MovieChat Forums > Przypadek (1987) Discussion > woody allen connection

woody allen connection

posted 16 years ago by zcahs52
5 replies | jump to latest

In the 2nd part of Blind Chance, there's a scene where the Woody Allen film Manhattan is mentioned by Wera to Witek (somewhat randomly).

Then in a later Woody Allen film, Hannah and her sisters, there is a scene where Woody is looking at an image of Jesus whose eyes are open or closed depending on which side of the picture you are looking from. This seems like a reference to Blind Chance where the same sort of image is used in one of the scenes - again I think it's in the 2nd part.

However I read that despite being made in 1981, Blind Chance actually only got it's premiere in 1987 because of censorship. But Hannah and her sisters was released in 1986. Surely it can't be pure co-incidence that these 2 most brilliant of directors used the same image. (Another co-incidence to ponder: the Jesus images are in scene 12 of both the Blind Chance AND Hannah DVDs - what's the chance of that?)

So does anyone know anything about a kieslowski/allen connection? Did they ever meet? Did they acknowledge each other's work as influences? Also, can anyone explain what the significane of Manhattan is within the Blind Chance story?

[–] zcahs52 16 years ago

hello??? is anyone home?

[–] Stephan_Ramstedt 16 years ago

Actually I never thought of that when I watched Hannah and her sisters, although the image of Jesus seemed somehow familiar. I think that there could be a connection a connection, even if it would be freaking hard for Woody Allen to match the scene numbers.
Maybe someone from Orion Pictures showed the film to Woody Allen, or Godard had a copy of it and showed to Woody when they made Meeting WA or King Lear. Who knows?

[–] zurichpoet 15 years ago

The lights are off. And the keys have been lost.

But to answer your first question: Faber and Faber put out a book Kieslowski on Kieslowski and I recall it being in there.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

I suspect Woody Allen had access to this film even though it was officially suppressed. I love the cross-referencing of each other's work by two of my favorite directors.

The scenes of the Jesus imagery are of course a coincidence because these films were made long before DVDs existed, but how astute of you to notice!

[–] melinda2001 8 years ago

the Jesus images are in scene 12 of both the Blind Chance AND Hannah DVDs - what's the chance of that?

The problem is you're asking the wrong question. Let me put it this way: In Manhattan, there's a scene where Woody is fixing a boat and is mounting the steering wheel into place just like in the boat scene in this movie. What are the chances of that? OK, I lied, but my point is that you can probably find such an incidental match between almost any two movies, so the odds of finding some match is extremely high even though the odds of finding a particular match is extremely low.