Nina Takes a Lover

Nina Takes a Lover is a 1994 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Alan Jacobs. The film stars Laura San Giacomo, Paul Rhys, Michael O'Keefe, Cristi Conaway and Fisher Stevens. The film was released on March 3, 1995, by Triumph Films.[5][6][7]

Nina Takes a Lover
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlan Jacobs
Written byAlan Jacobs[1]
Produced byJane Hernandez
Alan Jacobs
StarringLaura San Giacomo
Paul Rhys
Michael O'Keefe
Cristi Conaway
Fisher Stevens
CinematographyPhil Parmet
Edited byJohn Nutt
Music byTodd Boekelheide[2]
Production
companies
Alan Jacobs Productions
Archer Entertainment Group
Sharona Productions
Distributed byTriumph Films
Release dates
[3]
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$600,000[4]

Plot

Nina is being interviewed by a San Francisco Chronicle journalist doing a piece on marriage and infidelity. In flashbacks, she provides detailed accounts of an affair she had with a British photographer. Nina, who is starved for romance in her marriage, meets the photographer at a park when she sits next to him on a bench one day. While Nina's husband is away on a business trip for three weeks, Nina enters into an affair with the photographer, who is himself married. The journalist is also shown interviewing the photographer, who admits to his affair with Nina.

At the same time of Nina's liaison, her best friend is having an affair with Paulie, the manager of a coffee shop. Nina allows the couple to rendezvous in her apartment, but she is accused of having an affair with Paulie after he steals a pair of Nina's underwear and leaves it on the seat of his car.

Just as Nina's affair with the photographer blossoms into something more intense, she learns the photographer has been sleeping with other women. As she tells her story to the journalist, she reveals the photographer is actually her husband, and the "affair" was simply an attempt to spice up the marriage. The film ends with Nina and her husband's marriage on solid ground after their ruse.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area.[9][10] Locations included the Vallejo and Chavez Streets[11][12] and the Music Concourse at the Golden Gate Park.[13][14] Scenes were also filmed at the Pergola at Lake Merritt in Oakland.[15][16]

Reception

Nina Takes a Lover received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 6 critics' reviews.[17]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a wisp of a film that leaves no indelible impression save a general attractiveness and civilized sensibility."[5] Roger Ebert praised the acting and said the two leads "generate authentic chemistry," but said he "felt vaguely cheated and empty" when the movie concluded.[6] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film "aspires to be a gently amused evocation of sexual boredom within marriage. It even offers a novel solution to the problem. But its characters are hopelessly shallow, evasive and charmless, the perfect targets for confirmed yuppie-bashers."[7]

TV Guide said "San Francisco's charm is well used" and the film makes it seem "like the most romantic city on earth."[18] David Armstrong of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that while the film's twist ending didn't feel convincing, Alan Jacobs "coaxes warm yet wary performances from his actors" and "has a good ear for how lovers talk - the shyly revealed secrets, the shared code words - and a strong sense of the way newly intimate strangers peel away layers of defense, their own and the other person's."[9]

References
  1. LaSalle, Mick (February 22, 1999). "Renewing an Affair With San Francisco / Alan Jacobs, ex-local gone Hollywood, returns to film 'SFO'". SFGATE. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  2. "Creative Team". Adios Amor. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  3. Hicks, Chris (January 30, 1994). "Getting a Seat Becoming Main Game at Festival". Deseret News. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  4. Klein, Don (February 22, 2012). "Independent Streak". Stanford magazine. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  5. McCarthy, Todd (January 25, 1994). "Nina Takes a Lover". Variety. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  6. Ebert, Roger (May 5, 1995). "Nina Takes A Lover Movie Review (1995)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  7. Holden, Stephen (May 12, 1995). "FILM REVIEW; The Course Of an Affair To Forget". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  8. "Nina Takes a Lover". San Francisco Film Festival. 1994. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  9. Armstrong, David (March 3, 1995). "Acting and writing impressive in 'Nina'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  10. Film Locations in San Francisco (PDF). City and County of San Francisco.
  11. "409 Vallejo St, San Francisco, CA 94133". Zillow. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  12. "3996-3998 Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco, CA 94131". Trulia. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  13. "Music Concourse (and Spreckels Temple of Music)". Golden Gate Park. January 20, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  14. "Laura San Giacomo & Paul Rhys Film: Nina Takes A Lover (1994) Characters: Nina, Photographer Director: Alan Jacobs 11 September 1994". Alamy. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  15. Pollock, Christopher (2013). Reel San Francisco Stories: An Annotated Filmography of the Bay Area. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-578-13042-2. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  16. "Oakland Lake Merritt Pergola". Muller & Caulfield Architects. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  17. "Nina Takes a Lover". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  18. "Nina Takes a Lover". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
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