Hannah and her Sisters

"Hannah and her Sisters" is a film I could see loving more and more in my twilight years. Not that I don't love it today, it is still one of my favorite Woody Allen films, but it's also one of those films that becomes more meaningful as I grow older. I remember first seeing "Hannah and her Sisters" when I was very young and I was seeing Woody Allen films for the very first time. Back then I probably didn't fully understand all the themes Allen was playing with, this was an adult film, and I was not fully there yet. Still I enjoyed it, the acting stood out for me, the dialogue, I knew I was seeing something quite brilliant; Allen mostly deals with intellectuals in his films, speaking a language I could only hope someday to understand.

I've revisited the film multiple times since then and it brings about such a warm quality to it, Allen is often harsh and judgemental to his overly neurotic characters, but here he seems to at least forgive them and accept them, it's probably no coincidence the film begins and ends with Thanksgiving dinner.

The story is one of Allen's most ambitious, Hannah (Mia Farrow) is married to Eliot (Michael Caine) who's in love with her sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Lee is in a suffocating relationship with a genius painter (Max Von Sydow) and decides to start seeing Eliot. Hannah's other sister is Holly (Dianne Weist), a struggling actress who doesn't seem to have any direction in her life. She is always asking Hannah for money, she's a former coke addict, and she's full of anxieties and insecurities.

There is also Hannah's ex-husband Mickey (Allen), a hypochondriac comedy writer who, after a health scare decides to find out if there's actually a God by trying to find religion.

Anyone of these characters Hannah, Lee, Holly, Eliot, Mickey, even the painter are strong enough to have their own film, but Allen balances these stories and their themes beautifully, I was amazed at the end just how well it all comes together.

Each character has their own specific needs, that aren't being met, they are unhappy, they don't know what they want or what they need, they all seem lost. Even Hannah, the one who does seem to have it all together, she is the most responsible one of the family, she takes care of everyone. On the outside Hannah doesn't seem to need help, as she's a natural caregiver to her sisters, her husband, and even her parents who don't have it perfect. Yet near the end of the film we get a very emotional scene involving Hannah and Eliot where she basically does admit she has needs just like everyone else.

Holly looks to be the opposite of Hannah, she resents her and always thinks she's belittling her and her career. There is a lunch scene in a restaurant where all three sisters are together, all emotions, resentments, and betrayals seem to come to the surface in this scene, so many things are said and left unsaid, yet we know what each sister is thinking, it is the emotional height of the film and it's one of Allen's best.

The acting is just stellar in this film, Allen has always had the gift for giving actors roles they could really sink their teeth into. Oscars were awarded to Weist and Caine for their roles, and they are magnificent, but I want to draw attention to Farrow, perhaps one of the most underrated actresses of her time. Farrow worked with Allen almost exclusively during the 80s and early 90s which might by why she wasn't given much notice. But there is a certain sadness she brings to her best roles, Hannah was probably tailor made for her, but look at the hurt she brings to it and the utter surprise in her eyes when Eliot speaks of her never needing him, it's great film acting.

Perhaps the whole moral of the film comes from Mickey who recounts his very comedic attempt at suicide after he comes to the conclusion life is meaningless. After the incident Mickey goes to a movie house to try to put his life in the right frame of mind. On the screen is the Marx Brothers in "Duck Soup" (Obviously) and it's there where Mickey finds some happiness and enjoyment out of life.

"Hannah and her Sisters" is probably Allen's most forgiving film to his characters, they are often dysfunctional, but he never judges them. Unlike some of Allen's films, these people are given a chance to be forgiven and to start with a clean slate. In real life, things might not have worked out so well for Hannah, Eliot, Lee, Holly, and Mickey, but their lives are in a movie, they are meant to show us how we could live ours if we could be just as forgiving to ourselves. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone is unhappy from time to time. I think with "Hannah and her Sisters", Allen is showing us without these unhappy moments and mistakes, life wouldn't be worth living, and as the final bit of dialogue in the film shows, it is also full of surprises.