moonspinner55 Review of Hannah and Her Sisters

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

A serious comedy--or, the best and worst of Woody Allen

[7/10 · 3 November 2005]

Woody Allen's films tend to run either hot ("Sleeper", "Annie Hall", "Manhattan") or cold ("Stardust Memories", "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy"). "Hannah And Her Sisters" falls somewhere in the middle. Ever since reading about Allen's contempt for the process of writing comedy (which he feels is infantile and beneath him), I find his blithe relationship-comedies less and less amusing. Only a few of the mixed-up, lovestruck, hapless or helpless characters in "Hannah" are really interesting. Hannah (Mia Farrow) tries to rally everyone with her sanity but she has no sense of humor; Lee (Barbara Hershey) is beautiful and contemplative, but listless; Holly (Dianne Wiest) is a goosey bauble one minute, a deflated cynic the next; Frederick (Max Von Sydow), Lee's older lover, seems straight out of an Ingmar Bergman drama; Mickey (Woody Allen), Hannah's ex, seems taken straight from "Manhattan". The picture meanders cheerfully, with side-plots stopping and starting like sketches. It's quite handsome, but there's no real engine at work, just a few pointed observations, lots of (heavy) nostalgia, and Allen's patented comic paranoia. Michael Caine as Hannah's husband (who harbors a mad crush on Lee) and Wiest both won Supporting Oscars; Allen won for his original screenplay. *** from ****