Carnal Knowledge

Carnal Knowledge follows Jonathan and Sandy, two men who meet as college roommates in the late 1940s and remain in each other's lives for roughly two decades. Jonathan is the more confident of the pair, Sandy the shyer one, and women are the subject they return to again and again, comparing experiences and desires. At a party, Sandy meets Susan, a bright and attractive young woman, and begins a relationship with her, while Jonathan also becomes involved with her. As the years pass, the two friends take different paths in work and in love, and the attitudes they carried out of college are tested by marriages and long-term relationships that do not match their earlier expectations.

Mike Nichols directed and produced the film, working from an original screenplay by Jules Feiffer. It was Nichols's fourth film as director, arriving between Catch-22 and The Fortune. Jack Nicholson plays Jonathan, Art Garfunkel plays Sandy, and Candice Bergen plays Susan, with Ann-Margret, Rita Moreno and Cynthia O'Neal also in the cast.

Released in 1971, the film had a budget of about 5 million dollars and took roughly 29 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its cost. On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 34 reviews, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 238 votes.