This soapy melodrama stars Bergman as the bored, middle-aged wife of dry college professor Weaver, whom she accompanies on his sabatical to the backwoods of Tennessee. Finding rural life refreshing, Bergman soon becomes enamored of local married man Quinn, whose simple vibrancy is in
marked contrast with her husband's musty intellectuality. Quinn returns Bergman's affections and soon the middle-aged pair begin a doomed romance. Bergman's selfish daughter arrives in Tennessee, announcing her acceptance to Harvard Law School and demanding that her mother return to New York to
care for Silberman, her young son, Bergman's grandson. Not wanting to leave Quinn, Bergman refuses. Soon afterwards, Quinn's disturbed son, Fielding, who knows of the illicit romance, tries to rape Bergman. Quinn arrives on the scene and accidentally kills his son while attempting to prevent the
rape. The incident brings the affair to a bitter conclusion; Bergman and Weaver return to New York. While the presentation of a middle-aged romance was more than welcome on the screen in 1970 (after years of youth-oriented pictures), not even the performances of Bergman and Quinn are able to
rescue the insipid, meandering script. Though not totally embarrassing, A WALK IN THE SPRING RAIN is a major disappointment for all involved.
