Film

Making Love

Name: Making Love
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 1982
Cast: Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin, Wendy Hiller, Arthur Hill

A groundbreaking 1982 drama about a seemingly perfect Los Angeles marriage that fractures when the husband admits his attraction to men. It's intimate and unflinching, treating infidelity and identity with equal weight rather than reducing either to villainy. A film that still feels urgent for its refusal to let anyone off easy.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a grown-up romance that takes its time with a marriage coming apart in careful, well-observed scenes, and you don't mind a film from 1982 that treats its emotional fallout seriously.

Skip it if the tone can feel earnest and talky, and if you want a sharp, fast-moving take on the subject, its pace and sentiment may frustrate you.

What it asks of you: Settle in for just under two hours of unhurried scenes, where most of the weight sits in quiet conversations and faces rather than in plot turns.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Brokeback Mountain2005

Two men navigate a profound connection across decades while trapped in different lives. Like Making Love, it refuses sentiment, asking hard questions about what love requires and what we're willing to sacrifice.

But The emotional toll is heavy. Some viewers find the pacing slow, and the tragedy can feel inevitable rather than surprising.

Kramer vs. Kramer1979

Another portrait of a marriage rupturing and the collateral damage to everyone involved. It has the same 1980s restraint and complexity, examining how people hurt each other while trying to do right.

But Dated gender politics in places. The focus on the father's experience rather than the mother's will frustrate some viewers.

The Hours2002

Three women across different eras grapple with identity, desire, and the gap between the life you're living and the one you want. Like Making Love, it treats these crises as profound rather than scandalous.

But Very interior and literary. If you need plot momentum or answers rather than reflection, the pacing will feel glacial.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Making Love

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Desert Hearts1985

Both are 1980s dramas about same-sex desire destroying heterosexual marriages, but Desert Hearts frames queerness as liberation rather than tragedy. They're mirror images asking the same question from opposite angles.

A lesbian romance that emerges from repression and small-town confinement in 1950s Nevada. It's Making Love's spiritual twin—built on the same collision between desire and the life you were supposed to want—but approaches it with brightness instead of anguish.

But The explicit sexual scenes were controversial and still might feel gratuitous depending on your tolerance. The resolution is more hopeful than some viewers will find believable.

A Single Man2009

A widower navigates grief and invisibility in a homophobic era. It's visually gorgeous and emotionally precise, capturing the specific loneliness of hiding yourself in plain sight.

But The protagonist is a bit remote and hard to warm to. Some scenes feel more like fashion photography than human drama.

Ordinary People1980

A family implodes after tragedy, each member locked in their own grief. It's the closest thing to Making Love in tone: observant, unsentimental, and attentive to how people fail each other.

But Can feel like a lecture on dysfunction. The therapy scenes in particular haven't aged well and feel heavy-handed now.

Terms of Endearment1983

A three-decade portrait of women's friendships and the messy, unglamorous reality of relationships. It has Making Love's willingness to show people being selfish and small.

But Wildly uneven in tone—shifts from comedy to cancer drama without graceful transitions. The ending in particular feels manipulative.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore1974

After her husband's death, a widow rebuilds her life on her own terms. Scorsese's direction is tender rather than flashy, and Ellen Burstyn gives a performance of raw vulnerability.

But The second half loses some focus. The romance subplot doesn't quite earn the weight the film gives it.

Heartburn1986

Meryl Streep shines in this acidic look at infidelity and the wreckage of betrayed trust. It's funny and angry in ways Making Love isn't, but shares its refusal to frame the betrayed spouse as a saint.

But The humor sometimes undercuts the pain. It feels scattered, never quite sure if it's a comedy or a drama.

The Goodbye Girl1977

Two people thrown together after romantic disaster learn to be honest with each other. It's lighter than Making Love but has the same interest in how people communicate when walls come down.

But The tone is aggressively charming in places. If you want something grittier, the romantic comedy beats will feel saccharine.

Scenes from a Marriage2021

Both are unflinching studies of marriages that look perfect from outside but are rotting from within. Scenes from a Marriage is heterosexual and European where Making Love is about hidden queerness in LA, but they share the same moral seriousness about the violence of deception.

Bergman's miniseries is a surgical dissection of a marriage over decades: infidelity, resentment, the slow poisoning of intimacy. Each scene strips another layer away. It's closer to reality than most films dare.

But It's bleak and cold. Bergman offers no comfort and makes no argument for hope. Some people find it punishing rather than enlightening.

The Christine Jorgensen Story1970

Both are films about gender and desire that refuse to let heterosexuality off as the default. Making Love looks at a man discovering queerness from within a straight marriage; this earlier film is about a woman choosing visibility over passing. They're asking: what does honesty cost?

A trans woman navigates her transition and her visibility in a hostile culture. It's early and awkward in places, but it's sincere and treats Jorgensen as a full person rather than a spectacle.

But The film is a product of its era and doesn't always handle trans identity with the care it deserves. Some scenes feel patronizing now, and the editing is choppy.