Alice (1990)

Alice in Woodyland

Alice Tate (Mia Farrow) is living in New York City, married to Doug (William Hurt), a rich and successful businessman from a prosperous family. They have two children, a lavish condo and a large stable of servants. Alice spends her days shopping, getting manicures and pedicures, and so on. However, she's not very happy, and in searching for the reason for her unhappiness she has become a bit of a hypochondriac. When she finally goes to see an acupuncturist, Dr. Yang (Keye Luke), on several friends' advice because her back is bothering her, he tells her that her problem is in her head, not her back. Through his extremely unorthodox treatments, Alice gradually transforms her life.

This is a Woody Allen film, but Woody doesn't appear in it. It focuses on Mia throughout, with various literary allusions, mostly to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), but also in ways to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843) in the way ghosts and memories from the past arrive to deliver their epiphanies. Alec Baldwin is a former lover with a brief turn as one such ghost.

Though Woody isn't in the film, and it is all about Alice (or Mia Farrow, as the case may be) it is as if he is speaking through all of the characters, as the unseen scribe behind the scenes, the author of the drama. Alice considers writing, but is clearly not cut out for it. Nancy Brill (Cybill Shepherd), a supposed friend, has a job reading scripts for a television network, but even with the help of her own personal muse (Bernadette Peters) she can't get a break. The muse points out that she can't expect any help from Brill, who constantly glances at her watch at all their meetings. Her writing teacher says she has talent.

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[explaining what the Professor means when he tells Alice she's 'deep']
Muse: Very deep is exactly where he wants to put it.

Bernadette Peters' muse is a mixture of creative juices, insight, and down-to-earth truth. I almost thought we had fast-forwarded to the Greek chorus of Mighty Aphrodite for a minute. It was like The Muse was inserted for Woody to tell Mia that she should stick to acting, and leave the writing to him.

The main metaphor of the movie is Dr. Yang, and his office functions as the looking glass through which Alice enters her Wonderland. He uses hypnosis, herbs, and magic potions. At one point, she barges in on him in the midst of an opium session. Is he the hookah smoking caterpillar? "Yang" would also seem to stand for the male principal, the compliment to "Yin." Her life is out of balance, with no Yang to offset her Yin.

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Dr. Yang: Love is a very complex emotion. No rational thought... much romance, but much suffering.

Her husband, Doug, wants her to just play the wife role, but offers her neither love nor understanding.

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[trying to tell Alice why she'd be good working part-time in a sweater store]
Doug: You have a nice personality and you know sweaters.

Dr. Yang encourages her to speak to a man she sees while they are both dropping off their kids at school. The man is a jazz musician (Joe Mantegna), a tenor sax player who is working on a tribute to Duke Ellington. Though we never get to see or hear him actually play, he appears to be a solid professional on the New York jazz scene.

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[explaining to Alice why he wants to have an affair with her]
Joe: There's nothing sexier than a lapsed Catholic.

Though she flirts with him, he isn't really the answer to her dilemma. She is almost going through Freudian analysis, searching her past for answers to her present.

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Alice: But then when dad died you drank yourself to death with, with margaritas.
Alice's Mother: I couldn't help it darling. You know I couldn't resist the taste of salt around the rim of a glass.

As in most of Allen's films, music plays a big part, especially jazz. At one point Alice, after hypnosis, is brazenly flirting with the jazz musician, asking astute questions about his reeds (he uses #3) and making references to the whole world of harmonics that opened up when John Coltrane switched from Tenor to Soprano Saxophone.

Woody Allen is a clarinet player himself, and especially fond of traditional jazz. The opening song, used as an ongoing musical motif, is "Lime House Blues." Though not technically a blues, this old-time jazz tune has stood the test of time, and was still being covered, for instance, by Coltrane, well into the post bop jazz era. It also works well as a bluegrass tune. "Oh, Lime House Kid, Oh-oh-oh, Lime House Kid. Going the way that the rest of them did. Poor broken blossom, and nobody's child. Haunting and taunting, you're just kind of wild." And the lyrics fit because the song talks about going to China Town, such as Alice is going to Dr. Yang's. "...rings for your fingers and tears for your crown, that is the story of old China Town."

