Annie Hall (1977) Review

Review by Daniel N. Gullotta.

It’s been described by world famous film critic Robert Ebert “just about everyone’s favorite Woody Allen movie”. It was the winner of five Academy Awards in 1977 including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture (beating Star Wars) as well as being nominated for several Golden Globes. It currently holds a 98% rating on the Tomatometer and is easily one of the most influential romantic-comedies ever made. I am of course speaking of Woody Allen’s 1977 classic, “Annie Hall”.

The story is deceptively simple. It follows the romantic adventures (and misadventures) of neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and his equally neurotic partner Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The film follows their relationship from their first encounter to falling in love, from small couple feuds to emotional meltdowns and is a roll coaster ride about love, life, sex, philosophy, pain, and relationships (particularly in the 1970’s.) When it was first being advertised, one of the slogans about it was that it was a film about “nervous romance”. Yet while the concept is simple, Alvy and Annie’s relationship together and apart is anything but simple!

In retrospect, Annie Hall was the major turning point of Allen’s film making career.  It proved to the world and in many ways, to himself, that he could do more then stand up and absurdist humour. While he continued to make wide ranging genre comedies,Annie Hall gave Allen the edge and the means to take on more personal and serious topics in his film making, perhaps most evident in Interiors (1978), Manhattan(1979), Hannah And Her Sisters (1986), Match Point (2005), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), and most recently, Midnight In Paris (2011).

One of the things that gives Annie Hall it’s edge, then and now, is it’s frankness about sexuality, especially in a relationship. All too often in modern cinema is sex either used a plot device to either make or break a couple or sex is simply handled in a way that is so completely unrealistic that it removes us from the film being view. One of Annie Hall’s triumphs is the way in which we view the sex life in Alvy and Annie’s relationship. For starters, they actually have one, and a believable one at that. They both like sex, they both want sex, but they come at it and together from two very different places mentally. One of the funniest moments in the film is when the pair are with separate therapists and they are asked, “Do you have sex often?” to which Alvy replies, “Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.” and Annie says, “Constantly. I’d say three times a week.”

From a film making point of view, no scene in Annie Hall lasts very long and very rarely is the previous scenes directly connected to the previous one. Annie Hallcaptures ‘moments’ of Alvy and Annie’s relationship, like pearls on a string, they add up to what makes their partnership. Everything from simply lining up to go see a movie and as serious about whether they should move in together or not. All of the scenes are written with extremely realistic dialogue, and in directing the film, Allen wanted the shots to be as uninterrupted and natural as possible. Many of the shots are long and wide, allowing us to take in all their body language and movements, giving viewers control to make their judgements and observations rather then having it forced up them.

While Annie Hall is a treasure chest of humour and heart, ultimately, what every film maker needs to learn from it is the craft of leaving somethings unresolved. Unlike many of the romantic films being made then and now, Annie Hall stands out because it is not a neat and tidy film. Many of the scenes in Annie Hall raise great thought provoking issues in any relationship, many that make up entire 90 minute films, butAnnie Hall leaves most of them unresolved and in fact, indirectly connected to the following scenes of the film.  Like in most romances and heartbreaks, we are not permitted (or even desire) to sit down and analyze every single thing that went right and went wrong in our relationship. In the end, we are left with memories of moments and our own thoughts and feelings on them. We reflect and hopefully we grow and learn. Annie Hall is so well made because it feels so honest and real, that it is as intellectual about relationships as it us hilarious.

The only real weakness of Annie Hall is also one of it’s biggest strengths, but only in view of the film’s great ending. It does feel like it looses it’s direction three quarters of the way through and while it does make things uneasy for a while, it does at the film’s conclusion with where Alvy and Annie’s relationships goes. Perhaps the most recent film I can relate to Annie Hall is 500 Days Of Summer (2009), which was poorly marketed as a ‘feel good romantic comedy’, when in reality it was actually a romantically dramatic coming of age story. Annie Hall is the same, but we might call it a coming of ‘middle-age’ story.

Annie Hall still stands as Woody Allen’s crowning achievement in film making and remains his most loved and respected films. The imperfects of this earthy and real relationship between these lovely yet sadly mismatched lovers only adds to the perfection this film offers.

RATING: CLASSIC