This Can't Be Love

1994 1h 35m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 8

DramaComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Two aging actors, who had a brief but intense marriage in the 1940s, are reunited decades later to find that issues between them are not resolved.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Katharine Hepburn
Marion Bennett
Anthony Quinn
Michael Reyman
Jason Bateman
Grant
Jami Gertz
Sarah
Maxine Miller
Wilma
Michael Feinstein
Piano Player
Lynda Boyd
Latrice
Morris Panych
Mr. Gordon

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Anthony Harvey
Writers: Duane Poole
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

32 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Anthony Harvey, shot by Larry Pizer. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Peter Matz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert M. Reitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn and Jason Bateman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0111415 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 8 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Anthony Harvey directs. Larry Pizer behind the camera. Peter Matz scores. Robert M. Reitano cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

132 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Anthony Harvey, shot by Larry Pizer. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Peter Matz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Robert M. Reitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn and Jason Bateman carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0111415 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 8 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Larry Pizer
Original score: Peter Matz
Editing: Robert M. Reitano
Production design: Chris August
Costume design: Martha Wynne Snetsinger
Makeup / hair: Michal Bigger
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: This Can't Be Love (1994)

Also by

Anthony Harvey

Community reviews

What people are saying

stugood2019-04-15
★ 5/10
Early on we can virtually glimpse the "feel-good" (knock me over the # head) inevitable ending, but it's the all-too floral and busy music score that truly puts the boot in, completely sealing this film's fate. Here, moments from Katharine Hepburn's semi-fictionalised later life could have played more dramatic and tender, but are instead punctuated with jubilant wind instruments taking us by full-force into a tonally confused realm of lightheartedness. Any tension or depth is cut dead with an incessant noodling of notes which writes every plot development off as something purely whimsical. At one point, Hepburn's elderly character ends up in a jail cell and it's all laughs, apparently, from beginning to end. Some films can be too bleak - 'This Can't Be Love' suffers the reverse dilemma. A lot of wind and too much dismissed poignancy is largely the result of misguided music direction to an otherwise modest idea. I felt as if I could have vomited a flute or clarinet by the end of it.
CinemaSerf2023-08-26
★ 6/10
I can't help but wonder how Jason Bateman must have felt when his agent told him he was going to get to make a film with Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn! Oh to be a fly on that wall....! The film itself is a gentle tale of the two, now retired, actors who've got quite a bit of an history. Hepburn has engaged Bateman as her chauffeur and general dogsbody. He meets a young girl whom he introduces to his boss but he doesn't know that she has a hidden agenda and that involves Quinn, an autobiography and a whole load of trouble for the young man. Hepburn is not at her best here; she is clearly just playing herself, but she gels well with the charming Quinn through their rather set-piece skirmishes. It's a fine piece of cinema nostalgia that might just encourage folks to watch some of their earlier, more challenging films. As it is, it's an easy but unremarkable watch.