Interiors Trailer

INTERIORS: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: Diane Keaton, Mary Beth Hurt

Hannah and Her Sisters.

Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters is another great film from Allen’s Golden Era of filmmaking. Much like his earlier film Interiors, Hannah and Her Sisters follows the lives of three sisters sandwiched between two Thanksgiving celebrations.

Hannah, played by Mia Farrow, is the successful yet goody-goody sister who is married to Elliot (Michael Caine), who happens to lust for her sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Holly, (Diane Wiest) is the confused, cocaine-abusing sister with no career direction and she quite possibly lacks any artistic talent. The film deals with infidelity realistically, where we continually see Elliot making advances towards Lee (such as flirting with her, buying her a collection of poems by e.e. cummings and then informing her that a certain love poem of his reminded him of her, as well as loaning her books, etc).

The film does share some similarities with Interiors, but the relationships in Hannah and Her Sisters are presented much more strongly than in Interiors, and their relationships are more present in the film. We get the sense, for example, that Holly resents Hannah’s goody-goody nature and perfection, as does Elliot. Although he embarks on an affair with Lee (telling her that his marriage to Hannah is in its last stages) ultimately he learns that his connection to her was not as strong as once felt, and he realizes he loves Hannah more than he thought. Though all this is unknown to Hannah.


Likewise, Lee is emotionally weak for much of the film, always seeming to become involved with men who carry emotional baggage and who are not very good for her. Frederick is a depressive, frustrated painter who uses her for his only connection to the outside world, and he refuses to attend any family functions. Elliot essentially lies to her about the status of his marriage to Hannah, and through Lee’s own weakness, she believes him because she wants to believe him.

Woody Allen plays the character of Mickey, a hypochondriac who offers some humor into his ailments, but also deeper themes resonate as he ponders the meaning of life and religion. The film manages to tackle bigger issues as these without pontificating in the process, and all the while maintaining a level of humor throughout. One should not be too shocked then, to discover that the directionless Holly and the hypochondriac Mickey ultimately end up together, despite having suffered an earlier terrible date. Though both these characters are warm, and as viewers, we come to like them.


One of Allen’s many talents is to get into the minds of women, from their sibling rivalries to their competitiveness for the same man (Holly and her friend April, played by Carrie Fisher, compete for the affection of this architect throughout much of the film, and there is a very realistic exchange when he is deciding which to take home first, and the two argue passively over which one should stay in the car with him the longest). We hear Holly’s thoughts as she learns she’ll be the one taken home first. “He prefers April. I hate April. She’s pushy.”


Allen also uses effective camerawork to reveal the naturalness of the setting, such as allowing the characters to move in and out of view as one would realistically do at a party, thus allowing them to engage in small talk and other minor things that are responsible for this film’s authenticity. Although the film is set in the 1980s and one can see the fashion is dated, the film is still fresh and timeless. The dialogue is great and the characters complex, there are many ways one can broach this film. What is the deeper meaning of life? What goes into infidelities? What is the underlining causes for sibling rivalry and competition?

All these questions are asked and answered multiple times. Viewers will be left with many angles to ponder, and many insights into their own lives. Hannah and Her Sisters is a Woody Allen classic that is not to be missed.

Interiors.

Interiors is one of Woody Allen’s finest films. Noted as his first real drama, Interiors ranks among the best of Allen’s best, beside that of Stardust Memories, Another Woman, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan. Amid his Golden Age of filmmaking, the director arguably produced a dozen great films.

Interiors begins with the mother’s suicide, although as viewers, we don’t know this. We see Diane Keaton looking out of a window, viewing images of her and her two sisters playing on a beach when they are young. We see the cool interior, everything ordered and somberly lighted, thanks to the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the same cinematographer Ingmar Bergman used for his own films. Thus, it is no wonder that Interiors is Woody Allen’s most Bergman-like film.

The mother, (Eve) played by Geraldine Page, gives a stellar performance as a mentally ill “ice queen,” and the father, (Arthur) played by E.G. Marshall, notes in the beginning of the film, while looking out of a window, “I had dropped out of law school when I met Eve. She was very beautiful.” The film does a great job switching from past to present, filling in the little details later on.

