A Woody Allen flick I ain't ever watched! His films never disappoint; even a lesser Woody Allen flick is still entertaining, though I wouldn't categorise this one as lesser. I really liked it. It's about a professor of philosophy, (Gena Rowlands), who's seemingly content with her life. She's writing a book and rents a studio space so she can focus on that. It's adjacent to a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst's office and there's an amplifying vent connecting the two spaces through which she can hear every single word of the very intimate revelations that go on in the sessions. It's after she eavesdrops on another woman's sessions, (Mia Farrow), that cracks begin to develop in the facade she maintains.
It's a great flick. A mid life crisis is ripe fodder, and that it's a woman's made it that much more interesting to me. Juicy, juicy, scenes in this.
The movie is FULL of famous actors, the first thing I thought when I saw her husband was: Hey! That's the robot who tried to kill Ripley! Ian Holm is a cold fish, heartless cardiologist.
Plus it has narration! Flashbacks and dream sequences too. Yay!
The scene where she runs into Sandy Dennis, the best friend of her youth, who drifted away, is amazing. Dennis accuses her of betrayal and Rowlands denies it, but the guilty is pretty obvious, even if subconscious. (This youtube has the whole movie, scene starts 30 mins in.)
Apparently it's very similar to Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries. I haven't seen that yet, but I don't think there's anything wrong with various perspectives on similar themes. Movies are like music. I like hearing different takes on a good song. A story is the same thing. Some people get shitty about the idea of originality and copying ideas, but I think that's bullshit. And besides, Woody Allen has always been forthright about his admiration for Bergman, and how much he's been influenced by his films.
It's worth a watch
trailer
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