10.08.10 | John Tartaglia | Staff NotesPrint this Post
Tags: Mia Farrow, Woody Allen
Say what you will about Woody Allen, but he knows how to direct women. Or maybe his casting director just hires the right actresses for the part. Regardless, a woman in one of his films is at least guaranteed an interesting role and, a lot of times, an Academy Award nomination.
Diane Keaton was in eight of his films and really owes her career to him. She started with him on stage in Play It Again, Sam and then did the movie version of Allen's homage to Humphrey Bogart and Casablanca. Next, she was the loopy Luna in the futuristic Sleeper (at one point doing a wickedly funny Brando impersonation), Sonja in Love & Death, and then the title character in Best Picture Oscar winner Annie Hall ,where most of America fell in love with her stammering wackiness and eclectic wardrobe (Allen has perfectly described her acting as a ''nervous breakdown in motion"). That role earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. She also reintroduced the phrase "La-De-Da" back into the lexicon. In the filmed in black and white Manhattan it's off-putting, that Allen and Keaton don't like each other when they first meet. (Because they were just so perfect together, at least for a while in Annie Hall). They do eventually become involved in this still contemporary look at relationships in the Big Apple. It’s interesting to note that the most maturely written character in the film is the 17- year-old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) who was nominated for an Oscar for her role. And Meryl Streep has a great turn as Allen’s venemous lesbian ex-wife.
You would never think comedy and pick the ethereal Mia Farrow as your go-to girl. But in her long stint in Woody Allen films (she made 13), Farrow proved again and again what a fine comedienne she is. Some people complained that after a while Farrow was just playing the Woody Allen character, but I disagree. Her first film for Allen was A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, a light romp for which Farrow was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. (rather unfairly I'd say). She then made the mockumentary Zelig with him, but it is in Broadway Danny Rose where she really shines. She is laugh-out-loud funny as Tina, the extremely blunt mobster moll in the hilarious and underrated film. Sporting a bouiffant hair-do and a Brooklyn accent, Farrow completely obliterates any traces of her previous screen incarnations. In Alice (another overlooked gem), Farrow's delivery itself is child-like and her naivete is almost heartbreaking as she navigates the class treachery of Upper West Side Mahattan society. She underplays brilliantly. And in scenes with Joe Mantegna when under the influence of Dr. Yang's (Keye Luke) special herbs, her new found sexiness is fun to watch.
In The Purple Rose Of Cairo (Allen's best film in my opinion), Farrow plays Cecilia, a Depression era waitress with an abusive husband (Danny Aiello) who escapes to the movies on a daily basis. One day a character named Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) comes down from the screen after noticing Cecilia in the audience yet again. And as Cecilia recounts it " I met a wonderful new man. He's fictional, but you can't have everything". Tom professes his love for her and as they say, hi-jinks ensue. Farrow is wonderful in the role. And in the very last scene of the film everything she is feeling is expressed on her face without a word of dialogue. Dianne Wiest makes her first appearance in an Allen film playing Emma, a prostitute who encounters Tom and who is so enamored of him, she brings him back to the whorehouse where all the girls offer him a freebie. She only has a few scenes in the film but she definitely makes an impression.
In Hannah And Her Sisters (1986) Wiest plays Holly, the youngest sibling of Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey. Holly is a bit of a mess and is an actress/singer/caterer and former recreational drug user. It’s amusing just to watch Allen's reaction to her coke snorting. Wiest's reading of Allen's dialogue is flawless. She is a subtle comedienne but she always elicits the laugh. Holly falls for an architect played by Sam Waterston and finds herself in a rivalry with her catering partner April played by Carrie Fisher. And she has an amusing inner dialogue about the situation ("I hate April, she's pushy...") where her comedy chops really shine. She won her first Academy Award for the role. Farrow is incandescant as Hannah, the reliable anchor that holds the family together. Hannah's husband Elliot (Michael Caine) is in love with Hannah's other sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Lee lives with a gloomy artist named Frederick (Max Von Sydow). Von Sydow gets one of the best monologues in the film as he tirades against the state of society and television.
"You see the whole culture...Nazis, deodarant salesman...beauty contests, the talk show...Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling? But the worst are the fundamentalist preachers...third-rate con men, telling the poor suckers that watch them that they speak for 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."
In Bullets Over Broadway Wiest plays a great lady of the the-a-ter named Helen Sinclair, who agrees to star in a new play by David Shayne (John Cusack) with the hopes of beefing her part up. Also in the play is Olive (Jennifer Tilly), a mobster's moll and an incredibly BAD actress whose boyfriend is bankrolling the endeavor specifically for her. Wiest puts on an affected voice to great effect. Her signature line is "Don't speak" and each time she says it, it gets funnier. Both women were nominated for Oscars, with Wiest winning her second golden man.
Allen narrates Radio Days, his homage to the golden age of radio that focuses on one Rockaway Beach Jewish family. Julie Kavner is the matriarch of the family and Dianne Wiest plays the unlucky-in-love Aunt Bea. Kavner who has been in seven Allen films, really shines here. Farrow tackles another accent, doing her best Jean Hagen Singin' In The Rain voice playing a nightclub cigarette girl with big ambitions. After taking elocution lessons ("Hark I hear the cannons roar. Is it the king approaching?") she turns into a radio personality spewing mellifluous tones. Once again, Farrow just nails it. Diane Keaton's only scene in it is as a singer performing at a USO show. It's a sweet nostalgic film with a fine supporting cast. Look for Mercedes Ruehl and Larry David in tiny roles.
Some actressess haven't fared as well in a Woody film: Christina Ricci in Anything Else, Radha Mitchell in Melinda and Melinda, and Tea Leoni in the wretched Hollywood Ending (She is a fine comedienne though, just watch Flirting With Disaster ). Judy Davis did well by Allen in Alice, Celebrity, Deconstructing Harry, and especially in Husbands And Wives (Oscar nomination). Scarlett Johansson had good roles in Match Point and Vicki Christina Barcelona, and a not-so-good one in the not-so-good Scoop. In Vicki Christina Barcelona Penelope Cruz won an Oscar for her portrayal of Javier Bardem's fiery ex-wife. Patricia Clarkson brought her numerous gifts to Vicki, and she was the best thing in Whatever Works, playing a Christian woman who comes to NYC to rescue her daughter from the city's depravity and winds up in a menage a trois. Let's hope they work together again. An Academy Award also came Mira Sorvino's way for her turn as a dim prostitute in Mighty Aphrodite. The underrated Anjelica Huston graced Crimes and Misdemeanors and Manhattan Murder Mystery to good effect. And comedy legend Elaine May was perfect in Small Time Crooks.
For some reason, men don't have the same luck receiving awards in Allen films. Michael Caine won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Hannah And Her Sisters, but Martin Landau (Crimes and Misdemeanors) Chazz Palminteri (Bullets Over Broadway) and Sean Penn (Sweet And Lowdown) lost in their bid for the golden statuette.
Allen's latest film that just opened, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, is garnering mixed reviews. However, Gemma Jones and Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine) who star in it, have received excellent reviews. Once again, Woody's winning way with women works.