Characters spend many moments beside windows, looking out of them, in fact. The interiors of the homes consist of “beiges and earth tones,” and are this way for a reason. Everyone seems detached, cold and austere. Allen also manages to accomplish the unthinkable: to create a great film that is full of genuinely unlikable characters.

Joey (Mary Beth Hurt) is the whiney, uptight wannabe creative type who has “all the anguish and anxiety of the artistic personality without any of the talent.” Renata (Diane Keaton) is the pretentious poet who locks herself away in Connecticut, trying to overcome her writer’s block, and then Flyn, (Kristen Griffith) is the somewhat ditzy aspiring actress who lacks depth.

Likewise, Allen touches upon many aspects in the arts, from those who struggle with trying to be one, yet do not have talent (such as Joey) to Frederick, the novelist husband of Renata, (played by Richard Jordan) who suffers angst over his lack of critical acclaim and has no problem drinking himself unconscious, to Eve, who admires Renata’s talent yet never gives Joey the affection she craves. Likewise, Renata resents the fact that their father has spent his life favoring Joey over her.


When Arthur announces he is leaving Eve for a “trial separation,” Eve cannot emotionally handle it, and she eventually attempts suicide. Sibling rivalry and dynamics are intricately demonstrated, where Renata continually encourages Eve that it is only a matter of time until her parents will reconcile, while Joey does not think Eve should delude herself. It is Joey’s pessimism that Eve resents, and Renata’s optimism that Eve craves, which makes the outcome all the more ironic when Joey is the one who ends up being right.

Tensions rise when Arthur brings a woman (Pearl, played by Maureen Stapleton) he met in Greece over to dinner at Renata’s house. Pearl is a stark contrast to the family: she is dressed in bright red, is outspoken and loud, and is interested in card tricks. Unable to connect with the family’s “cerebral discourse,” when Arthur announces their engagement, Joey refuses to give her blessing, and refers to Pearl as a “vulgarian.” Then a great exchange is made between the two siblings:

Renata: Will you tell him it’s ok? Clearly it’s your approval he needs.
Joey: He clearly had no trouble getting yours.
Renata: Well clearly it doesn’t mean as much as yours.


Finally, when the mother does suicide herself, moments before this takes place, there is an extended dialogue scene between Eve and Joey, with Joey doing all of the talking. She confesses both the rage and love she feels for her mother, and then Eve walks into the ocean never to be seen again. Thus, Joey follows her in, and it is Pearl who literally breathes the life back into Joey once she is pulled back onto land. While the film does not offer a happy ending, the characters are still as they are, with the exception of Joey, who at least learns to get her anxieties out in a journal, noting how her feelings “seemed very powerful to her.”

Many critics dismissed this film as melodrama, and even if one could claim that, then it is melodrama at its highest. A certain English playwright named Shakespeare was also great at constructing melodrama, and Allen proves it can be done if done well. Interiors is a great film. The beauty ranks alongside the best of Bergman, and the writing is akin to Strindberg or O’Neill, yet at the same time, holds that stamp of a great individual artist with the name Woody Allen.

Interiors.

I washed my floors this weekend (my 'interiors' rather) and what else was there for me to do, other than to rewatch Interiors the film for like the 500th time while they dried? Alright, bad pun and joke, but it is one of my faves, even though it's about a dour group of spoiled WASPs who create their own problems.

Above you have Diane Keaton looking dismal. Anthony has written about it here, where he also notes: "And though I am not that sympathetic on my blog to those who lack talent and pump the world full of bad art, I thought the film did a good job of depicting these people who have strong feelings but no talent with which to manipulate those feelings into something artistic."

The film is beautiful to look at, and the dialogue great. It's one of my favorite films of all time and I usually watch it at least twice a year. Also, this stars the great Geraldine Page who also starred in The Trip To Bountiful, and it's hard to believe they're the same actress. That's what great actors do. Both performances are superb. She's great as the cold and repressed Eve, and also the warm and positive Carrie, in The Trip To Bountiful. I encourage everyone to watch both.

I also must add--the sign of a great actor is when you can't imagine how multiple characters played by that actor could even be in the same room together. Imagine Eve and Carrie hanging out? Don't think so. Here is the trailer: