SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
Spoonatects
Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Mark Turner
For the most part there are two camps when it comes to Woody Allen movies: you love them or you hate them. There are a few of us out there who pick and choose which we do and don't like but you find far too many on either side of the issue. Those that love him think he's a genius. Those that hate him think he's not funny or dramatic. Myself, I think it depends on the movie. HUSBANDS AND WIVES to me missed the mark and for one main reason I'll get to.The movie beings with the story of two couples, Gabe and Judy Roth (Allen and Mia Farrow) and Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis). Getting ready to go out to dinner Jack and Sally announce that they've decided to separate. This surprises Gabe but devastates Judy. The dinner carries on but throughout you can tell it's affected her. When they head home she continues to go on about it with Gabe.As the movie progresses we watch as both Jack and Sally try to start their new lives on their own after all these years of marriage. It's easy for Jack because he was having an affair with a much younger woman beforehand. For Sally it's all neuroses and dealing with life alone. Jack's new flame Sam (Lysette Anthony) is as different from both Jack and Sally as you can get, a yoga instructor who is big on astrology. She screams flake from scene one.Sally has her fling with a co-worker of Judy's, someone Judy finds attractive, named Michael (Liam Neeson). Michael loves poetry and tends to lean into the romantic more than Jack did. He's much more sensitive than Sally can handle.In the meantime whether due to the situation with Jack and Sally or not, Gabe and Judy begin having problems. They argue about having another child with Judy wanting one and Gabe hesitant. As the film progresses the two of them switch sides on the matter. Judy begins to have this wistful feeling towards Michael and Gabe becomes somewhat infatuated with one of his students (Juliette Lewis).The movie plays out in vignettes from one character to another interspersed with interviews with each as well as others involved in the story. It some cases it is a psychiatrist doing the interviewing while at other times you would think it was a documentary film crew. The end result is a less that straightforward story that works sometimes and not others.For me the worst part of the film was the performance by Mia Farrow. Combines with the character she plays and the dialogue given you have to wonder if by this time Allen had felt it was time to part ways with her. That the production of the film took place they year before the couple split makes what you see understandable.Farrow's character is a self-centered passive aggressive one. She manipulates those around her to get what she wants, appearing unaware that she knows she's doing so. One of the characters even comments on how she does this. Her non-stop questioning of every single detail of the lives she and Gave lives becomes grating in a short amount of time. Worst of all it feels as if Farrow applies more of her own personal personality into the role than performance.But the entire list of characters are all insufferable. Gabe's infatuation with his student is unbelievable. Lewis as that student who gravitates from one older man to another using them along the way is contemptable. Jack's gravitation and decision to leave his wife for a younger woman is stereotypical. And Sally's jittery mannerisms, nervous habits and constant hem hawing about what to do or not to do makes one wonder how she and Jack ever married in the first place.The end result for me was a movie that left me glad I'd seen it once so I could say I'd done so but never wanting to revisit again in the future. It wasn't funny and the drama felt false. Some love the movie and proclaim it one of Allen's best. For me it didn't come close.Twilight Time is offering this as they have a number of other Allen films, in the best way possible with a 1080p hi def transfer. Extras are very limited here to only an isolated music & effects track and the original trailer. As with all of their releases Twilight Time has limited this title to just 3,000 copies so if you're an Allen fan and want to add it to your collection make sure you pick a copy soon.
dierregi
I watched this movie at the time of its release when I was in my twenties and found it unremarkable. After many years and a serious relationship, this finally hit home.In documentary-style, Allen shows us what most middle aged couples fear to face: the dissolution of their marriages, due to habit, boredom and frustration. The kind of situation that arises simply by living with someone for many years, without any major dramatic event occurring.Allen and Farrow plays Gabe and Judy. Since the movie was the last before their acrimonious split, most of their dialogue sounds uncomfortably realistic. Pollack and Davis are their friends Jack and Sally, who set the story in motion with their "trial" separation.Soon all four friends are entangled in new relationship or fantasize about one. Sally and then Judy are attracted to romantic Michael (Neeson), while Gabe is infatuated with Rain (Juliette Lewis) a student, who reciprocates.However, Rain is "just" a serial older-men lover with the most annoying nasal voice and this indiscretion ends nowhere. On a side note, I never liked Lewis, who once again plays a lascivious nymphet with little energy.I am not a big fan of Farrow, either. With her oversize, thick sweaters, long skirts and super-short hair Farrow is at her most unattractive in this movie. Her character is also whiny and pushy, making her my least favorite of the quartet.The movie ends with a twist that I found hard to believe, and a lot of ambiguity about the future of the characters that I found a lot more believable. Not for the romantics, but definitely worthy.
Thomas Nascimento
Woody manages to bring to the viewer the truth between marriages that is not filmed. He gives us the fly's point of view we would like to be am some occasions. The film behind the nostalgia of the 90s. Love is treated with care that makes me rethink attitudes of today . The rich dialogs are one combination of talent and performance of great actors chosen for the film. The cinema needs more realism, like in that movie. Realistic conversations are essential for people to feel the real emotion in film director. Husbands and wives is one example. It's great to see Woody Allen films of that era . We are transported to the era of good treatment between people in a relationship. In a world where we are controlled by cellular and lack of subject, the script becomes very rich in subjects to discuss on the sofa.
George Wright
There was a time when I didn't quite get the humour of Woody Allen. It was mildly funny but I didn't get the wit in the rapid fire dialogue that rolled out like natural conversation. It seems natural because the script is so well crafted. With so many people being like the rather serious and shallow characters in these movies, we might not have the subtle sense to hear the biting satire. Now I find the humour hilarious and the scripts brilliant. This film is no exception.In Husbands and Wives, Woody Allen, Judy Davis and Liam Neeson were all excellent as youngish married people coming to terms with the reality of marriage and looking for something better, as if marriage has to always be a great fit. Sydney Pollock was very droll in his own exasperated way. In one scene, Davis and Pollock demonstrate a first rate cat-fight that is the comedic high point of this movie.This is a movie where Allen's humour shines with a cast of actors in roles of well educated, middle class New Yorkers who describe their marriage problems (usually in terms of the other spouse needing to change). The conversations are presented as if they were part of a documentary; it works well. The movie lacks the characters of other Woody Allen movies like Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Annie Hall. Nevertheless it is telling in its portrayal of late 20th century marriage. In the end, we see one of the couples confiding about their own limited success in marriage and the way they have adapted. All in all, the movie is an entertaining look at marriage in a particular setting and how it succeeds, fails or just keeps on going.
