Enemies, A Love Story **** (1989, Anjelica Huston, Ron Silver, Lena Olin, Margaret Sophie Stein) – Classic Movie Review 11,847

Co-writer/ producer/ director Paul Mazursky’s 1989 film Enemies, a Love Story is based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s 1966 novel.

It tells the strange post-Holocaust story of a Polish Jewish émigré (Ron Silver) in America who ends up married to two women and having a relationship with a third. It is a thoroughly absorbing tale with compelling acting from the fine cast, a beautiful sense of period and mood and intelligent direction.

Good though Silver is, this is a showcase for the three star actress: Margaret Sophie Stein as Silver’s World War Two protector then wife, Anjelica Huston as his presumed dead first wife, and Lena Olin as the married woman he is having an affair with.

Enemies, A Love Story was nominated for three Academy Awards, including two nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category for Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin and a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Roger L Simon and Paul Mazursky.

The cast are Ron Silver as Herman Broder, Anjelica Huston as Tamara Luria-Broder, Lena Olin as Masha Bloch-Tortshiner, Margaret Sophie Stein as Herman’s maid Yadwiga, Alan King as Rabbi Lembeck, Judith Malina as Masha’s mother Shifra Puah Bloch, Elya Baskin as Yasha Kobik, Paul Mazursky as Masha’s ex-husband Leon Tortshiner, Phil Leeds as Pesheles, Rita Karin as Mrs Schreier, and Zypora Spaisman as Sheva Haddas.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,847

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com