Review of Oliver's Story

Oliver's Story is a film with an entertaining narrative, appealing pictures, and quiet music. Although it is an amusing experience, do not expect action. For it is better to have loafed and lost than not to have loafed at all. However, the story also contains food for thought, and these moments add extra value. For instance, although the story can be enjoyed as a stand-alone film, obviously it is an elaboration on Love Story. It is its sequel. The combination gives more depth to the Oliver character. Oliver's Story analyses the dawning love of a couple, just like Love Story. The Oliver in Love Story marries below his own social class. Jenny transforms into a slovenly housewife, who is married to a couch that burps. She is saved from this fate only by a premature death. On the other hand, the Oliver in the sequel falls in love with a successful career woman, Marcy. Whereas in Love Story his sport engagements with friends are meant to escape from the rut of his marriage, in Oliver's Story they serve to approach his beloved. Sweat is sexy on her. Nevertheless, the latter affair is doomed from the start. Oliver can not accept a partner, who is his equal in status. He wants to come first. When she says: "I need some space", he hears "without you in it". Whereas Oliver in Love Story is traumatized by the relation with his father, in the sequel he is depressed by the untimely death of Jenny. Again his past haunts him. Fruit flies like a banana, but time flies like an arrow. The consequences are similar: occasional emotional outbursts. Even the attempts of his psychiatrist do not improve his mood. Oliver's Story also elaborates on his profession. Whereas in Love Story he is a business lawyer, in the sequel he is dedicated to social lawsuits. He complains that ninety nine percent of the lawyers give him a bad name. Tensions arise because Marcy imports her textiles from Hong Kong, whereas Oliver wants to keep his old and noncompetitive Barrett weaving-mill in the USA. In case that you enjoy symbolism: a Jenny is a spinning machine. Evidently the character of Oliver is somewhat schizophrenic: charming, irritating, conservative, unbalanced, and ill-tempered. His ego is enormous. He may not be an island, but he is a pretty long peninsula. Still, both films are fascinating. They make you ponder, and that is the hallmark of quality.