Another Woman (1988)

"I realize you have been hurt. If I've done anything wrong, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I accept your condemnation." "You are a member of Amnesty International and the ACLU. And the head of the philosophy department. Impossible!" These are two of my favorite quotes from the Woody Allen film, Another Woman. I like them each equally well but for different reasons. The first is such an outrageous statement by a phony pomposity of an ego so far gone as to defy augury and the other hits a little too close to home with the exception of being the head of the philosophy department. Woody Allen strikes gold here with his study of intellectual angst and mid life crisis. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to declare this film to be a mini-masterpiece.I ran across this neglected, forgotten and, probably one you never heard of mini-masterpiece while scrolling through HULU one night looking for something decent to watch. Oh, a film by Woody Allen! Let me check it out. Probably seen it before but what the heck? So I cued it up and started watching. Curiously enough I didn't remember anything about it and was soon captivated and mesmerized by the haunting voice-over by one of it's stars and the brilliant cinematography of one of the worlds foremost cinematographers.Another Woman was released in late 1988 and runs for 81 minutes. It was written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Gena Rowlands as Marion Post, a middle aged philosophy teacher who is on sabbatical to write a book. It is her voice-over we hear as the movie begins. She is describing her life as accomplished and reasonably well settled.She rents an apartment downtown to work on her book without distraction and discovers that she is able to overhear the conversation between a patient (Mia Farrow) and her psychiatrist through the heating vents coming from the adjoining apartment. At first Marion blocks off the sound with pillows but later she starts to listen in. The patient is despondent, pregnant, and thinking of ending her life. Her name ironically is Hope.This conversation gets Marion to thinking about her own life and through series of coincidences, ruminations and, flashbacks, she encounters people from previous times in her life and she discovers she is not as happy as she thought she was.This is a film of introspection and marvelous performances. A central theme of the film is that people can transform their lives to become more fulfilled. To say the film was Bergmanesque is rather stating the obvious. It has long been known that Woody has been greatly influenced by the Swedish master, Ingmar Bergman. Some say that this film resembles Wild Strawberries but I think it is more Persona like, which was also photographed by Sven Nykvist, Bergman's favored cinematographer.This is a wonderful film which I highly recommend.

Gena Rowlands lives in her own world, really. She is married but is self-sufficient and, as she will soon find out, her world is coming apart. She is a very intelligent and well-educated woman but is one of those people who can't see past the end of their nose. In writing her latest book, she rents office space for quiet but is distracted by a voice confessing to a psychiatrist. She is enamored by the vulnerable and lost voice (Mia Farrow) and in the process learns about herself. In dealing with family members, her eyes are slowly beginning to open to see her own flaws and how to forgive herself and others. Gena Rowlands gives a spectacular performance in this introspective, insightful and intuitive Woody Allen film. It's beyond me why Gena was never recognized by Oscar for this film, or how this film never has gotten as much recognition as other Woody Allen films, like Hannah and Her Sisters and Annie Hall and even Interiors. This is a film not just for women but for all who demand intelligence and something challenging and worthwhile in the movies they see. No one can really write films like Woody Allen, where less is more. This short film will leave you thinking about your own life and how you get along with others. A tour de force for Gena Rowlands and Woody Allen!

This is a serious drama by Woody Allen, not the usual neurotic romantic comedy genre that he is known of. I loved this movie, although after wards I felt it was familiar to another film I had seen recently. And that is My Dinner With Andre, where the music (Satie) and brown greenish colors create the same atmosphere. But both movies are great and make you think and evaluate life in a different way. This one is about a woman who has recently turned 50. She has rented a room to write a book, but when working, she suddenly overhears patients talking to a psychologist next door through an air vent. After listening to a particular patient played by Mia Farrow, she realizes she has alienated many people from here life because of her coldness. Many chances have passed by, e.g. a child, or real love. After meeting this woman in a restaurant, she overhears the character played by Mia Farrow talking to the psychologist about their meeting, later on. I loved this wonderfully voyeuristic and insightful twist,and this is just another winner of Woody Allen, not in the least since the story is clever, and the drama is acted wonderfully - he always knows how to pick first rate actors. A must see!

Maybe this movie is showing how persons who manage to suppress their emotions can less painfully experience all of life's problems, because they do not have to relentlessly talk about them, see psychiatrists, and ventilate emotional affectations onto everyone else - and suffer because of the emotional triggers. All of the other characters are just extensions of the Farrow character,Hope, and her emotionality which leads to the need to see a psychiatrist. Both Marion and her husband, the cardiologist, seem to pass through life unaffected by all the negative aspects since there is a void in their emotional makeup which lends to their compatibility. Their overall constitution seems to fit comfortably with each other (and there is no suggestion that the last "other woman" with whom Marion's husband is having an affair is demonstratively over emotional like the Hackman character was with Marion). Perhaps one might suggest that, regardless of one's constitution ( ie emotional,cold, and analytical), and because EVERYONE is doomed to endless conflict during life, characters like Marion and her husband will suffer far less than the norm. There is no perfect world and it would seem that humanity might benefit (ie suffer LESS) from a concerted effort in teaching, promoting, and rewarding cold and analytical personae as well as suppression of individual emotionality. Since this concept is silly, I would simply say that people like Marion and her husband have an advantage at gliding through life with less pain and we should leave them alone to live it. There may be no merit in forcing emotionality onto those who do not have it.