Carnal Knowledge (Criterion Collection) [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray]

Director: Mike Nichols Mike Nichols

Overview

"Maybe you're not supposed to like it with someone you love." With a script by satirist and cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Mike Nichols's Carnal Knowledge (1971) ruthlessly exposed the damage wrought by pre-1960s sexual mores. From their post-World War II college years at Amherst through the Vietnam era, buddies Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel) are a catalogue of male sexual dysfunction. Sensitive Sandy falls in love with and marries college sweetheart Susan (Candice Bergen) only to wonder years later if he missed out on finding the perfect sex/love partner. Jonathan lives for aggressive sexual conquest (starting with Sandy's Susan in college), even as he rails against female "ballbusters," finally guilt-marrying his tiredly voluptuous mistress Bobbie (Ann-Margret, in an Oscar-nominated performance) after she tries to kill herself. By the late '60s, Sandy has moved on to a hippie chick girlfriend (Carol Kane) who can raise his consciousness about the sexual revolution, and Jonathan is single again, but Sandy is a little too old for the peace-and-love generation, and Jonathan bitterly faces emasculating impotence.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/22/2025
UPC:	0715515316019
Original Release:	1971
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Format:	Blu-ray

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Nicholson	Jonathan
Art Garfunkel	Sandy
Candice Bergen	Susan
Ann-Margret	Bobbie
Carol Kane	Jennifer
Rita Moreno	Louise
Cynthia O'Neal	Cindy

Technical Credits

Jules Feiffer

Mike Nichols	Director,Producer
Jules Feiffer	Screenwriter
Joseph E. Levine	Executive Producer,Producer
Clive Reed	Producer