Clara was quiet for a long time. Then she said, “1981. I was thirty-two. I was supposed to review Endless Love for the Chronicle . Instead, I ran away with a projectionist named Sam.”
If one looks strictly at the numbers, the critical rating for Endless Love is abysmal. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a stagnant rating, firmly placing it in the "Rotten" category. The consensus among critics in 1981—and retrospective critics today—is that the film is a melodramatic, overwrought mess that mistakes obsession for romance. endless love 1981 rating
The remains low, but it has endured. Thirty years later, people are still talking about it. In Hollywood, that is a kind of success no score can measure. Clara was quiet for a long time
However, if you watch the film as a period piece—a dark fairy tale about the fine line between love and obsession, set to a killer soundtrack—you might find it fascinating. I was supposed to review Endless Love for the Chronicle
The story follows David Axelrod and Jade Butterfield (Brooke Shields), two teenagers who fall deeply and exclusively in love. Their romance is so all-consuming that Jade’s grades slip, prompting her father (Don Murray) to ban David from the house. In a desperate, misguided attempt to prove his worth by "saving" the family from a small fire he intends to set and extinguish, David accidentally burns down
Leo leaned in.
To understand the low critical rating, one must look at the context of 1981. Franco Zeffirelli was an Oscar-nominated director known for elegant, classical productions. Audiences expected a tragic romance akin to Romeo and Juliet .