Monday, March 5, 2018

HUSBANDS AND WIVES: A HOLLYWOOD PERCEPTION OF MARRIAGE



For the most part there are two camps when it comes to Woody Allen movies: you love them or you hate them. There are a few of us out there who pick and choose which we do and don’t like but you find far too many on either side of the issue. Those that love him think he’s a genius. Those that hate him think he’s not funny or dramatic. Myself, I think it depends on the movie. HUSBANDS AND WIVES to me missed the mark and for one main reason I’ll get to.

The movie beings with the story of two couples, Gabe and Judy Roth (Allen and Mia Farrow) and Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis). Getting ready to go out to dinner Jack and Sally announce that they’ve decided to separate. This surprises Gabe but devastates Judy. The dinner carries on but throughout you can tell it’s affected her. When they head home she continues to go on about it with Gabe.

As the movie progresses we watch as both Jack and Sally try to start their new lives on their own after all these years of marriage. It’s easy for Jack because he was having an affair with a much younger woman beforehand. For Sally it’s all neuroses and dealing with life alone. Jack’s new flame Sam (Lysette Anthony) is as different from both Jack and Sally as you can get, a yoga instructor who is big on astrology. She screams flake from scene one.

Sally has her fling with a co-worker of Judy’s, someone Judy finds attractive, named Michael (Liam Neeson). Michael loves poetry and tends to lean into the romantic more than Jack did. He’s much more sensitive than Sally can handle.

In the meantime whether due to the situation with Jack and Sally or not, Gabe and Judy begin having problems. They argue about having another child with Judy wanting one and Gabe hesitant. As the film progresses the two of them switch sides on the matter. Judy begins to have this wistful feeling towards Michael and Gabe becomes somewhat infatuated with one of his students (Juliette Lewis).

The movie plays out in vignettes from one character to another interspersed with interviews with each as well as others involved in the story. It some cases it is a psychiatrist doing the interviewing while at other times you would think it was a documentary film crew. The end result is a less that straightforward story that works sometimes and not others.

For me the worst part of the film was the performance by Mia Farrow. Combines with the character she plays and the dialogue given you have to wonder if by this time Allen had felt it was time to part ways with her. That the production of the film took place they year before the couple split makes what you see understandable.

Farrow’s character is a self-centered passive aggressive one. She manipulates those around her to get what she wants, appearing unaware that she knows she’s doing so. One of the characters even comments on how she does this. Her non-stop questioning of every single detail of the lives she and Gave lives becomes grating in a short amount of time. Worst of all it feels as if Farrow applies more of her own personal personality into the role than performance.

But the entire list of characters are all insufferable. Gabe’s infatuation with his student is unbelievable. Lewis as that student who gravitates from one older man to another using them along the way is contemptable. Jack’s gravitation and decision to leave his wife for a younger woman is stereotypical. And Sally’s jittery mannerisms, nervous habits and constant hem hawing about what to do or not to do makes one wonder how she and Jack ever married in the first place.

The end result for me was a movie that left me glad I’d seen it once so I could say I’d done so but never wanting to revisit again in the future. It wasn’t funny and the drama felt false. Some love the movie and proclaim it one of Allen’s best. For me it didn’t come close.

Twilight Time is offering this as they have a number of other Allen films, in the best way possible with a 1080p hi def transfer. Extras are very limited here to only an isolated music & effects track and the original trailer. As with all of their releases Twilight Time has limited this title to just 3,000 copies so if you’re an Allen fan and want to add it to your collection make sure you pick a copy soon.

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