Enemies: A Love Story (1989)

“Don’t worry. She won’t divorce you. If she does, you can always go to the other one. She throws you out too — you can come to me.” – Tamara

Number of Times Seen – At least twice (Cable in the 90’s and 1 Apr 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A refugee from the Concentration camps tries to start a new life in New York with the Polish woman who saved his life, but his rendezvous with his mistress and the surprise return of his supposedly dead wife causes much too many complications in his life.

My Take on it – This is a film that I first saw nearly 30 years ago and only recalled the overall premise.

They do a great job keeping this story fun and interesting from start to finish and that has much to do with the way they keep springing surprises as things move along.

The story itself is quite unique and takes unexpected turns so often as things begin to unfold.

Ron Silver is great in the lead role and his performance is obviously helped by his three leading ladies who manage to present things in a plausible fashion despite the fact that it supposedly seems as f things are completely out of control.

Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars that year, yet both ended up losing (perhaps they cancelled each other out).

They do an excellent job developing three very unique women who each have strong connections to the same man despite their personalities being extremely different.

The fact that Silver’s love for each of them is also realistically felt is great since that’s what makes his job of choosing between them so much more difficult and complex

Bottom Line – Fun and interesting story that moves in ways one would never expect. The story is quite unique and they find interesting ways to add new surprises along the way. Silver is great in the lead and is helped by all three of his leading ladies to make things remain plausible despite the supposition that things are too out of control. Huston and Olin were both nominated for Oscars in supporting roles, but neither was able to win. Loved the way that each of the women were so very different from one another yet they all are able to have strong connections with the same man who in turn is in love with all of them and has much trouble choosing which one between the is the best partner for him. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin were both nominated to Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. In the end, the Oscar went to Brenda Fricker for “My Left Foot”. Paul Mazursky and Roger L. Simon were also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Oscar went to Alfred Uhry for “Driving Miss Daisy”. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)