Days of Wine and Roses

Days of Wine and Roses; drama, USA, 1962; D: Blake Edwards, S: Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman, Alan Hewitt

San Francisco. Public relations executive Joe Clay "recruits" women for a private party at a yacht of a prince, and meets secretary Kirsten Arnesen, of Norwegian descent. At first, they quarrel, but later start a relationship and get married. However, Joe is an alcoholic, and soon gets Kirsten addicted to drinks, as well. They get a daughter, Debbie. Due to his alcoholism, Joe loses five jobs in four years, and they have to settle at a smaller apartment. Ultimately, they go to live with Kirsten's father Ellis, who employs Joe to work at his plant store. Joe loses his mind after again drinking, and is contacted by Jim to join Alcoholics Anonymous. Kristen separates from him and continues drinking. Joe becomes sober, but after a while, again falls into alcohol delirium, and is institutionalized. After that, he becomes sober again.

A rare drama film from comedy director Blake Edwards, "Days of Wine and Roses" is one of the better films tackling the topic of alcoholism, showing the difficult psychological contemplation on addiction, as well as the problem of people not realizing that something they like might be bad for them. The self-destructive path alcohol makes out of the couple, Joe and Kirsten, is a sobering viewing experience, dark and sharply bitter, though at times a bit exaggerated (the episode where a delirious Joe exits through the window during the rain, descends down the tree, makes a mess in the greenhouse until he finds a hidden liquor bottle, and is thus strapped in a straight-jacket in a mental asylum, seems so over-the-top that it is more suitable for hard drug addicts than ordinary alcoholics). The highlight are the two excellent actors, Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, giving amazing performances as the couple. 

The first half of the film has moments of humor: for instance, after they first met and quarreled, and she even slapped him, Joe makes a grimace and sticks his tongue out behind Kirsten's back as they are descending down in the elevator. Later, they still go out for a date, and as a waiter approaches their table, a drinking Joe tells him: "Hit me again", but then turns to Kirsten to clarify: "Not you!" Upon spraying their apartment with bug spray, Joe jokingly lisps: "Come on, cockroaches. Here we go. You're gonna go to cockroach heaven!" Several other lines he says are even a bit wise: "Well, anything worth having is worth suffering for, isn't it?" The second half of the film becomes very serious, even a bit too melodramatic, and not that compelling, as the storyline becomes a bit schematic and predictable. Nonetheless, it is much sharper than usual films from that era, daring to tackle some uncomfortable areas which were visionary for the 60s. In the end, there is no clear resolution: some problems are never resolved, and people need to learn how to live with them permanently. And it poses a daring question: can people realize they are destroying their own life and lives around them when they are so obsessed with something so dogmatically and fanatically that it becomes their only defining, and thus destructive essence?

Grade:+++