Blume in Love (1973)

Taglines: A love story for guys who cheat on their wives.

Blume in Love movie storyline. In the Los Angeles of yoga, therapy, and well-off liberals, a divorcé decides that his ex-wife is the love of his life in Paul Mazursky’s romantic comedy. Beverly Hills divorce lawyer Stephen Blume (George Segal) becomes his own client when his social worker wife Nina (Susan Anspach) throws him out for sleeping with his secretary. Only then does Blume realize that he can’t live without Nina, even though she seems fine without him, and he has a new sex partner in divorcée Arlene (Marsha Mason).

So what does he do to win Nina back? Befriend her laid-back musician beau, Elmo (Kris Kristofferson), show up at her house with breakfast bagels, eavesdrop on her therapy sessions, and forcibly impregnate her, of course. Banished to their former honeymoon site in Venice, Italy while Nina thinks things over, Blume reflects on his past and his obsession, as he dreamily hopes for the best. Cutting between Blume’s musings on love and loss in Venice’s Piazza San Marco and the events in L.A. that brought him there, Mazursky humorously yet sharply dissects the complications of marriage in the let-it-all-hang-out Me Decade of the 1970s.

Blume and Nina face the same dilemma as the couples in Mazursky’s 1969 hit Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice: how to mesh traditional vows with the new freedom and its temptations. In this case, it takes a divorce to convince the solipsistic Blume that the woman he wants most is his own wife. Considered by some critics one of the decade’s best interrogations of contemporary coupledom, Blume in Love astutely captured the absurdity of Blume’s self-involved romantic quest, while slyly celebrating the operatic spirit of love that drives him.

Blume in Love is a 1973 American romantic comedy drama film written, produced and directed by Paul Mazursky. It stars George Segal in the titular role, alongside Susan Anspach, Kris Kristofferson, Marsha Mason. Shelley Winters, Paul Mazursky, Erin O’Reilly, Annazette Chase, Shelley Morrison, Mary Jackson, Jo Morrow, Gigi Ballista and Ian Linhart. Others in the cast include Mazursky, Marsha Mason and Shelley Winters.

About the Story

Wandering alone around St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, where they first honeymooned, Stephen Blume wonders what possessed him to be unfaithful to his ex-wife Nina, a woman he continues to love in spite of himself. Through a series of extended flashbacks, he reflects on the aftermath of their breakup and divorce.

Blume, a successful Beverly Hills divorce lawyer, had been caught by Nina while sleeping with his secretary at the home that he and Nina had shared. Nina promptly leaves him and, though Blume begins to date actively, he is unsatisfied and grows wistful of his married life. Meanwhile, Nina, a social worker, sets about a journey of self-discovery, trying out new experiences like yoga and taking up with a man 12 years her junior, Elmo, a free-spirited unemployed musician.

Nevertheless, after their divorce, Blume discovers how much he loved Nina and he goes to great, sometimes humiliating, mostly futile lengths to win her back, complicated by the fact that he finds Elmo to be quite a nice guy. Though Nina remains rightfully skeptical of his motivations, Blume befriends the easygoing Elmo and the three form an unlikely if precarious friend group.

One night Blume comes to Nina’s house, ostensibly to see Elmo, but he isn’t home. He and Nina begin talking, and Blume tells her he still loves her and wants her. She tells him to leave, but he forces himself on her. Elmo walks in on them and Nina tells Elmo that Blume raped her. Blume admits this and Elmo hits him, ending their friendship.

Some time later Elmo comes to Blume’s office to let him know that Nina is pregnant with Blume’s baby. Elmo also tells Blume that he is leaving town because “it’s time to go.” Blume goes to Nina and says he wants to help support the child, but she is hesitant. They stay in communication and eventually Nina tells Blume she wants him to leave town for two weeks so she can decide what she wants.

Directed by: Paul Mazursky
Starring: George Segal, Susan Anspach, Kris Kristofferson, Marsha Mason. Shelley Winters, Paul Mazursky, Erin O’Reilly, Annazette Chase, Shelley Morrison, Mary Jackson, Jo Morrow, Gigi Ballista, Ian Linhart
Screenplay by: Paul Mazursky
Production Design by: Pato Guzman
Cinematography by: Bruce Surtees
Film Editing by: Donn Cambern
Costume Design by: Joel Schumacher
Set Decoration by: Audrey A. Blasdel
Music by: Bill Conti
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 17, 1973