Hannah et ses soeurs

"Hannah and Her Sisters" is a very good movie that, unfortunately, falls short of greatness. Alternately entertaining (as a comedy) and penetrating (as a drama), this film has many wonderful moments, and is filled with superb dialogue. All the actors deliver first-rate performances; Michael Cain in genuinely touching when he is trying to decide his next moves in his life, Hershey is warm and radiant and Allen himself is delightful in his role. The script is perceptive throughout (look for the scenes when Caine shares his thoughts and plans with us) and the main characters do have depth.

The only flaw here (and, I think, a crucial one) is the too-tidy ending. I wouldn't have preferred a thoroughly depressing conclusion, but the way everything gets "settled" in the end was just too neat. Still, I read somewhere that the "upbeat" tone of the ending was "required" partly by the studio who made the film, so I guess this flaw is forgivable. Nevertheless, it doesn't allow this movie to become a masterpiece.

Woody Allen's film about a family and their romances and interactions features himself (as the perpetual neurotic), with Mia Farrow playing his ex-wife, Michael Caine – one of his best performances - playing her cheating husband, Barbara Herschey playing Farrow's sister and Caine's mistress, Max von Sydow playing Herschey's partner, and Dianne Wiese playing Farrow and Herschey's wild sister.

The strongest scene in this film features the lovely poem by e e cummings entitled ‘somewhere i have never traveled', which Caine sends to Herschey as a token of his regard for her. Other goodies include the touching ending when two misfits learn to love and accept each other. This is my favourite Allen movie as it brings together all the strands of movie-making at which he excels, and perhaps, along with Crimes and Misdemeanors, his strongest cast.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Probably when all is said and done, my favorite Allen movie. This is definitely one of those examples where the sum is greater than the parts. Great shots of New York (specifically the city's architecture), great situations, great parties and great music

Among the Manhattan-dwelling characters is Michael Caine, who is married to Hannah (Mia Farrow) but lusts after her sister (Barbara Hershey) who lives with a tormented artist (Max Von Sydow.) Hannah's ex-husband (Woody Allen) starts dating her other sister (Diane Weist) who wants to date Sam Waterston, even though he'd rather date her friend (Carrie Fisher).

In addition to the cameo by Julia Louise Dreyfuss, the film features two supporting performances by old school actors, Lloyd Nolan and Mia Farrow's real life mom, the original Jane in the Tarzan movies, Maureen O'Sullivan.

If that's not enough, Allen throws in plenty of his trademark hypochondria hysteria, questioning the meaning of the universe and whether God exists.

"Hannah and Her Sisters" is a comedy/drama (though mostly drama) about a dozen characters and their stories, all connecting back to three sisters: Hannah (Mia Farrow), Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest). Hannah is the favorite, talented and kind, Lee is almost equally favored, but Holly is the outcast, with a past of drugs and always asking for money. Other characters include Hannah's hypochondriac ex-husband Mickey (Woody Allen), her current husband Elliot (Michael Caine), Lee's boyfriend Frederic (Max von Sydow) and Holly's friend April (Carrie Fisher).

Like I said before, this is not so much a comedy as it is a drama. The comedy that's in it fits, and is good, but the drama is better. Elliot's secret love for Lee is handled in a romantic way, but their infidelity is still seen as wrong, and you feel their guilt and inner turmoil. Mickey thinks he has a brain tumor, he finds out he doesn't and then he feels worse, and starts desperately searching for a purpose to live. All the other stories are equally dramatic, with comedy fittingly sprinkled in places too.

The acting is quite good, everyone playing their part perfectly, whether it's big or small. The film's best performances come from Allen (in what's no doubt his best performance) and Dianne Wiest as the extremely under-confident youngest sister. Allen and Wiest don't necessarily carry the film, as there's no need to, but their segments were certainly the best, for me at least. The rest of the cast put forward too, especially Max von Sydow and Michael Caine in his first (and so far his only deserving) Oscar win.

Woody Allen's direction is at the top of its form here too, much like "Annie Hall" and his other greats. The camera work and use of voice overs are excellent. For instance, there is an intensely dramatic scene where the three sisters have lunch together and for the entire scene the camera rotates around the table, the speaker not always in the frame. His script is great too, it knows when to be dramatic and when to be funny and when to be both.

One of Allen's very best, 8/10.

Woody Allen makes movies that will sometimes be partial duds with great lines and characters, and then he'll make an all around great movie like Manhattan, Sleeper or Deconstructing Harry. In the 80's, he had a period where most of his films were generally great (Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy might be the exception). But this is one of the gems in that period, a comedy with great acting matched with a finely tuned screenplay.

Though not without an ending that leaves everything a little too neat (however upon pressure from the studio, not Allen's original intentions of course), this is another relationship-centric picture, with the side-bar of Woody's character being chronically afraid of death and what comes after it. Deservedly his last big award winner, it's a possibility for my favorite Woody 80s movie (even if the experience in the theater sucked- the downside to seeing an Allen movie is the large amount of old people, and the occasional old man who sits very close with a constantly shifting candy wrapper, smacking lips, and a penchant for a horrible sinus conditon...just think who the fans of Woody movies will be then they croak).