`Annie Hall' is Woody Allen at his best
By Jude Seymour
Scene Movie Critic
"Annie Hall" was the film that thrust Woody Allen into the Oscar spotlight. It used dozens of innovative techniques ("thinking" subtitles, characters narrating to the camera, cartoons, split screens showing different time periods, characters removing themselves from their own bodies) and Allen's witty dialogue made it the best picture of 1977.
"Annie Hall" is not hard to follow, but its edits are made to take the story rapidly through different time periods. The film has five flashbacks (and then five successive flash forwards) showing not only Alvy Singer's (Woody Allen) relationship with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), but also sneak peeks into his life growing up, which attempt to explain his nervousness and neuroticism.
Alvy opens the movie explaining that he and Annie have just broken up and that his life continues to be "terrible and in such small portions." Trying to understand Alvy and Annie's relationship becomes the focus of the rest of the movie.
The movie shows the couple's nervous beginnings at a tennis court and its somber ending at a health food restaurant on Sunset Strip. In between, there are flashbacks to Alvy's failed marriages and to his boyhood, living underneath a roller coaster at Coney Island.
Since Alvy narrates in the present time, the movie does not hide the fact that Alvy and Annie's relationship is destined to end at some point; getting there is what makes the movie interesting.
One of the main themes packed into this movie is Allen's characteristic misunderstanding of women. Alvy is a klutz in love, and the movie presents a number of his failures.
Alvy breaks up a heated make out session with his first wife, Allison, because he is still bothered by the findings of the Warren Commission concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
When his second wife invites him to a party full of contacts and people that Alvy must be "fake nice" to, he sneaks into the master bedroom to catch the end of the Knicks game. When his wife finds him there, he tries inciting her to make love, something she categorizes as "inappropriate" and just another example of him "using sex to express hostility." Even in his first encounter with Annie, Alvy is thinking what she would look like naked.
Alvy's relationship with Annie continues to thrive or fail based on his understanding of women. He does not understand Annie's "phases" or "moods," and if Annie is having a bad day, Alvy's clueless remarks usually end with "you must be having your period again."
Alvy is doomed to fail in this relationship not only because he doesn't understand women, but because of his own neurotic personality.
The movie spends much time developing Alvy's characteristics. He's obsessed with death, has a gigantic fear of commitment, is always nervous, is a hypochondriac and has a completely pessimistic viewpoint.
Annie does not stay in the relationship because she enjoys his neurotic moments. She enjoys his sense of humor, which seems to go hand in hand with his view of life. He is a comedian by trade and the movie suggests that this skill is the initial attraction for a lot of the women.
As the movie is named "Annie Hall," it has much to show about who Annie Hall is. Annie is a bit flighty and a bit shallow, but she is always looking out for the potential in every situation.
In her relationship with Alvy it becomes about stability and being "lurved" (a term Alvy makes up to express "more then loved"). As soon as Annie realizes that Alvy's pessimistic attitudes are hindering her professional singing career, however, the relationship becomes strained. Annie, thanks in part to Alvy, has become smart enough to move on from this relationship and pursue opportunities in California.
In a theme that runs throughout Allen's movies, the story shows that if you are not in New York, you are best forgotten about. Alvy heals from his sadness by scripting a play about Annie Hall. In the play, Alvy walks away the stronger person, which is not how it really happened. Allen deadpans to the camera, "You're always trying to get things to come out perfect in art, because it's always difficult in life."
"Annie Hall" is a wonderful film, capturing not only Allen's well-written characters but also a host of techniques that only make the film more pleasurable. Alvy may be clueless about women, but he is admirable because he went to extreme lengths to get back his true love. Annie Hall may have moved on, but she took a lot of Alvy with her.
All Scene Stories for Thursday, November 2, 2000
