find it heavy-handed about blame and culpability.

Same Time, Next Year1978

Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn meet annually for a weekend over decades. A surprisingly moving film about how love and friendship sustain us, even when we can't live together.

But The episodic structure can feel repetitive. The sentiment occasionally overpowers the wit.

The War of the Roses1989

Both use comedy to explore how marriages curdle, but Roses interrogates whether love itself is a kind of trap, while Couples suggests we might still find our way through.

Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner's marriage implodes across decades in a darkly comic film that's genuinely frightening. It takes the same material—successful couple, erosion of love—and lets it become gothic.

But The tone is much darker and more misanthropic than Loving Couples. It can feel nasty rather than insightful about human nature.

Scenes from a Marriage2021

Both are sophisticated examinations of marriage by people who believe it matters. Scenes goes darker and deeper, but they share a conviction that marital life deserves art.

Bergman's six-episode miniseries follows Marianne and Johan through decades of marriage with extraordinary depth. It's funny, brutal and compassionate about how intimacy breeds both understanding and cruelty.

But It's Swedish, from the 1970s, and entirely serious about its emotional material. Some episodes are almost unbearably painful. It demands patience.