Release Date: 18 November 1988
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Blythe Danner, Mia Farrow, Ian Holm, Gene Hackman
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094663/
My Rating: (9/10) ★★★★★★★★★✩
Gena Rowlands stars as Marion, a 50 year old woman facing a midlife crisis. About to start writing a book, she rents a downtown apartment next door to a psychiatrist's office and due to a bit of acoustical magic, she can hear everything that is being said in the doctor's office (side note, is there really even a doctors office or is it all just a working of her subconscious?).
Marion is the kind of woman who's lived her entire life without actually feeling too deeply. She makes sensible, intelligent decisions and considers herself quite accomplished, but when it comes down to it she's chosen this life over any sense of passion. So when she begins eavesdropping on Hope's (Mia Farrow) conversations with her psychiatrist she begins seeking out that passion she traded and re-examining her own life of sensible decision making.
This film is one of Woody Allen's sparse, Bergman-esque films (shot by Bergman's premiere cinematographer). Gena Rowlands is really incredible, and the camera loves holding on her for minutes at a time. Her deeply analytical stature shrouding a woman desperate to burst free is remarkable. There are other outstanding performances as well, particularly by Sandy Dennis and Barbara Buckley as two different women spurned by Marion's actions. Watch this with Interiors for a different side of Woody Allen!
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