In this romantic comedy/drama, George Segal stars as a freelance artist who's attempting to revitalize his career just as his marriage to Eva Marie Saint begins to fall apart. Co-starring David Doyle, Sterling Hayden and Kennan Wynn.
Brooks Wilson is in crisis. He is torn between his wife Selma and two daughters and his mistress Grace, and also between his career as a successful illustrator and his feeling that he might still produce something worthwhile.—Gary Couzens <[email protected]>
Commercial graphic artist Brooks Wilson is in an emotional quandary. He used to want to do right by all those around him - including his loving wife Selma and their two young daughters, his agent Edward and subsequently his clients, and even his mistress Grace who would like Brooks to eventually leave Selma for her - but he has basically given up, feeling the need to please is now more an aggravation to his life. He goes on drinking binges during work meetings which results in him alienating those around him who could help him get ahead in his career. Selma knows that not all is perfect in their life, but she doesn't know the full extent of the problem beyond the work insecurity issue and thus how best to provide the support he needs. Despite these failings, he is on the verge of landing the biggest account of his career with truck manufacturer Lepridon, an account about which he has mixed feelings. On the one hand, getting the account would boost his name in the business. On the other hand, in his own words, "who wants to draw trucks for the rest of their life". His life problems culminate the outcome of a drunken decision at a neighborhood party.—Huggo
The film opens on a scene in a New York City apartment. We see a man, an artist, painting a picture of a woman. Nearby, a young lady-the subject of his painting-is gathering up her coat and other stuff to leave. As she walks around getting her purse, her coat, etc. she passes another painting in which she again was the model. She leaves the apartment and he grabs his coat and a briefcase and goes out after her. Under the credits the two of them walk through the city, clearly having an intense discussion that we don't get to hear, but it's clear that they have an intimate relationship with each other and it's possible that she's breaking up with him. We later learn that the man is Brooks Wilson, played by George Segal and the woman's name is Grace. Grace, it turns out, is Brooks' mistress, played by Janis Young.
Brooks goes home to Westport, Connecticut, and immediately heads for a school, where some children are performing a dance recital. He watches for a moment before walking the halls of the school to find a bathroom so that he can smoke a cigarette. Of course, he's immediately busted by a small dancer who comes in and tells him there's no smoking. Brooks walks into a classroom and contemplates the childrens' artwork, then he draws a train on the chalkboard before returning to the recital, which has ended. The first adult he bumps into is Nelly, played by Nancie Phillips. Nelly is very flirtatious with Brooks but he's mostly ignoring it, finally pointing out that her husband and his colleague Will (David Doyle) is approaching. He finds his own family and compliments his daughter's dancing. His wife Selma, played by Eva Marie Saint, asks him about something called Lepridon, but he says there's still been no decision.
Back at the house, Brooks puts Selma through a series of poses and then photographs the two of them together as models for an illustration he's working on. In between, Selma wonders aloud whether his getting the new account means that they can look for a bigger house. Brooks seems preoccupied with getting the photo shoot done.
The next day, Brooks has one of the photos he'd taken in a light-box, so he can work on the illustration project. The phone rings and it's his agent Edward, played by Keenan Wynn. Edward tells Brooks that he has a meeting in a few hours in the city, to meet with Mr. Lepridon himself. So Brooks has to get his act together and hurry into New York. This, of course, is the perfect time for his neighbor across the street, Mr. Kramm (Edgar Stehli) to bug him about the overall condition of his house. Brooks pushes him out of the house and sits down to breakfast with his family. His daughters are rambunctious and frequently arguing with each other, and it's clearly wearing on him.
At the train station, Nelly spots Brooks from her car and invites him to lunch, probably with an ulterior motive. Brooks again brushes her off, saying he has an appointment in the city. He almost seems to respond in kind when she points out that Will is watching from the platform. Will is polite but a little distant.
In the city. Brooks gets to his meeting and runs into Skip Geiser, an assistant of Mr. Lepridon played by Roy Scheider. Skip apologizes and tells him that the meeting needs to be moved to the afternoon, at the construction site for the new Lepridon Building. So now Brooks has the better part of a day to kill. Brooks gets to Edward's office and has a conversation with him through a stuck door during which Edward tells him that he'd arranged for a lunch meeting at the Illustrators Club, to interview about a magazine cover. Brooks is reluctant to go, because he's tired of doing all these small jobs. He'd much rather have one large project to work on.
Brooks buys a rose and shows up at Grace's apartment, but instead of Grace, he finds a man playing the clarinet. Brooks says he has to get something, and the man just nods and returns to playing the clarinet. As he leaves he tells the man to tell Grace he'll call later.
Brooks finds Grace at the art gallery where she works and confronts her about the guy in the apartment. Grace is evasive and tells him she wants her key back. Brooks tells her he thinks he's getting the Lepridon account but she doesn't care. He promises to tell his wife it's over that night.
