Allen fans - and I am not among them - usually rate Annie Hall and this film as his best. It most certainly is the most indicative of Allen's shortcomings as a director/writer/actor that put off his detractors.
Hannah is Mia Farrow and her sisters are played by Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest. The film depicts the various melodrama and relationship issues that plague the three and their extended family. With possibly the exception of Farrow, every character in this dirge is selfish, unsympathetic and whiny. When they are not yammering incessantly at each other, then Allen allows us to overhear their inner thoughts - which basically consists of further yammering - only they don't move their lips. Everyone is either oblivious to obvious events around them or are busy trying to cheat on someone else in the film.
Farrow's husband is played by Michael Caine, who barely seems aware of Farrow's existence because he is too busy pursuing a romantic liaison with Hershey, who is in a relationship with an older artist played by Max Von Sydow. Wiest is a habitual drug addict on the hunt for Mr. Right, but consistently seems to lose them to her more attractive friend Carrie Fisher. Their parents, Maureen O'Sullivan and Lloyd Nolan, are eccentrics in their own right. And lingering through all of this is Allen as Farrow's hypochondriac ex-husband.
If the film seems unfocused, it's because it is. The story is all over the map and we have no rooting interest in anyone. If Caine takes Farrow for granted, so does the film. The film may be called Hannah and Her Sisters, but Hannah has no big moments and virtually nothing to do for its running time. Yet Allen - whose character has the most tenuous tie with the family at best - is given a lion's share of screen time to incessantly ramble on and on and on about his search for meaning in life.
A good deal of the supporting cast is wasted. Von Sydow, Fisher, O'Sullivan, Nolan, and Sam Waterston, among others, have nothing to do and just float in and out by writer's fiat. The fact that Allen fails to provide a strong role for Farrow as the proverbial lead is inexcusable. Caine and Hershey are awfully energetic, but it is impossible to be caught up in their story as he is basically a philandering cretin and she a dishrag pushover pressured into betraying her sister. Wiest is good, but again her character is not especially likable. In fact, none of these characters are especially likable with the exception of Farrow - and that may only be because she is the cipher at the center of the whole mess without many discernible personality traits.
Fans of Allen adore this, but anyone else would be wisely urged to steer clear of it.
Hannah is Mia Farrow and her sisters are played by Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest. The film depicts the various melodrama and relationship issues that plague the three and their extended family. With possibly the exception of Farrow, every character in this dirge is selfish, unsympathetic and whiny. When they are not yammering incessantly at each other, then Allen allows us to overhear their inner thoughts - which basically consists of further yammering - only they don't move their lips. Everyone is either oblivious to obvious events around them or are busy trying to cheat on someone else in the film.
Farrow's husband is played by Michael Caine, who barely seems aware of Farrow's existence because he is too busy pursuing a romantic liaison with Hershey, who is in a relationship with an older artist played by Max Von Sydow. Wiest is a habitual drug addict on the hunt for Mr. Right, but consistently seems to lose them to her more attractive friend Carrie Fisher. Their parents, Maureen O'Sullivan and Lloyd Nolan, are eccentrics in their own right. And lingering through all of this is Allen as Farrow's hypochondriac ex-husband.
If the film seems unfocused, it's because it is. The story is all over the map and we have no rooting interest in anyone. If Caine takes Farrow for granted, so does the film. The film may be called Hannah and Her Sisters, but Hannah has no big moments and virtually nothing to do for its running time. Yet Allen - whose character has the most tenuous tie with the family at best - is given a lion's share of screen time to incessantly ramble on and on and on about his search for meaning in life.
A good deal of the supporting cast is wasted. Von Sydow, Fisher, O'Sullivan, Nolan, and Sam Waterston, among others, have nothing to do and just float in and out by writer's fiat. The fact that Allen fails to provide a strong role for Farrow as the proverbial lead is inexcusable. Caine and Hershey are awfully energetic, but it is impossible to be caught up in their story as he is basically a philandering cretin and she a dishrag pushover pressured into betraying her sister. Wiest is good, but again her character is not especially likable. In fact, none of these characters are especially likable with the exception of Farrow - and that may only be because she is the cipher at the center of the whole mess without many discernible personality traits.
Fans of Allen adore this, but anyone else would be wisely urged to steer clear of it.