Jane Fonda and Robert Redford Fall in Love All Over Again in ‘Our Souls At Night’ Teaser
The trailer for Our Souls At Night, an upcoming romance set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, doesn’t do much. But it knows exactly what it’s doing.
The minute-long trailer shows a single clip, in one uncomplicated and unbroken shot. As Etta James’ rendition of “A Sunday King of Love” crackles on the radio, an older couple drives down a dusty country road. At first, they’re sitting apart, but as the sweet sounds of the song fill the air between them, she scoots in his direction. A bit apprehensively, but not without affection, she lays her head on his shoulder. Cue added blast of associative nostalgia.
In fact, associative nostalgia is what this trailer is all about. See, that’s not any ordinary couple cozying up to one another — it’s Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Not only are they two of American screen acting’s greatest living treasures, but viewers of a certain age have powerful memories of the couple falling for one another in the film adaptation of Barefoot in the Park. The simple concept of getting to watch Redford and Fonda canoodle once again will be enough to sell plenty of prospective viewers, and the trailer understands that, offering nothing less and nothing more.
This marks the second-to-last onscreen performance for Robert Redford, who recently announced that he’d soon retire from acting while continuing to direct. So that makes this a rare thing twice over. Robert Redford performances are an endangered species, but so are mid-budget romantic films for anyone who dares to be over the age of 50. Older viewers love a warming, substantive story about mature characters falling in love just as much as they love a warming, substantive bowl of soup. And in truth, who doesn’t love soup?