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Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) More at IMDbPro »

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135 comments in total

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51 out of 60 people found the following comment useful :-
Arguably Allen's Best Work...., 27 April 2004

Author: Christopher (mrcaw1@hotmail.com) from New York

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.

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38 out of 45 people found the following comment useful :-
Another Impressive Winner From Woody Allen., 30 July 2002
Author: tfrizzell from United States

Arguably Woody Allen's best production with the exception of "Annie Hall". The film follows three sisters (Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest) through their careers and their relationships. Farrow is the backbone that keeps everything together. However, husband Michael Caine (Oscar-winning) has his eye of Hershey and something might come of his crush. Max Von Sydow is seeing Hershey, but he may not be enough to curve her lust. Wiest seems to be the odd one out as she struggles with everything, thinking of herself as second-rate to sister Farrow. You know she might fit in well with Farrow's ex-husband (the priceless Allen). A wild film of vivid characters that entertains to the paramount. Allen received an Oscar for his screenplay and was nominated yet again for his dead-on direction. Not a perfect film, but Allen's amazing story-telling and his superb creation of memorable characters and sequences make "Hannah and Her Sisters" one of the better films of the 1980s. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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40 out of 53 people found the following comment useful :-
Woody's best 80's movie, 26 August 2001
Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

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 less than great (Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy and September for example). But this is the gem in that period, a comedy with great acting matched with a finely tunes screenplay with the usual neurotic characters (Woody, of course, and also Caine in a awesome, Oscar Winning role) and somewhat normal ones. Often hilarious, a little bittersweet, and in the end it shows that it is a worthy Allen picture. A+

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26 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Allen's best films and definitely his best performance..., 14 May 2004
Author: Andrew DiMonte (ThatIsNoArrow) from My House, Canada

"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.

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35 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
WOODMAN'S 2ND OR 3RD BEST!, 5 November 2004

Author: shepardjessica-1 from United States

Except for MANHATTAN, this stands alongside of ANNIE HALL as the top of the game for the brilliant Woody Allen. A total rep company atmosphere (in New York) with Michael Caine giving one of his most subtle and touching performances. Dianne Wiest (her 1st of 2 Oscars for W. Allen films) is striking, funny, and ultimately all too human. Barbara Hershey (always talented since LAST SUMMER) has the perfect role at her age, at that stage of her career, to play Lee (one of the sisters), and Mia Farrow was born to play Hannah (the all-too-together control freak). Add in Max Von Sydow (superb), Daniel Stern buying ART by the yard, and Lloyd Noland Maureen O'Sullivan (Mia's real-life Mom who played Jane in the Tarzan flicks of the 30's) are belligerent and beautiful.

A 9 out of 10. Best performance = Diane Wiest. If you don't get this one, give it up (especially if you don't trust Woody Allen), check into a New Mexico motel, pretend you know Dennis Hopper in the 70's, and buy ice all night long..waiting for Karen Black.

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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Woody's Absolute Best, 4 September 2004
Author: Steve Scalici from New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What more does a Woody lover want...New York, Thanksgiving (x 3), SoHo, the now-closed Pageant Book Store, e.e. Cummings, the cute and beautiful Dianne Wiest (her first Oscar as Best Supporting Actress). Best scene: the three sisters having lunch at a roundtable with the camera revolving around them (the vertigo reflects their conversations). Next best scene is the Woody-Dianne date in the punk rock club and then to see Bobby Short. And that NY architectural tour catches a lot of the City's best buildings. Now the interwoven story between Woody, Mia, Michael Caine, and in the end Dianne Wiest was very well conceived and written. Great surprise and happy ending. (btw, the Thalia movie house where Woody sees an old Marx Brothers flick in Manhattan's Upper West Side in now gone.)

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19 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
It IS a comedy, 4 May 2005

Author: DocFilm from New York City

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Contrary to the comments of many critics (including the usually sagacious Ebert) the film IS a comedy, in the classic sense, as is an opera buffa, The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night's Dream, etc. One IMDb commentator here, mattijohn, describes it: "Holly got over her depression and sense of rejections, Elliot has gotten over his infatuation with Lee and finally realises how much he in fact loves Hannah and loves her, Lee is in a better relationship, in which she does not feel looked down upon etc. Similarly Mickey gets over his neurosis and gets on with living his life, not thinking and worrying all the time about happens next." Mozart, or Rossini, would write a final chorus with all of these principals voicing their joy.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
My brief review of the film, 31 January 2005
Author: sol- from Perth, Australia

An interesting and very well acted slice of different people's lives, the film poses a number of intriguing questions in terms of life, death, love and relationships. It is a fascinating film: carefully directed and aided by some meticulously perfect use of non-original music. The film is split in chapters, and such a style makes the film flow very well. Despite being a drama, it is still manages to meld in some of Woody Allen's delightful wit, creating a film with laughs, pains, joys and sorrows. And then there is the quality of the acting, which is stunning to say the least. Mia Farrow is sensational in the best performance of her career, just brilliant as the providing, sustaining sister of the family, and Caine, Allen, Hershey, Kavner and even Max Von Sydow are all at their careers' best. For a film that has nowhere much too go, it is certainly quite something.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
perfect allen, 23 August 2005

Author: Movie_Man 500 from La La Land

Very funny comedy has one of Woody's all time best casts. Dianne Wiest is the best; glowing, neurotic, irritating and vulnerable, within minutes. Michael Caine is the most touching, Mia Farrow, as always, close to heartbreaking. I think it's her voice that does it. Nice scenes with her and her real-life mother, Maureen O'Sullivan.

Like Manhattan, this picture looks beautiful; NY in all its many breath- taking colors. The relationships of everyone on the screen are perfectly woven, and Woody has the best sight gag of the film when he takes a bible and a crucifix out of a paper bag (to find religion), and follows them up with some Wonder Bread and mayonaisse. Hilarious!

Deserving of its writing and supporting actor Oscars, it's too bad everyone in the movie couldn't have won. They're all believable and enjoyable to watch. My favorite: Max Von Sydow as the very cynical, older Frederick. He should have had more moments. Imagine him at one of the Thanksgiving dinners...

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
perceptive comedy drama, 4 March 2004

Author: didi-5 from United Kingdom

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.

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