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 Sachs
Daniel Stern	...	Dusty
Julie Kavner	...	Gail
Joanna Gleason	...	Carol
Bobby Short	...	Himself
Lewis Black	...	Paul
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Mary

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 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Woody Allen has said that he was inspired to write this film after a chance re-reading of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

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 is talking about TV]
Frederick: You see the whole culture. Nazis, deodorant salesmen, wrestlers, beauty contests, a talk show. Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling? But the worst are the fundamentalist preachers. Third grade con men telling the poor suckers that watch them that they speak with Jesus, and to please send in money. Money, money, money! If Jesus came back and saw what's going on in his name, he'd never stop throwing up.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Soundtrack:

I've Heard That Song Before

One of Allen's best films and definitely his best performance...

"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.