Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Plot Keywords:

Thanksgiving | Actress | Writer | Painter | Ex Husband

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Barbara Hershey	...	Lee
Carrie Fisher	...	April
Michael Caine	...	Elliot
Mia Farrow	...	Hannah
Dianne Wiest	...	Holly
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Norma
Lloyd Nolan	...	Evan
Max von Sydow	...	Frederick (as Max Von Sydow)
Woody Allen	...	Mickey
Lewis Black	...	Paul
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Mary
Christian Clemenson	...	Larry
Julie Kavner	...	Gail
J.T. Walsh	...	Ed Smythe
John Turturro	...	Writer

Runtime:

103 min | Spain:106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (PCA #27862) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

According to USA Today, upon the film's original release, a movement was afoot to try to make Allen's script the first screenplay to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Lee returns home to tell Frederick she wants to leave him, as she moves across the room a microphone and boom can be seen near the floor poking out from behind the kitchen island.

Quotes:

Frederick: You missed a very dull TV show on Auschwitz. More gruesome film clips, and more puzzled intellectuals declaring their mystification over the systematic murder of millions. The reason they can never answer the question "How could it possibly happen?" is that it's the wrong question. Given what people are, the question is "Why doesn't it happen more often?"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Jude Law/Ashlee Simpson (#30.3)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Concerto for Harpsichord in F minor, BWV 1056

perceptive comedy drama

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.