Husbands and Wives (1992)

Released in the hype of Allen and Farrow's breakup in the wake of his infamous Soon-Yi scandal, HUSBANDS AND WIVES archly and topically plumbs into the marital conundrums of two couples, Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow, bookends her collaboration with Allen to the tune of 13), and their best friends Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis). For one thing, the film adopts a jittery cinematographic style (aided by hand-held cameras and Steadi-cams) which certainly is not Allen's modus operandi, and lets rip the neurotic, taxing, unrelieved relationship squabbles to full throttle, inflamed by Jack and Sally's abrupt declaration of their separation after being married for over 15 years. Two different reactions ensure, Gabe retains his sangfroid facing a bolt from the blue but Judy apparently loses it, thinking that her closest friend has been keeping her marriage snags to herself, that seems to be a big blow to their time- honoured friendship, but on a more intuitive level (as later Sally astutely dissects), there is something deeply self-serving in Judy's reaction. Gabe and Judy are jolted to scrutinize their own 10-year-young matrimony, where crevices start to crack open, here, Allen deploys another gimmick, a faux-documentary with character revealing their inner feelings in the form of an interview, Gabe confesses he is a sucker for "kamikaze women" (with trying smugness) until he meets Judy, whom he deciphers is a mastermind of passive-aggressive manipulation, aka. she always gets what she wants in the end. That is what happens, Allen, a professor in literary, becomes increasingly attracted by one of his student Rain (Lewis) while being self-aware of the clichéd professor-student entanglement. Meanwhile, Judy, lends a helping hand by introducing her newly single colleague Michael (Neeson, a disarmingly pleasurable presence) to Sally, who is fumed when she finds out Jack has moved in with his new lover Sam (Anthony), a young aerobics trainer, merely three weeks after their separation. But, what complicates the situation is, subconsciously, Judy carries a torch for the gentlemanlike Michael, so in the end of the day, a paradigm shift is bound to shatter the status quo. Allen's script, as rapier-like as always in laying bare the intricate verities of gender politics and monogamous dilemma, eventually, plumps for a morally ego-boosting windup for Gabe (Allen's alter-ego) who has savored the tempting kiss from a young hottie he craves for, and then rebuffs her advance with all the dignity in the world to remain morally uncorrupted (which blows up in audience's face when juxtaposed with its sardonic divergence from reality), whereas for Judy, her seemingly happy ending betrays Gabe's own complacent shrewdness of knowing her too well, for my money, that's where this otherwise rather piquant and honest-to-goodness modern marriage assessment leaves an unsavory aftertaste, which actually has been lurking behind a majority of Allen's oeuvre. But what makes HUSBANDS AND WIVIES head and shoulders over his lesser works is the cynosure of the cast, namely, the divine Judy Davis, an ever-so entrancing showstopper, revels in emitting of Sally's often self-contradictory but ultimately revealing emotional states with sheer intensity, veracity without forfeiting the salutary outpourings of humor and wits (her post-coital "hedgehogs and foxes" rumination is a gas!), Marisa Tomei, as excellent as she is in MY COUSY VINNY (1992), should hand over her Oscar to Mr. Davis, a blatant robbery in the Academy history. Whilst no one can steal the limelight from her, one must admit Sydney Pollack is quite a trouper in the other side of the camera as well, his outstanding two-hander with a feisty Lysette Anthony alone can effortlessly bust a gut, which only leaves, the story-line concerns Gabe and Judy pales in comparison with its pseudo-cerebral self-deception and self-doubt, no wonder Jack and Sally would not open up to them, they are much messier.

I am a big fan of Woody Allen works, no surprise here. I even find some of his weakest efforts to be above average films. Husband and Wives is far from being one of his weakest efforts though, pretty like the opposite actually. It depiction of the people relationships is spot on here. Worth Noting that he clearly had a tendency to write about 'old man relationship with young girl' and relationships breaking up. Sounds like interesting subjects, being said I'm not a old man nor a young girl, but the dialogs and the characters make it feel so interesting, and above all, real, that's hard to not be interested at all. The separation thing is so true, and so surreal at same time…that is probably why it's so interesting. The metaphor is what is worthy, after all, so thumbs up.But anyway, Woody shows here a history about two couples: one of them going through a difficult time of separation, and the other pretending that are well, but very instable and weak, even weaker than the marriage of their friendly couple. And of course, there is always a lot of discussions (typical of Allen's films), comic reliefs, and there is also an apparently 'psychologist' talking to each character, inter called with their actions. What I like the most in Allen's films is the character development. Is so beautifully made, and so simple at the same time. He in fact has a unique way to do it. In my opinion, he is better than his biggest idol on cinema, Ingmar Bergman, which also was excellent. The editing also makes it looks like a found footage film, and the cinematography may be comparable to an actual sitcom, like The Office, for example(being said Husband and Wives was released ten years before the aforementioned TV-show), full of zoom-ins and shaky camera, looking like an amateurish thing. Interesting choice. And no, it not abuses at all of that so 'controversial' techniques.There are a few recognizable faces in the film, Woody Allen himself, Mia Farrow, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson…they all gave average to good performances, what is usual in Allen films(for some reason). If you are a Allen fan, you cannot skip that film. 8.5/10

My rating for this movie is high when I mean the shooting and the hardening interests of Woody. The plot is well known and the style - the same. But the movie succeeded in carrying you into his idea and to make you ask yourself which protagonist of its are you or which protagonist I am in life.Even we can generalize the moments in the movie to the total moments which the producer and the script-writer are showing recently. Here we speak about the people who stay with us, who helps us get up when we fall, with who we live easily or even we love. More, the movie shows the inability to tore with our past, not to be the therefore in the concluding, to change our life when we are grown ups. Or shows the derail of the present into the unknown future.So, this film is good but it is a modified version of other Allen's pieces of art. Made a little like a documentary and on moments like a staging.http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/

I have to review this title and I don't do that very often. I've just finished watching this film for the first time and as a Woody fan I can say that this one is probably the best I've seen so far.I like how the camera is so "easy", the whole film seems like a home video which makes it even more realistic and the characters discussing their feelings with the audience really gets you involved.At time it seems too ironic, but I like it like that. It has some great "the meaning of life" moments and those arguing scenes make it so funny.Watch this film, you might even learn something from it.