sbsieber
I saw this movie when it first came out, and I thought it was just great, although I did not like Michael Cain in his role. Fast forward however many years, and I caught it on TV. Still didn't like Michael Cain in the movie - too whiny and overwrought, but so was everyone else. What a terrible movie! It has not stood the test of time. All the characters are high-strung, navel gazers who talk too much and say very little. The Allen Method of acting, which is basically improvising, looks so corny and amateurish in retrospect, and not at all realistic. Mia Farrow's voice could drive anyone insane, and her character is insipid; her sisters treat her like dirt, and her husband uses and abuses her. Just awful.
sharky_55
The ages of Hannah and her sisters are never once stated in this film, but it is a testament to Allen's craft to be able to make it so easily identifiable even as they live apart through the years. When I first watched this, I mistakenly attributed Carrie Fisher's April as a fourth sister and now find that it makes the sibling dynamics that much more interesting. After all, it is her and the youngest sister Holly who fight over a architect like little sisters would fight over a Barbie doll. Allen sets off this little conflict so perfectly and subtly. Their catering business is blooming in its first gig (but not without some financial assistance from big sister Hannah), but the focus is the kitchen where David has wandered in. Watch as they both initially flirt and vie for his affections, before the camera settles on April and David's conversation, and Holly nervously flits in and out of the frame, desperately attending to the food while trying to stay in the competition. Later there is a wonderful verbal joust - and the dialogue is wonderfully pleasant, but alludes subtly to who will win this round. The resulting voice-over (from the back seat no less!) is the final blow. Michael Caine plays Elliot, who has become undone because of his wife's steadfast emotional strength that gives so much, yet needs so little. Hannah herself gets only one voice-over in the film, and it is not even about her, but about worrying over the state of her parent's waning relationship in their old age. We construct a jigsaw of the model big sister from each of the secondary character's reactions to her. Elliot feels inadequate and chases after her younger sister Lee, but cannot bear to break up such a wonderful marriage. Lee, upon being confronted by him, initially has doubts, not because of her boyfriend Frederick, but because she does not want to drag Hannah's marriage out onto the street (in particular, see how quickly she leaps to her big sister's defense against Lee, citing the hard times she is going through, feeling guilty about the affair). It is clear that she is already beginning to feel suffocated by Frederick, who feigns a misanthropic outlook but hangs so dearly onto his one vestige of humanity. He has a number of unbearably pretentious rants that only an Allen script could make humorous. The age gap aside, she is less a lover than a student or a child. Surely Elliot and Lee's relationship would have eventuated to this stage once the passion was depleted and his poetry become uninspiring. In a lonely second-hand book store, Di Palma's compositions separate the pair via the bookshelves, and hint at this even before they have pulled the trigger. Then there is Mickey, the usual Allen type. In his best film, Annie Hall, the narrative depends on this sort of character, but here I think it works in spite of it. Mickey is a neurotic television writer who has the ability to turn any minor medical issue into a fatal diseases, and spends his days reaffirming this even at his happiest. It is baffling to say the least how he and Hannah ever married (although as per her nature, she gives a glowing review in recommending him to Holly). He goes through the usual nihilistic period, but it isn't Mickey we are watching fret over death and consult every religion in desperation, it is Allen through and through, and any interview would confirm this. And yet, his response to a struggling screenplay is exceptionally genuine. Hannah and her sisters shine through. There is a scene where the three are sitting at a table, and Allen makes the mundane so cutting, and the sister hierarchy that has been established in childhood so evident. The camera arcs around as to give each time to unveil their current stories, but one person is spilling out. Holly's catering company and romantic life have both evaporated in one feel swoop, and she puffs on her cigarette anxiously as he looks for another loan to pursue her latest venture, screen-writing. Lee is clearly consumed by guilt at the sight of the angelic Hannah, who gives encouraging and constructive advice before dialling back and supporting Holly anyway. She doesn't care whom the camera focuses on.The ending is idyllic and comforting, which is not something that Allen is usually associated with. We have been presented with a mess of an extended family; even the black and white title cards that attempt to compartmentalise and organise their lives do no good. In the midst of it is Hannah, who has taken upon herself to be the anchor. Even as her marriage knowingly breaks down, observe how unaccusatory her speech is, how anxious she is about her husband's unhappiness, but even more so trying no to prod or ignite a quarrel. And people latch onto her because she is entirely selfless (it is a good thing to surround yourself with this type of person, and I am lucky to have done so with a few). And from that perspective with observe each and every tic, each ounce of anxiety, of mid life crisis, of unfulfilling career and marriage, of even death itself. (Mickey, or Allen, finds his purpose in a new relationship and Holly's pregnancy. I'm unsure of what to make of it. Is it another twist in the tale, given Mickey's infertility beforehand?)
