EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
A film review by Adam Joyce
Copyright 1997 Adam Joyce
The return of the musical is upon us. It began with "Evita", and now Woody Allen has brought the musical-comedy back to life with "Everyone Says I Love You". It is the story of a very well off family living in New York, and takes the audience on a journey through their daily lives, highlighting both the high and lows. The basic family set-up involves the two parents, Bob (Alan Alda) and Steffi (Goldie Hawn), four daughters, a son, a grandfather, and Joe (Woody Allen), Steffi's ex-husband. Joe is still very much a part of the family and regularly visits from his home in Paris. Joe seems to have had an endless array of failed relationships, and continuously pines for his ex-lovers. Meanwhile, the eldest daughter, Skylar (Drew Barrymore) is deeply in love with Holden (Edward Norton). In one of the many comical scenes, Holden has the engagement ring placed on a dessert dish which is served to Skylar. Unfortunately Skylar eats the dessert immediately, swallowing the ring. What follows is a highly amusing scene in which the couple visit the hospital and look at an x-ray of the ring. The hospital staff congratulate the couple, marvelling at the ring on the x-ray. From here they break into one of the many song and dances, involving all manner of patients and staff. At first it is somewhat bizarre to see the cast break into a song, but gradually one becomes accustomed to it. Beyond merely being accustomed to the singing, one actually begins to enjoy these scenes immensely. All the singing scenes have been superbly choreographed. This choreography has been combined with the cinematography to provide the audience with very smooth, clever, entertaining sequences. They are definitely one of the film's highlights. By the end of the film, it's hard not to sing along with the actors. Woody Allen's success with this film comes as a result of how he has dealt with it. He has very much followed the traditional musical-comedy style. Everything is 'picture perfect'. It's like looking at a postcard: it's always so much better than the real thing. This is true of the scenes in "Everyone Says I Love You". There are the scenes in Venice, with the fresh, smooth, clean water flowing through the channels. New York is covered in a layer of crisp, white snow, and is unbelievably beautiful. Paris, particularly in the final scene is beyond perfection. It involves a scene in which Joe and Steffi dance beside the River Seine on Christmas Eve. The light reflects off the dark water as the pair dance, and Steffi begins to fly. This probably sounds ridiculous, but the flying (gliding more suitably describes it) adds to the perfection of the scene. This is all a key part of the musical, which in this case could be re-labelled as fantasy. The script is witty and clever, the acting near faultless. Follow the family dilemmas of this upper class (near perfect) family, and enjoy the ride!
4.5 out of 5
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