![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjftLncYHh1xAYF5ykR6vhIrCCSAR23tzZstkhi6v7V0832nn9VRf7f4vii606XrSbyCBoiDIzX34CkF_0FXND7fXeheA8lzuaC35tTguQg1l2iJ7gQCdI0TFFPtgpRrYmVWt51fUClyNQ/s400/tumblr_kuvaokaAWE1qzdvhio1_500.png)
The sad story of
Days of Wine and Roses![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxdH3EGwkihFcWPAlM-DwqQUQ16QTEED1mhmExjSGO07AjJKA4Sgt4ZM8t27mxR_clCdm1rcfZgbLuSjFbGtxp9M-Kn-6hQ3VqtsiZaNffx1sz1qeSVC716clWqkorQwS-V6f2r-urdQEICfrZpSIqSK2BJrevX4B8gT35SeL6ncK5GrXedA=s0-d)
was an interesting choice for director
Blake Edwards and actor
Jack Lemmon, who were primarily known for slapstick. The film is based upon a successful 1958
Playhouse 90 television production. Set in San Francisco, it tells the story of a public relations man, Joe Clay (Lemmon), who falls in love with a secretary, Kirsten Arnesen (
Lee Remick). The courtship isn't smooth sailing: Arnesen is fairly independent-minded and her father is suspect of Clay and his profession. Clay, a heavy drinker, mostly due to having to spearhead many drunken parties for his firm's clients, introduces Kristen to alcohol. After having a daughter, Kristen slowly becomes an alcoholic, at one point, accidentally burning down their apartment with a cigarette match. Clay loses his job and the two move in with Kristen's father. The couple attempt sobriety but the spiral continues downward. Clay is committed to a sanitarium and attends Alcohol Anonymous meetings and eventually achieves sobriety. Kristen on the other hand, is hopeless, choosing addiction to sobriety.
Thanks to Lemmon's active performance (he always is such a lovable guy, even when he's difficult) and under the sensitive direction of Edwards,
Days of Wine and Roses![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxdH3EGwkihFcWPAlM-DwqQUQ16QTEED1mhmExjSGO07AjJKA4Sgt4ZM8t27mxR_clCdm1rcfZgbLuSjFbGtxp9M-Kn-6hQ3VqtsiZaNffx1sz1qeSVC716clWqkorQwS-V6f2r-urdQEICfrZpSIqSK2BJrevX4B8gT35SeL6ncK5GrXedA=s0-d)
is still a good watch today. Remick is also good as the sad Kirsten. Since 1962, films have become more sophisticated with portraying addiction and alcoholism--there's a lot of dramatic bottle swigging on display here--but the rawness and sensitivity of the film is undeniable. The lovely score by
Henry Mancini which primarily uses variations of
the Oscar-winning title song![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tas2t2lWzzxb1YqZ3XuT6MT7a8MINUbWR-fuDYGUJE49xFCrkIYrSnbsjxwIAwJAiAC3-AdtucWCWMcOIW9daMtBy9H40yG7VeHib2iN7VbQgUglUZUR8zxyI2hSAXAZhACLiy1I7ZwvFgsgyui9stOcmjSwDK-O4ONG4fMCqKdgeypWilyw=s0-d)
backs the breakdown of Clay and Kirsten's love affair effectively. Appropriate to the storyline, Mancini's melody rises and then falls, twice, and then resolves itself once it rises again. ***1/2
-Jeffery Berg
The title is from the
Ernest Dowson poem "Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam" from 1896 which is read by Remick in the film.
- They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
- Love and desire and hate;
- I think they have no portion in us after
- We pass the gate.
- They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
- Out of a misty dream
- Our path emerges for a while, then closes
- Within a dream.
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