Year: 1986
Director: Woody Allen
Country: US
Language: English
This week I've decided to watch every Woody Allen flick that I haven't seen before. A month ago I would have said that I had seen the best Allen had to offer, but now I realize that I've missed a lot. Among those were Zelig, Deconstructing Harry and, arguably Allen's best, Hannah and Her Sisters. It's quite a remarkable film that won Dianne Wiest her first Oscar, the second she won in another Allen picture called Bullets Over Broadway.
Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's Husband (Michael Caine) falls in love with her sister Lee (Barbara Hershey), while her hypochondriac ex-husband (Woody Allen) rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly (Dianne Wiest).
Hannah and Her Sisters has a sub-plot that is just as unique as the main story. A hypochondriac, played by the delirious Woody Allen, fears that he is going to die very shortly. Eventually he finds out that he's perfectly happy, but that life is meaningless. Meandering from religion to religion he eventually decides to kill himself, but then watches a Groucho Marx movie and realizes that maybe the only reason to live is to simply enjoy life. I apologize for spoiling the subplot of a 27 year old film, but I found his conclusion remarkable. It was a brilliantly written sub-story, loaded in existential philosophy, and it could have been its own feature length picture. Instead it works to strengthen the core plot and seems to weave effortlessly with it.
The screenplay for Hannah and Her Sisters is so remarkable that a group was rallying for it to be seriously considered for a Pulitzer prize. It was not awarded that, but it did win "Best Screenplay" at the Academy Awards that year. Though there are several main characters, each of them is handled with utmost care and contribute greatly to the story. They are all very human, each with strength and flaws, and neither becomes a caricature. Nobody is "evil" or "good", rather they are shades of grey, and Allen asks us to care for all of them. This is one of Allen's least Bergman-esque pictures, but has a perfect balance of light and dark, tension and humor. The ending seems incredibly optimistic at first, but it is shrouded in mystery.
In conclusion, Hannah and Her Sisters is among Allen's greatest achievements. It's not as influential as Annie Hall, but I'd argue that it's the smarter of the two. Is there any Director that is better than Woody Allen at making a realistic human drama? It's hard to tell. He can entertain us, make us cry and often make us do both. This is a film that makes us do exactly that. Praise it! 5/5
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