Such a masterpiece of a film
“Hannah and her Sisters” is something only a great writer could balance perfectly. There are so many plot threads here that at times I literally felt as neurotic as many of the characters in this movie for trying to keep track of them all and lead myself to a satisfying wholeness, or point. That Woody Allen not only constantly makes us think, laugh and identify with these characters, he also brings up a great point: that human nature is constantly in a state of search. Happiness is a here-today/gone-tomorrow convenience and the search continues again.
The movie is broken up into sections, with titles for each. The stories are so varied. Elliot (Michael Caine) is married to Hannah (Mia Farrow) but is so in love with her sister Lee (Barbra Hershey) that he swoons every time she comes near and follows her around on his lunch break. Lee is actually married to an older man (Max Van Sydow), an artist who has become reclusive in his older age; an unbearable intellectual who considers most of humanity beneath him.
Hannah’s other sister is Holly (Diane Wiest). Like many of the people in this movie, she has an internal monologue, and her’s is one caked in insecurity. As we first meet her she is vying for the affections of a man she already knows her friend will get. Then later when we find out she actually got the guy, the friend still manages to beat her out for his affections.
Allen himself also has a part in the film as Mickey, who is actually Hannah’s ex-husband. Mickey’s life is thrown completely off course when it’s revealed he has some sort of inner ear thing, which true to any Allen character, Mickey blows out of proportion into thinking he is dying of a tumor. This gets him to thinking of how he and Hannah could never have kids and how that ruined his marriage. Later all of this gets him to thinking his entire life has blown off course, which sends him, depressed and alone, on a quest for answers.
A lot of this film is about the search for those answers, whether it be the Elliot character who thought he needed the stability offered by the Hannah character only to want to shake his life up for some unknown reason with Lee or Holly looking for a check of stability that her confidence just can’t cash.
These people work so well because their needs are universal, the way they deal with and then even come out of the tragedies in their lives make a hell of a lot of sense because tragedy makes us look at the bigger picture and all that’s wrong. But looking at the wrong can lead to a whole other can of worms.
I haven’t even mentioned Hannah yet because compared to a lot of the other people here, she’s kinda boring. She puts other’s needs above her own to the point where you wanna ask, is it boring to not worry? Is putting everyone else before yourself really the only way to find some sense of peace?
This is such a great film; one of terrific comedy (the best of which coming from Allen himself), characters who seem fully-realized yet identifiably like their searching to realize themselves, and ultimately profound insight. I often forget what a outstanding writer Woody Allen is. “Hannah” is definitely one of his best reminders.
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