639. Hannah And Her Sisters (1986)

Starring: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine

Director: Woody Allen

Running Time: 103 mins

Hannah And Her Sisters is an American film about a woman, Hannah, whose husband, Elliot, falls madly in love with her sister, Lee, while her other sister, Holly, rediscovers her lost relationships with Hannah’s hypochondriac ex-husband, Mickey.

Well, while I do admire his work, and can definitely understand why he’s been such a big figure in modern cinema history, I think Woody Allen’s films are of an acquired taste. It’s not that I’m bored by the way he wrote his films, but I feel that a lot of the subtext and themes are very dated, so I’m not really able to get into it so deeply not having lived through the times in which this film is set.

Despite that, I still enjoyed this film. It’s got a mix of fun-loving and moodily realistic elements, and with that, you do get an excellent blend of comedy and drama, making it both a funny and intriguing film to watch at the same time.

I have to say that I preferred the first half of this film a lot more to the finale. Why? Because of that comedy-drama mix. Initially, everything is up in the air. Like my plot synopsis, you’ve got relationships spraying all over the place and mad characters popping up everywhere, which creates that more fun, farcical element, while it also has a deep touch of emotion to it that adds to the drama.

Probably the best part of this melee is Michael Caine’s character, Elliot, who’s Hannah’s husband. Like most of his characters, Michael Caine puts off a strange vibe about Elliot; while he seems sincere and likeable, he’s got some weird, deep desire that’s completely out of character, so I found his story most intriguing, as well as most fun, due to the fact that Elliot is also a bit of a bumbling idiot when it comes to an affair.

There are two main stories in this film. Elliot and Lee’s ‘affair’, and Holly and Mickey’s rekindling of a relationship. This is where I felt that the film fell down a little. While I liked Elliot and Lee, I found Holly and Mickey, specifically Mickey (played by Woody Allen) extremely annoying, and while I can clearly see that that was deliberate, it ruined my intrigue in the story, as I was on the opposing side to Mickey and his desires.

While his and Holly’s story did get a little more interesting towards the end, as it took up more screen time, Elliot and Lee’s began to get less so, and there arrived a slightly annoying structure in this film, that there couldn’t be more than one thing happening at once.

Finally, the final part of this film also has very little comedy to it. There’s still a tiny little bit, but it’s so subtle that it doesn’t really make a difference amidst the high drama of the situation, which meant that I was a little more bored than I’d have liked, and it ended the film on a low note for me, but it’s still largely fun and interesting, so that’s why it gets a 7.2.