''L'Amour'' (

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

), also known as ''Andy Warhol's L'Amour'', is an underground film written by

Paul Morrissey Paul Morrissey (born February 23, 1938) is an American film director, best known for his association with Andy Warhol. He was also director of the first film in which a transgender actress, Holly Woodlawn, starred as a girlfriend of the main cha ...

and

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

and directed by Morrissey and Warhol. The film, released on May 10, 1973, stars Donna Jordan, Michael Sklar, Jane Forth, Max Delys, Patti D'Arbanville, and

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...

. A farcical comedy meant to be campy and raunchy, the film was panned by critics, accused of being too subdued to stand on its own alongside more over-the-top films like

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

’

Pink Flamingos ''Pink Flamingos'' is a 1972 American film directed, written, produced, narrated, filmed, and edited by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes '' Female Trouble'' (1974) and '' Desperate Liv ...

(1972), which was released within the same year.''L’Amour,'' ongoing exhibit. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. The lyrics to the opening theme were written by Skylar, with vocals being provided by

Cass Elliot Ellen Naomi Cohen (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), known professionally as Mama Cass and later on as Cass Elliot, was an American singer and voice actress. She was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the Papas. After the group brok ...

from

The Mamas and the Papas The Mamas & the Papas were a folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group consisted of A ...

Plot

All actors in the film share a name with their fictional counterparts. American

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s Donna and Jane’s friend Patti comes to visit, having clearly done very financially well for herself. She recommends if the two girls want to be wealthy and glamorous as well they should find rich husbands, and a plan is concocted for them to move to Paris to become models and seduce suitably wealthy men.Morrissey, Paul; Warhol, Andy''. L’amour.'' Film'','' 1973. Jane and Donna are introduced to housemates Michael and Max, the millionaire son of a urinal cake tycoon and a

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work i ...

respectively. These two have their own agendas: Michael, a gay man, wants to get a wife to placate his family, and to have someone to adopt the true object of his affections, Max, with. Max, while happy to have a luxurious home to live in, feels lonely under Michael’s overbearing control and finds himself enamored with the ditzy Jane. Michael and Donna come to an agreement: if he can get her on the cover of ''Vogue'', she’ll marry him. The quartet get up to fun all over Paris, taking product photographs of urinal cakes next to pissiors and roller skating around the park. The relationships between the four are starting to change, though rarely in the ways any of them intended. Max becomes more frustrated with Michael’s jealous, controlling nature, and Michael puts Max down for being an impoverished sex worker whenever Max stands up for himself, saying if Michael hadn’t taken pity on him Max would have nothing. Max is enjoying a fling with Jane, who enjoys listing her favorite genres of American

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

during sex. Donna eventually realizes after an extremely unsuccessful attempt to sleep with Michael that he’s obviously avoiding being physical with her, and so gives up the act and joins him in eating snacks in bed. Things come to a boiling point when, after a falling out, Michael overhears Max saying to Jane that he hates Michael and now only wants to be adopted so he and Jane can inherit his fortune when he dies. Michael confronts him and Max leaves his house for good. Max and Jane say their goodbyes in front of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed ...

, Max vowing to make his own living on the Parisian streets and Jane announcing that she’s returning to New York City. The final scene reveals Michael and Donna eating in a Parisian cafe, Donna holding a copy of ''Vogue'' that shows she is indeed on the cover. Outside Max converses with a client. As the two men run off together, Michael sees them and tries regretfully to follow, ultimately left to walk the Paris streets with only Donna for companionship.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amour, L' 1973 films Films directed by Paul Morrissey Films directed by Andy Warhol 1970s American films

Plot

See also

References

External links