HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
A film review by Mike Watson
Copyright 1997 Mike Watson
STARRING: Woody Allen, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow,
Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Max Von Sydow.
SCREENPLAY: Woody Allen
DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
RUNTIME: 102 minutes
RATING: 5 out of 5
One of the very best films in Woody Allen's considerable career, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS is an utter delight from start to finish. Allen's observations of family life and relationships have rarely been sharper, funnier or more honest.
Like so many of Allen's films, the setting is once again in New York. But it's a testimony to the universality of his writing that the location, while certainly inspiring, doesn't really matter in the end. One doesn't have to have even set foot inside the USA, let alone the Big Apple, to find these characters so real, so familiar, so achingly lifelike.
The film focuses on the lives of three sisters: Hannah (Mia Farrow), Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne West). Though a quite a few different plots run simultaneously though the film, Allen's screenplay tells two principal stories. Firstly, the secret extra marital affair between Hannah's husband Elliot (a wonderful Michael Caine) and his sister-in-law Lee. Secondly, we follow the trials of Hannah's ex-husband Mickey (Woody Allen), a hypochondriac who undergoes a major personal and spiritual crisis about the meaning of life after seemingly staring death in the face.
Caine's multi-faceted character is one of the film's standout performances. He's both refreshingly honest and oddly calculating in his agonising over his long-held feelings for his wife's sister and the passionate affair that follows. Also outstanding is Allen himself, playing a variation on the same neurotic character he's done a million times before but investing the character with real pathos and humanity. He's also very, very funny. Sample: in a flashback discussing his just diagnosed infertility with his then wife. Farrow: What have you done that could have caused this, was it excessive masturbation? Allen: Hey, now you're knocking my hobbies!
The smaller details and the secondary plots in this film are equally as satisfying is the principal storylines. The sisters' parents are two showbiz types with big egos; dad trying to grow old gracefully, mum trying to keep her youth and flirting with men at every opportunity, much to her husband's disgust. There's the brain-dead rock and roller who wants to buy "big art" for his mansion and who finds himself in an explosive encounter with Lee's first lover Frederick, an ageing artist and snobbish intellectual played superbly by the Max Von Sydow.
This is a remarkable, richly textured film, full of warmth, humour, sadness, and a touching humanity. The cast of stars is sensational, taking to their well-defined roles with focus and, it seems, some humility. There's no scenery chewing performances here. And Woody Allen's script as near to flawless as one could possibly hope for.
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. In a word: brilliant. See it at all costs.
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