After much soul searching, Alice leaves her husband, who is cheating on her anyway, and devotes herself to charity, adopting multiple orphans. Who (besides Madonna or Angelina Jolie) does that sound like?

Mia Farrow

Date of Birth
9 February 1945, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name
Maria de Lourdes Villiers-Farrow

Height
5' 4¼" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography
Mia Farrow is the daughter of the director John Farrow and the actress and Tarzan-girl Maureen O'Sullivan. She debuted at the movies in 1959 in very small roles. She was noticed for the first time in the film Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski. She showed her talent also on TV and at the theatre, but her final breakthrough was when she met Woody Allen and became his Muse after the film A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). After that, Woody Allen wrote many other roles for her.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Volker Boehm

Spouse
André Previn (10 October 1970 - 1979) (divorced) 6 children
Frank Sinatra (19 July 1966 - 16 August 1968) (divorced)

She and Woody Allen made 13 movies together: Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Alice (1990), Another Woman (1988), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), September (1987), Husbands and Wives (1992), A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), New York Stories (1989), Radio Days (1987), Shadows and Fog (1992) and Zelig (1983)

Personal Quotes:

"I don't like to talk about acting. I don't analyze it."

"I love Lindt. Dark chocolate is such a delicious indulgence."

"I don't think you can be a Catholic without an accompanying measure of guilt."

"I think it was a difficult place for children. Beverly Hills was a one-business town, and the movie-making community was very clique-ish. You didn't really meet people outside that circle - except when they were employed by your parents: lawyers, or a gardener. Things that you might have wanted to do, you saw them as, in a way, in service. It was limiting in the way that role models were presented to children, and when people sort of became aware of how special our circumstances were, it also began to dawn on them that: how could they possibly sustain this themselves?"

"And I have the most wonderful children. I've been very, very blessed."

"If I seem to be running, it's because I'm pursued."


Top Ten Films of Mia Farrow (with fun facts and trivia courtesy of imdb dot com):

1. Rosemary's Baby (1968) Directed by Roman Polanski, whose pregnant wife actress Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 song by The Beatles, one of whose members, 'John Lennon,' would one day live (and in 1980 be murdered) in the Manhattan apartment building called The Dakota - where Rosemary's Baby had been filmed. The Dakota Building on Manhattan's Upper West Side was renamed The Bramford for the film. It was on the set of this film that Mia Farrow received divorce papers from then-husband Frank Sinatra.

2. The Great Gatsby (1974) Originally, Truman Capote was the screenwriter, and his draft included making Nick a homosexual and Jordan Baker a vindictive lesbian. Capote was fired, and Francis Ford Coppola finished his draft in three weeks. Francis Ford Coppola lived in "West Egg," aka Great Neck, former home of F. Scott Fitzgerald, at the time of writing the screenplay for "The Great Gatsby." The rights for the novel were purchased by producer Robert Evans in 1971 so that his wife at the time, Ali MacGraw, could play the part of Daisy. A shooting script wasn't ready yet, and MacGraw agreed to star in The Getaway (1972) as filler. During the production of The Getaway (1972) MacGraw fell in love with co-star Steve McQueen and left Evans for him. Mia Farrow was then picked to play Daisy. Mia Farrow was pregnant during filming and the director filmed around that by including close up shots of Farrow, and having her wear a lot of flowing costumes.

3. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) Woody Allen wrote the role of Ariel for Diane Keaton, but she couldn't take the part because she was busy promoting her film Reds (1981) and preparing for Alan Parker's Shoot the Moon (1982). The first time Woody Allen appeared in one of his own films as part of an ensemble cast. Prior to this, he was either the main character or not in the film at all. The first time Mia Farrow appeared in a Woody Allen film. Woody Allen wrote the screenplay in 2 weeks.

4. Zelig (1983) To create authenticity, the production used actual lenses, cameras and sound equipment from the 1920s, and used the exact same lighting that would have been done. In addition, 'Gordon Willis' took the exposed negatives to the shower, and stomped on them. In order to help create the look of genuine footage from the 1930s, DuArt, the lab that handled processing, called some of their experienced technicians (who were experienced with processing techniques of the 1930s) out of retirement.

5. Broadway Danny Rose (1984) The reason Mia Farrow wears sunglasses most of the film is that Woody Allen did not feel she could pass herself as a tough Italian "broad", so he had her wear the sunglasses most of the film to hide her eyes, making her seem more sultry and mysterious. The only time she removes the sunglasses is when her character is supposed to be more vulnerable.

6. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) Woody Allen has said more than once that this is his favorite of the movies he's made. After this film was previewed, word got back to Woody Allen that if he just changed his ending, he could have a big hit. Allen declined, saying that the ending is one of the reasons he made the film. In an interview in Esquire, Woody Allen was asked why he didn't make a happy ending to the film. Allen replied, "That *was* the happy ending."

7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Many of Hannah's scenes were filmed in Mia Farrow's actual apartment. Allen said that Farrow once had the eerie experience of turning on the TV to a chance broadcast of the movie thus viewing her own apartment on TV while she was sitting in it. According to USA Today, upon the film's original release, a movement was afoot to try to make Allen's script the first screenplay to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The poem Eliot gives Lee which contains the line "nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands", is the poem "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond", by e.e. cummings. The book of poems by e.e. cummings is entitled ?Complete Poems 1913 ? 1962?, and the poem ?Somewhere? is on page 366. With a box office gross of over $40 million, this film represented Woody Allen's most financially successful film until Match Point (2005) in 2005. Four of Mia Farrow's real-life children appear in this film. Two appear as Hannah's son and daughter in the movie, while the other two (including Soon-Yi Previn, who Woody Allen would eventually marry in 1997) appear as young guests in the Thanksgiving scenes.

8. Radio Days (1987) This is the only Woody Allen film in which both of his frequent collaborators and longtime companions Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton appear.

9. September (1987) Director Woody Allen cast and shot this film twice, without telling the original cast. Woody Allen decided to make the film for two main reasons. One was because he had always wanted to do a "chamber piece", a film with a small cast (there are only six principal characters, and only nine in the entire film) in a single location. The other was for the location itself, Mia Farrow's Connecticut country house, which inspired Woody Allen to write the screenplay with the intention that it would be shot at the house. Unfortunately, by the time Allen finished the screenplay, it was winter and the location was unusable for a movie so firmly planted in September. The entire movie (which takes place in Vermont) was shot on a single soundstage at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York. According to Mia Farrow's autobiography "What Falls Away", Woody Allen filmed two or three versions of every scene, took all of the footage into the editing suite, cut the film together and then decided that he hated it. He then rewrote the entire script, fired and recast virtually every major part, and re-filmed the entire thing. This meant that he doubled his production costs and came in well behind schedule. Allen was reportedly keen to do it all again

10. Husbands and Wives (1992) Hoping to piggyback on the scandal surrounding Woody Allen's break-up with Mia Farrow, TriStar opened the film on 865 screens, the largest amount ever given over to a Woody Allen picture. They were rewarded with an opening weekend of $3.52 million, the biggest ever for an Allen film. Woody Allen said in an interview that the reason he shot the film the way he did was that he wanted to break the usual rules of filmmaking. He cut scenes right in the middle of dialog, he used hand held cameras for no particular reason and did not care if he showed the side or the back of a performer's head during a scene. Allen said for this reason, he felt this film was one of his best. Sydney Pollack stated that although he liked working on the film, he did not like the character he played. Contrary to general perception, Mia Farrow's role is not autobiographical. Indeed, Woody Allen originally wrote the Judy Davis part with the idea of Farrow playing it. Farrow chose to take on the role of Gabe's wife instead as it meant less shooting time for her.



May 26, 2008

PARABLE FOR OUR PRESENT FREE MARKET MATERIALIST AGE: WEALTH HOLDS NO POWER, ONLY LOVE IN POVERTY AND RENUNCIATION FOR OTHERS

The US media cannot see it and thus will not tell you:

There is no joy in material wealth, only in absolute renunciation of wealth to give oneself to others in Love.

This is Allen's most well developed film technically with its stunning sets and exquisite cinematography, both by the best in the business of that time. The actors as well, from the briefest walk-on are top notch, and thus the New York review considers wasted. Not so; they are used exquisitely in perfect measure, and had no more to say. Brevity is the soul of wit, and their brief appearances merit another viewing. In fact for every reason this film demands another viewing, repeatedly.

