Bleak Edwards

Review of Days of Wine and Roses (1962) by nezzkobdamned: 👍 8.9/10

What an emotionally devastating film. Like The Lost Weekend, this is a frank tale of the illness that is alcoholism, with the destructive effect it has on the lives of those who suffer from it and through it. Quite surprising from Blake Edwards, largely known for comedy.

Lemmon and Remick are a little too good at playing these roles (for good reason, it would seem), and it's their performances that make this what it is.

The last scene between them, with their characters' world forever changed by the life they led, is heartbreaking and depressingly true to form. There's no whimsical salvation, no magic cure, and that's why Days of Wine and Roses is so bloody powerful.