One Is a Lonely Number (1972)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

"One is a Lonely Number" ("Two is a Happy Number") is a film about a woman's experience coming to terms with the end of her marriage. In many ways, it's like Dr. Kubler-Ross' Stages of Grief and you see the lady (Trish Van Devere) work through the stages until she finally arrives at accepting that it is, indeed, over. While this would NOT make for a fun or good date night film, it is mildly entertaining and a bit brave in addressing this sad topic. Sadly, up until the end it was a very good film (I might have scored it a 7 or 8) but the ending seemed a bit dumb and poorly handled. You could do better...you could do a lot worse. This sort of film has the term 'time-passer' written all over it and is a nice chance to see Van Devere acting without her husband and usual on-screen partner, George C. Scott.

Somebody's always saying goodbye, as an Anne Murray song goes. Here, Trish van Devere's husband has left her. After arguments and differences, the last straw was when she threw his copy of Milton out the window of their New York apartment. Being alone was the last thing she expected to be after her four years with James, but now she's alone. Of course, she's got girlfriends (like Jane Elliott) who want to hook her up, but she's so depressed and in shock. Oh, and yeah, she needs a job now. The employment place maybe has something, if she's nice to him. But he's a creep. There's the old man who runs the grocery store, whose wife died a few years ago. He's nice to talk to, played by Melvyn Douglas. She takes a job as a lifeguard, of all things! Between all her highs and lows and meeting a possible suitor in Monte Markham, she tries to find her independent soul. While the film does reflect the loneliness and despondency of her situation, it does not wallow in it and therefore manages to entertain the viewer while relating to her pain. The supporting cast is very good, but the film belong to Ms. Van Devere. Watch "One is a Lonely Number" and learn that you need not feel weak and dependent on another, and that as one you can be strong.

***SPOILERS*** Very much like the 1978 women's movie "An Unmarried Woman" released six years later even down to it's dramatic and unexpected freeze frame ending "One is a Lonely Number" has to do with a young womens abandonment by her husband and being forced to go out in a world and face situations that she's lest prepared for.Right out of the blue English collage professor James Brower, Paul Jenkins, tells his startled young wife Aimee, Trish Van Devere, that he's divorcing her. The reason for James leaving Aimee is mental cruelty which was in her, thinking it's a piece of junk, throwing out a his rare 1st edition copy of "Paradise Lost" by John Milton! It later turns out that James left Aimee for totally different reasons; His affair with his cute and blond teenage secretary at the collage he teaches in.Out in the cold with bills piling up to the ceiling Aimee gets a job as a lifeguard at a local community swimming pool in San Francisco. Not at first realizing what she got involved in with the sneering and hot in the pants employment agent Sherman Cooke, Jonathan Lippe, Aimee is later shocked to find Sherman in the ladies shower, fully clothes, demanding that she take a cold shower together with him! It's as if by just doing his job, finding a job for Aimee, Sherman want's to bed her down as a reward! Threatened by an outraged Aimee to have him reported to the police for attempted rape as well as being spotted in the ladies shower by two unexpected visitors, a woman and her young daughter, Sherman makes a hasty retreat never to be seen again in the film.Aimee eventually gets her head together with the help of fellow divorcées Gert Meredith, Janet Leigh, and Madge Frazier, Jane Elliot, who've had experience in failed marriages with Madge going through her first and Gert her fifth divorce. Aimee also gets the very needed advice and attention that she so desperately seeking from a very unexpected source; The kind and friendly fruit & vegetable man Joseph Provo, Melvyn Douglas. It was Mr Provo, a widower after 39 years of being happily married, who set Aimee straight to what life, as well as good and cheap grade "A" #1 produce, is all about.Aimee does find out that not every man who's interested in her sexually and romantically is also interested in marrying her. This comes as a big surprise to Aimee when her new boyfriend Howard "The Duck" Carpenter, Monte Markham, reveals to her after a roll in the hay, or the sack, that he's actually married and happily at that! Becoming more and more independent and confident in herself Aimee eventually loses interest in her ex-husband James who's affair with his 19 year old secretary had already gone bust. This leads James, now feeling like a first class jerk, to drop his filing for divorce against Aimee wanting her back despite all the damage he caused her! But by then Aimee being a free soul with all the eligible and married men in town wanting to date and go out with her she tells James to go take a hike and get himself lost in the woods! Now free and full of confidence in both herself and her ability to overcome any obstacle put in her path Aimee now confronts the challenge that's been haunting her all throughout the movie! And Aimee, true to form, passes it with flying colors!

However, I preferred this film. While it is a bit disjointed, and certainly the subject matter these days in not novel, it addresses the individual issues of divorce and abandonment.Some critics have dismissed this as a "woman's movie"...wow. Women today are a larger sector of the audience. Not sure what archaic demographic that critique is utilizing.At any rate, Trish Van Devere gives an understated performance as a newly single San Francisco woman, attempting to restructure her life. Jane Leigh is amusing in a nice cameo as a vindictive divorcée, she looks amazing for age 45, and gives a fun performance.Melvyn Douglas also has a cameo as resident grocer, Mr. Provo. He takes Van Devere to an outdoor play, and she breaks down as she finally realizes her four year marriage is over for good.Never an easy issue, divorce is painful and personal, if you watch this, and then ten years later, watch it again, you may feel differently. Recommended. 7/10.