One of the great misconceptions about older cinema is that it was puritanical and void of any sensuality, rarely pushing the boundaries that we see in contemporary film. While it is true that we have grown a lot more comfortable with edgier content, this isn’t a recent development, and we can go back to the Pre-Code era in the 1930s to see some of the most scintillating content imaginable. In between these two eras was New Hollywood, which perhaps had some of the most provocative content, since many filmmakers were not given carte blanche to make films that reflected their vision, and the combination of a steady growth in liberal attitudes towards depictions of violence, sexuality and profanity, coupled with a changing socio-cultural landscape, meant that the late 1960s were a watershed moment for films that actively were skirting around the edges of controversy. Few embody this principle better than Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, in which director Paul Mazursky (one of the great social commentators of his generation) tells the story of two married couples who have grown weary of their loveless relationships, and start to question the boundaries of what marriage means to them, specifically in terms of sexual expression. One of the great entries into the New Hollywood movement, as well as a very early one (coming right at the start of this era, with only a few films predating it), this is a terrific film, a shocking but hilarious deconstruction of one of the most sacred of institutions, committed to film by a director who defined the concept of being ahead of his time, someone who frequently told stories that challenged conventions in strange but captivating ways. Elegant but provocative, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice goes in many different directions and refuses to be predictable, which is perhaps the most significant merit we can find in this film, which has many fascinating qualities that makes it nothing short of absolutely revolutionary in both style and story.

By the time we had reached the threshold of the 1970s, romance was a subject that had grown tired. The concept of meet-cutes and love at first sight had been explored to capacity, and there seemed to be very little left to say about traditional romance. Therefore, it only stands to reason that filmmakers like Mazursky would be interested in taking this subject and reconfiguring it into something more meaningful, at least in terms of the story we was weaving. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is one of the greatest deconstructions of the romantic comedy genre, since it simultaneously employs many of the most distinct narrative pillars, while slowly carving away at them, seeking the deeper meaning beneath them, in an effort to discover what makes a marriage successful, as well as a range of other questions. In a more traditional romance, where a happy ending is usually guaranteed and marriage is the ultimate goal, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice dares to be different, starting off with two happily married couples, a quartet of pleasant, congenial and painfully middle-class individuals that have been together for some time, and where the only real tension comes in the boredom they feel for one another, not the kind that results in existential ennui, but rather a blunt, almost pleasant, sense of dullness, one that feels somewhat comforting, since it implies very little work has to be done to maintain this relationship. Some see the idea of a marriage that has descended to the point of where doing the bare minimum is all that is required as being a sign of a loveless marriage, but for Mazursky, this is fertile ground to examine what it is that makes people fall in love, as well as the factors that cause them to go astray, the latter being the foundation of the film. It’s fascinating the extent to which the film deconstructs a genre as distinctly defined by a few notable quirks and cliches, especially in those moments where it seems to be approaching a much more complex message – but as we would expect from Mazursky, his intentions are rarely to give the audience all the answers, but rather utilize the tone and mood to tell us a captivating and darkly comical story of desire.

There was never a better time for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice than in the late 1960s – had it been conceived a few years earlier, it would have faced the brunt of the censors, and a few years later many of these themes would be considered commonplace and tired. This film finds the perfect moment to tell its story, especially with the pre-packaged sense of melancholy that comes when looking back at films produced in the final year of the Swinging Sixties, where the libertine, free-form style of existence was being eclipsed by Cold War paranoia and the sense of despair that comes with a society that is on the brink of collapse. None of this is explicitly shown in the film, but rather implied in small but creative ways, and where most of the story focuses on the profoundly odd and sexually-charged storyline. Even by contemporary standards, there is something offbeat about this film, with the director making exceptional use of this moral ambiguity that has held up remarkably well – ultimately, marriage is viewed as being just as sacred an institution as it was at the time in which this film was made, and while many tend to view the concept of open marriages as a relatively new concept, we find that becoming a centrepiece of this narrative, which is a very creative account of what is usually viewed as a sacrosanct concept. Importantly, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a film that retains a sense of elegance and nuance, not necessarily in spite of its provocative subject, but through the careful development of its primary ideas. It manages to be scintillating without becoming pornographic, and Mazursky’s style is one that shows just enough to make it clear what is happening (and perhaps slightly more, since he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to take advantage of the more liberal direction in which Hollywood was heading), and then using suggestion and implication to tell the rest. This allows the film to be classy and seductive in tandem, a rare but exceptional achievement.

As the title would suggest, the characters are the primary focus of this story, and while there is most certainly a sense of social commentary, it stays quite consistently on the individuals at the heart of the story, the purpose of which seemed to be the use of these characters and their relationship as a vague allegory for middle-class American life. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice knows that we have come to see this film to spend time with these characters, who are brought to life by a quartet of brilliant performers. The first couple are played by Robert Culp, at his most deceptively charming, and Natalie Wood, who is as doe-eyed as ever, but who manages to play a far more provocative character than she had previously. The other half of the film (and the one that most tend to agree is the most captivating) is populated by the exceptional Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon, who transition from sexually-repressed, stuffy couple to the catalyst for the final moments of this story, in which these characters surrender to their desire, albeit not in the way we may have expected. The performances here are excellent, and are the primary propellant for this film, and while it is important to note that none of these characters was bespoke to the actors portraying them (and you could easily see the likes of Warren Beatty or Goldie Hawn replacing Culp or Cannon, since they were clearly modelled after these archetypes), they still make them extremely unique, working hard to develop their individual roles, which is especially important considering the entire film centred on their performances, with very little else being done to establish tone or push the story in a particular direction. Mazursky has always been one of the most exceptional directors when it comes to his actors, so it should not be a surprise that Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is brilliantly performed, each member of this four-piece ensemble being excellent and bringing these challenging characters to life with wit and elegance, and understanding the precise qualities that make this film so extraordinarily captivating.

Simplicity is a virtue when it comes to art, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a perfect example of the fact that you can have a film that is nothing more than four individuals engaged in spirited conversation, punctuated by a few intriguing moments of abstraction, and have it be wildly entertaining and extremely thought-provoking, a quality that is not all that common, especially not when dealing with some of these broader concepts. Mazursky was a fascinating filmmaker capable of telling such intriguing, captivating stories, and this is absolutely some of his best work, the manner in which he develops these characters and their interpersonal relationships being masterful. I would perhaps not call this his very best film (especially not when he would make the definitive text on the deconstruction of romance less than a decade later in the form of An Unmarried Woman), but it is most certainly one of his more intriguing experiments, and a defining work of New Hollywood storytelling. The comedy interweaves with a sense of melancholy, proving that this film is unexpectedly complex when it comes to its emotions, and where it uses this sense of ambiguity to great effect, culminating in a final moment that is slightly surreal, but deeply moving, and which ties together all the major narrative components of this film. Bitingly funny, extremely heartfelt and deeply human, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a wonderful film that doesn’t mind going for the jugular when it is necessary, since it is secure in the knowledge that it is telling a vital story that is both challenging and intriguing, which is always a great quality for any film to have, especially once that had stood the test of time, being as daring and challenging today as it was when it first shocked and delighted audiences more than half a century ago.