Husbands and Wives Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Husbands and Wives
Year: 1992
Director: Woody Allen 
Country: US
Language: English

The thirteenth of thirteen pictures Mia Farrow and Woody Allen collaborated on, Husbands and Wives premiered during a difficult time in the couples' lives; they were breaking up after a long relationship. Allen was having an affair with Farrow's adopted Korean daughter Soon-Yi, who was just 21years old at the time. According to Farrow, she made the discovery of Allen’s affair when she found a stack of nude Polaroids taken by him of her daughter. Was Allen and Soon-Yi's relationship built on incest? Not technically, at least from a legal and biological perceptive. Unfortunately the negative press everyone involved has received since then due to the incident has changed public perception. Even though Woody Allen still makes great pictures, his reputation will forever be tarnished. 

When Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy David) announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow). Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.

Hoping to piggyback on the scandal surrounding Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's breakup, TriStar opened Husbands and Wives a week earlier than expected and to more screens (865) than ever given to Woody Allen at the time. As a result they were awarded with an opening weekend of 3.52 million, the biggest ever for the Director until that point in time. Speaking strictly of cinematography, this picture was quite unique looking, mainly because Allen sought out to break all the traditional rules of film-making. He cut scenes at random, used hand-held cameras for no specific reason and would shoot the side and back of the performer's heads. It's visually distinct from the actor's filmography and thus stands out. 

Allen's thought-provoking work dissects the long-term effects of being with the same person for a long time: familiarity, infidelity, stagnation and indifference.  The concept is modeled after Swedish Icon Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage (1973) Allen argues that argues is that many "rational" relationships are actually not as durable as they seem, often both partners want to be happy on their own terms. Sometimes it's just a case of "the grass is greener on the other side". Being single can look quite enjoyable when one is married and vice versa. Both couples in the film are really asking the same question: Is this all there is? Must we abandon our fantasies of the perfect partner in order to accept the comfort and truth of our real one? People are very hard to please. Television and films sell us on the idea of a "perfect" partner, one that can fulfill every need, but we forget that "perfection" cannot be obtained. Though we can have a few of the character traits we desire, having all of them is a bit much.

I laughed during the scene where a man lists his perfect woman, but then ends up describing a female version of himself. Far too many people have standards much greater than they can achieve. Allen hits a lot of right notes and makes some very honest observations about people in North American Culture. I'd certainly watch it again. 
Praise it! 4.5/5