In this film we find not only Allen's cinematic technical and directorial prowess on best display, but also his writing, which is profound and deeply moral and true and must be seen once more. There are two aspects to this writing, form and content. Like a modern novel, a form with which since Love and Death Allen has always wrestled, this film teaches you how to view itself. Like James Joyce's Ulysses (Gabler Edition), we are taught how to watch this film, and thus rewarded in further viewings. A professor here tells us how we read the voices in novels as interior monologues and ruminations whereas in film we see exterior speech to often devoid of the interior life.

This film is all about the interior life of the eternal soul as opposed to idle materialist empty orgies. We need that professor's indication to understand how to see this film, which begins with an interior musing over breakfast. See it again. The unsophisticated viewer might lose track of all which is going on; it took me several viewings, well rewarded to follow the thread all the way through, knowing there is still so much more to see.

The classical allusions in themselves are fascinating and deserving of a doctoral thesis. For instance the Baldwin brother appearance as a deceased first beau, perfectly played, resonantes with Joyce's the Dead in which another husband competes with a lost loved one. The hilarious scene in which a love potion mistakenly placed as nutmeg in the Christmas eggnog causes strangers to fall hopelessly in love with Alice reminds us of Romance of Tristan & Iseult as well as intriguing insight on the fatal and annoying aspects of celebrity in which perfect strangers fall confusedly and eternally in love with a cinematic fictional representation. One feels here that Allen and Farrow are making a true comment about strangers and other fans at Manhattan cocktail parties swearing their undying allegiance based on personal reaction to their anonymous art.

I had long thought the best Woody Allen films were his collaborations with Ms. Farrow; I had long thought that Broadway Danny Rose was their finest film, with its true moral and lesson for life: Forgiveness, Acceptance and Love. This film beats it in every way, and thus most other US cinema as well. Woody Allen appears on the Vatican's list of 100 best movies; I cannot recall if this is one, but it ought to be.

In fact comparing the two films, Danny Rose and ALice, we see the full range of Farrow's powers as an actress. There she plays a gun moll; here she is a perfect representation of a young lady who had spent years among the nuns, who had even entered the novitiate. Her every mannerism and her constantly polite and demure expression are exact, nearly painfully correct and essential to the power of this drama. See it again. Does she not remind you of people you knew?

And her representation of the emotionally devastating effects of adultery and its banal, destructive emptiness is true to life, something Hollywood never tells us. Cybill Shepherd guiding her to saleable stories ("no nuns") refelcts this as explicitly as the professor's lesson in voices.

Please see this movie. Without revealing any spoilers, let us simply say that Mother Theresa of Calcutta wins. See this film. April 3, 2008

Tiny Alice

I having been retrospectively over the past year running through films Woody Allen directed, wrote, acted in or produced. Interestingly they run the gamut of his intellectual and cultural interests but I must admit that I did not realize how many of his films featured his old paramour Mia Farrow. She must be the number one actress featured in his various efforts. That is the case here with Allen's whimsical modern day take on the Alice in Wonderland saga in good old New York City (naturally).

Here Farrow is the unfulfilled wife of a stockbroker who along the way has lost her moorings and her values and is desperately seeking a solution. In that effort she runs to the wisdom of the East exemplified by Doctor Yang, the acupuncturist. Going through a series of madcap false starts and pseudo-affairs she finally is able to right her course, leave her husband and bring up her children out of harm's way. Damn, I want the telephone (or more correctly these days, the cellphone number) of the good Doctor Yang, pronto. A piece of fluff. Woody has had better ideas for a film in his time but not a bad performance by Farrow.


February 19, 2008

¨Alice ¨ and ¨ Another Woman ¨¨

These are my favorites Woody Allen 's movies.
They are so human... with a touch of humor, I just love them
Woody knows women as no other movie director does.
¡¡¡Bravo!!! March 20, 2007

a little known gem

Well written, well acted, and well directed, this is much better than 99% of all films on TV or in the theatres. the only reason it is unknown is its adult content - marijuana smoking and romantic affairs, lending amusing background to a woman's haphazard but fortunate search for control of her life. This is that rare bird, an intelligent film, for adults. My favorite line: Joe Mantegna's remark to Mia Farrow: "You're really interesting", after she relates a private comment she heard him make while she was invisible. It is not a 5 star film, like say "Witness", but it is an excellent small film. This is for film fans who prefer romance to violence. February 21, 2007

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