Love and Neurosis

|Classic Film Commentary|

Annie Hall (1977)

Written/Directed by Woody Allen

**** (out of 4)

Woody Allen’s Annie Hall is not your typical romantic comedy with vapid characters, vulgar insults and cheap sentiment. Annie Hall is a comedic but contemplative look into people’s need for relationships despite the irrationality that often comes with them. The film features two leads that most people cannot relate to: Alvy Singer, a twice-divorced, neurotic and darkly intellectual comedian and Annie Hall, a ditzy and neurotic aspiring singer.

Woody breaks the mold of the traditional three act structure found in many romantic comedies immediately by having Alvy tell the audience in the film’s opening that his relationship with Annie failed. Annie Hall is told in Joycean-like stream of conscious narrative that examines Annie and Alvy’s failed relationship as well as relationships in Alvy’s past. Unlike many contemporary comedies, the dialogue in Annie Hall is nearly all based on situation. Rather than having characters trade insults, Woody’s jokes stem from the environment the characters inhabit. The dialogue is ripe with ironic wit, cynicism and fascinating observation.

Allison: I'm in the midst of doing my thesis.
Alvy Singer: On what?
Allison: Political commitment in twentieth century literature.
Alvy Singer: You, you, you're like New York, Jewish, left-wing, liberal, intellectual, Central Park West, Brandeis University, the socialist summer camps and the, the father with the Ben Shahn drawings, right, and the really, y'know, strike-oriented kind of, red diaper, stop me before I make a complete imbecile of myself.
Allison: No, that was wonderful. I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype.
Alvy Singer: Right, I'm a bigot, I know, but for the left.

The dialogue between Alvy and Annie is especially refreshing because it is frank, intellectual and very funny. Alvy is clearly brighter and more cultured than Annie, but he’s always himself and doesn’t hesitate to lace conversations with a myriad of cultural references from James Joyce to Maurice Chevalier to Uri Geller. Likewise, Annie has a certain way of speaking because she’s from Wisconsin. She uses phrases like “La-di-da” and refers to her grandmother as “Grammy Hall.” Together they seem to make banal situations like boiling a lobster, killing a spider or browsing at a bookstore, both charming and funny. Also, Alvy and Annie are very open with their relationship and direct in conversation:

Alvy Singer: Well, I didn't start out spying. I thought I'd surprise you. Pick you up after school.
Annie Hall: Yeah, but you wanted to keep the relationship flexible. Remember, it's your phrase.
Alvy Singer: Oh stop it, you're having an affair with your college professor, that jerk that teaches that incredible crap course, Contemporary Crisis in Western Man...
Annie Hall: Existential Motifs in Russian Literature. You're really close.
Alvy Singer: What's the difference? It's all mental masturbation.
Annie Hall: Oh, well, now we're finally getting to a subject you know something about.
Alvy Singer: Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.
Annie Hall: We're not having an affair. He's married. He just happens to think I'm neat.

Alvy Singer: "Neat."What are you, 12 years old? That's one of your Chippewa Falls expressions.

Annie Hall marked a turning point in Woody Allen’s career, because prior to it he had made pure comedies like Bananas, Love and Death and Sleeper and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask. While those films are hilarious in their own right, Annie Hall represented a maturation in Woody as he showed us a great prowess for making romantic comedies that examined people and relationships (His comedic follow up was the classic Manhattan).

Annie Hall is often praised for its stellar screenplay and superb acting by Woody, Keaton and Tony Roberts, but what is often overlooked is the narrative devices used by Woody to tell the story. In addition to the stream-of-conscious narrative, Woody uses:

- An animation sequence

- Subtitled thoughts in one frame and in split screen to show perceptions by gender

- Flashback sequences

- Breaking the 4^th wall

- An out of body experience

These devices are effective in illustrating character, conveying differences in opinion by gender and providing just the right amount of variation. The narrative progresses forward smoothly, or as Alvy Singer might say, it constantly moves forward like a shark or a healthy relationship. Woody concludes the film beautifully in a simple shot from a cafe looking out into the street as a steady stream of cars pass by -- telling us that relationships can fail, love tends to fade, but life continues and people move on:

This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.

As one may gather, the witty screenplay, colorful characters and unique narrative structure are the main reasons why Annie Hall is the gold standard by which all other romantic comedies should be judged.