At the Illustrator's Club. Brooks is at the bar, and we learn that he's not a member of the club. After a rather humiliating encounter with a colleague and an older member of the club, and tries to escape, but he bumps into Benny, the guy he's supposed to be meeting. Benny has a lot to say but he doesn't have the galleys that Brooks needs. Brooks joins another table, and it becomes more obvious that he's been drinking a lot. He meets with a woman named Susan, played by Sherry Lansing, and Al, another illustrator who's apparently curated an exhibit that Brooks finds rather macabre, given that all the artists are dead. His comments clearly irritate Al and he and Susan leave. Brooks stumbles repeatedly on his way out of the club.
A couple of hours later, Brooks gets to the Lepridon Building. Skip meets up with him and learns that Lepridon is considering using photography rather than illustration for his truck ads. Lepridon (Sterling Hayden) isn't totally impressed with Brooks' samples, but did appreciate a Christmas card that he'd received from Brooks, specifically because the card was religious in nature. The card was actually sent by Selma.
Lepridon thinks that photos are more honest than illustrations and what's more, he can't understand why the ads have half-naked girls in them. He walks away but Brooks pursues him and initiates a conversation with Lepridon, faking his way through a conversation about trucks. This actually impresses Lepridon, but the fate of the deal is still up in the air.
Brooks arrives home, still a little drunk, and he and Selma get into an argument. But shortly afterward she asks about Lepridon. Of course, he still doesn't have an answer for her.
Brooks is reviewing slide images of trucks when he impulsively drops in a slide of a photo he'd taken of Grace. At that point Selma walks in and tries to convince him to just relax a little for the evening, but it just re-kindles the argument.The next day we see Brooks walking through the countryside near his home, flashing back on his relationship with Grace. In the next scene, Brooks is painting a nude model, with his daughter playing nearby. This leads to a series of interruptions from the phone, and then Edward's assistant Charles (James Manis), looking for corrections to several illustrations. And then the oven timer goes off. And then the doorbell again, and it's Mr. Kramm. Brooks just slams the door in Kramm's face, then tells Charles that he's refusing to make any artistic changes until he hears from Lepridon. Finally he returns to painting the nude.Brooks and Selma go into town to run some errands with the girls. While they're in town they bump into Grace, who's there with her aunt, played by an uncredited Betsy von Furstenberg and her uncle Marve, played by Paul Sparer. They're in town buying stuff for a big party they throw every year. Brooks learns during the conversation that Grace has quit the gallery and will be going to Europe for an extended stay.
Brooks and Selma go to visit a house that's for sale. The couple who own the house are there, and it transpires that they're selling the house because they're getting a divorce. The couple have a tense conversation and after the husband leaves, the wife is clearly uncomfortable telling them about how they enjoyed the room they're all standing in. After the tour, Selma apologizes to Brooks because she knew there was a divorcing couple in the house, but she was hoping they could get a good deal if they saw it early. Selma begins to break down and Brooks consoles her.
While getting ready for the party, Brooks and Selma have a lighthearted conversation but the conversation turns to talk of the house and becomes an argument that lasts all the way to the front door of the party. There are dozens of people there and the house is full of technical marvels. Grace is there, of course, but she's ignoring Brooks. Brooks bumps into Will, and will notices Susan, who's getting the tour from Marve. Marve demonstrates an entertainment center hidden behind a bookcase, but the entertainment center also features a closed-circuit video system that allows someone to monitor the entire house.Brooks goes upstairs to an empty bedroom and places a phone call to Edward, who tells him that he's got the Lepridon account. Selma walks in as he hangs up, but Brooks lies to her and says he still doesn't know for sure. They appear to reconcile and Selma wants to go back home but Brooks protests that they just got there. They begin close-dancing in the party, and Grace watches from across the room. Later, Brooks lures Grace into a pantry and begins kissing her, trying to convince her not to go to Europe. Grace says she loves Brooks but notably he doesn't reply in kind. Grace flees the room.
Brooks sits on the stairs, getting drunk. Susan gets very drunk and has to be carried upstairs. Brooks overhears another party-goer talking about art but he's terribly pretentious and worse yet, he doesn't entirely know what he's talking about. Brooks calls him out on it and it nearly starts a fistfight.
One of the witnesses to this is Nelly. They're both a little drunk and Nelly is being Nelly, so they go off together. Outside, Brooks and Nelly are fooling around in a her car but they eventually move to the children's playhouse on the property. Unfortunately, Brooks has forgotten all about the closed-circuit video system and they're busted when someone fooling around with the entertainment system switches over to the video feed and then just walks out of the room. Will gets into a brawl with Brooks which most of the guests are content to just watch until Marve finally breaks it up. As everyone finally goes inside, Grace is left standing on the porch watching Brooks try to recover before she finally goes inside as well. As Brooks retrieves his pants from Nelly's car, he hears his own car revving up; it's Selma trying to leave, but she's stuck in the snow. Trying to placate her, Brooks tells her he got the Lepridon account. She beats him repeatedly with her purse and then spits on him. The two are left just looking at each other in the cold, snowy driveway.
