Another Woman (1988)

One of Allen's Better Films

At a friends today, she had Erik Satie on the CD player and Gymnopedie No.3 magically filled the room. Haunting and beautiful, this has to be one of my favourite pieces. Written for piano, it was the renowned Debussy who orchestrated the music, adding to its charm. Then it came to me, what film features this wonderful piece of music?...suddenly clear: Another Woman, Directed and Written by Woody Allen. (1988)

Out of a slew of Allen's so-called "serious" films, this is without a doubt his most well written and directed pieces' without a hint of pretention.

Gena Rowlands delivers a superlative performance in the role of Professor Marion Post, in the midst of attempting to finish her book, she hires a flat in Manhatten for the isolation and "piece & quiet" to finish it. Little does she know that a psychiatric practice next door will open up memories of her past, her relationships, her marriage and the choices she has made over her life that have altered her destiny.

As Marion works on her book, a desperate female voice can be heard filtering through the walls or heating vents. The patient (Mia Farrow) pours out her doubts and failed aspirations, pushing the professor into a reverie of self-analysis: the relationship with her father, played by John Houseman and the man she truly loved but turned away from - Larry Lewis, a stunning performance by Gene Hackman.

There is a particular scene where Larry (Hackman) asks, bordering on pleading, for Marion to come back to him. It is raining, of course, and they're standing under a famous bridge in the city while Satie's beautiful music plays in the background. One usually sees Hackman in "tough" roles, however, one never sees the sensitive man, a man truly in-love and expressing it with such gut-wrenching honesty. One of the more excellent scenes in the film.

This is a film concerning self- reflection, an attempt to be true to one's self, and the pain of having to do so. And once doing so, going back to those you hurt and trying to make some kind of amends; though most times, it's too late.

This film is about relationships and the choices we make in life.

Wonderfully crafted, beautifully acted and Erik Satie to boot...what more could you want?




March 30, 2008

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Another Woman (1988) is among Woody Allen's most underrated and overlooked films. It is a powerful and intelligent film--a "searing adult drama" (Leonard Maltin)--from a director at the top of his form. It tells the story of Marion (Gena Rowlands), an emotionally reticent college professor on the verge of fifty. She heads the philosophy department of a university and her area is in German existential philosophy. While on sabbatical to write a book, Marion sublets a small flat to focus on her writing, but instead she becomes absorbed in the patient sessions she overhears through a shared air vent to a psychiatrist's office next door. She is fascinated from an intellectual and existential perspective. She is particularly interested in the sessions of a desperate young pregnant woman, Hope (Mia Farrow), who the doctor believes is sabotaging her own life to justify suicide. The confidences ultimately cause Marion to examine her own life and sense of inner emptiness, and she realizes her family's influence has left her emotionally crippled and incapable of enjoying life and connecting with her husband and friends. When she discovers her husband's infidelity (hence the title), Marion resolves to change her life with the goal of living a life of greater meaning. Another Woman offers an excellent cast (Rowlands, Farrow, Ian Holm, Sandy Dennis, John Houseman, David Ogden Stiers, Gene Hackman, Martha Plimpton). This is among my favorite Woody Allen films, and one that I highly recommend.

G. Merritt


December 30, 2007

Truly Special

Woody Allen's best drama, not a laugh in it (none intended) Outstanding performances. Not for everyone; only introspective, serious film viewers. Heavily influenced by Bergman, every scene is a gem. Nothing short of brilliant October 10, 2007

The unbearable lightness of being!

If we had to establish the film that demarks the beginning of a new visual refinement and major dramatic weight, we necessarily should turn our eyes to Interiors, the critics by then overlooked this unexpected turning point in his artistic trajectory, branded him of pretending to be the mirror's image of Ingmar Bergman,

The three essential films that worked out as fundamental and previous steps to reach this peak were Hannah and her sisters, Days of Radio and September, and having elapsed ten years , (the talent never improvises itself) Allen surprised to own and strangers but this time with the maturity and dramatis corpus, around the life of Marion, (my always beloved icon actress, Gena Rowlands) and its inner universe, surrounded and nourished of dark absences, adultery, lack of expression, vocation, frustration, illusions and psychoanalysis.

The final sum of all these factors was a marble like masterpiece, a true treasured cinematographic marvel, inch by inch. The spectator finishes convinced and touched, although the film seems to be more inspired in Dostoievski than Bergman and the whole sensation we are in front of a vanguard theatrical play than a movie.

Allen gave us a memorable evidence of his artistic independence, intellectual punch and undeniable maturity filmmaker, capable to transmit with sharp dialogues, those dark labyrinths of our soul with his mordacity as partnership.

To my mind, this film is one of his most egregious artistic achievements; that's why in my personal list is among his six full rounded gems. 1
August 17, 2007

Emotional, raw and powerful drama

This is not a Woody Allen comedy; it is one of his better dramas, with the superb Gena Rowlands making the most of her screen time as a woman in a marital crisis who happens to overhear another woman's crisis in discussion with her psychiatrist.
Very emotional, poignant and raw material. August 1, 2007

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