Love Story (1970 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Love Story (1970) is an American film written directed by Arthur Hiller.
The film, a well-known tear-jerking tragedy, is remembered for OST compositions such as "Where Do I Begin?" performed by Andy Williams and Francis Lai.
Plot
Oliver Barrett IV, heir of an American upper-class East Coast family, attends Harvard College where he plays ice hockey. He meets Jennifer "Jenny" Cavilleri, a quick-witted, working-class Radcliffe College student of classical music; they fall in love despite their differences. Oliver’s father drives a long distance to Ithaca NY to see his son’s hockey game vs. Cornell for the Ivy League championship. Harvard loses to Cornell, 4–3. Oliver turns down his father's offer of a ride back to Boston and help getting into Harvard Law School.
Oliver is upset that he does not figure in Jenny's plans to study in Paris. She accepts his marriage proposal and he takes her to the Barrett mansion to meet his parents, who are judgmental and unimpressed. Oliver's father says he will cut him off financially if he marries Jenny, but after graduation they marry, nonetheless.
Jenny works as a teacher but without his father's financial support the couple struggles to pay Oliver's way through Harvard Law School. Oliver graduates third in his class and takes a position at a respectable New York City law firm. They are ready to start a family but fail to conceive. After Jenny undergoes three blood tests, Oliver is told that she is terminally ill.
Oliver attempts to continue as normal without telling Jenny of her condition, but she confronts her doctor and finds out the truth. Oliver buys tickets to Paris, but she declines to go, wanting only to spend time with him. Oliver seeks money from his estranged father to pay for Jenny's cancer therapy. His father asks if he has "gotten a girl in trouble". Oliver says yes, and his father writes a check.
Jenny makes funeral arrangements with her father from her hospital bed. She tells Oliver to not blame himself, insisting that he never held her back from music and it was worth it for the love they shared. Jenny's last wish is for Oliver to embrace her tightly as she dies.
A grief-stricken Oliver leaves the hospital and he sees his father outside, who has rushed to New York City from Massachusetts to offer his help after learning about Jenny's condition. Oliver tells him, "Jenny's dead," and his father says "I'm sorry," to which Oliver responds, "Love Template:En dash Love means never having to say you're sorry", something that Jenny had said to him earlier. Oliver walks alone to the open air ice rink, where Jenny had watched him skate the day she was hospitalized.
Musical selections from the soundtrack
- Concerto No. 3 in D Major for harpsichord, third movement — by Johann Sebastian Bach
- Sonata In F Major for flute and harpsichord, first movement — by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Joy To The World — by George Frideric Handel and Isaac Watts
- A Fair Rose Is Blooming (Es ist ein Ros entsprungen) — by Michael Praetorius
- Love Story — by Francis Lai, performed by Francis Lai & His Orchestra
- Snow Frolic — by Francis Lai, performed by Francis Lai & His Orchestra
- I Love You, Phil — by Francis Lai
- The Christmas Tree — (traditional)
- Search for Jenny — by Francis Lai
- Bozo Barrett — by Francis Lai
- Long Walk Home — by Francis Lai
- Skating in Central Park — by John Lewis
