Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Me and my friend have slowly been making our way through Woody Allen films, and, on a whim, we decided to rent this one out tonight from a video shop. 

To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what this film was going to be about - I mean, I had a basic assumption, seeing as I’ve watched about 4 other Woody Allen films before, and they all had very similar themes - but for the most part, I was flying in blind. Metaphorically. Duh.

The character of Hannah, although not necessarily the most “obvious” or the character with the most screen time, is essentially the person holding all the other characters together. All the characters are connected to her in someway. Mia Farrow is Brilliant as Hannah. It’s a quiet role, and she does it perfectly. Michael Cain’s and Dianne Weist’s Academy Award’s for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, are well well deserved, Dianne Weist especially, I felt.

To be honest, I, in my own personal opinion, wanted Hannah to break up with Elliot (Michael Cain), but I thought their resolution was a realistic one, if not a preferable one.

The romance between Holly (Dianne Weist) and Mickey (Woody Allen) was a pleasant and very welcome surprise, and is actually one of the lightest and heart-warming parts of the film.

Woody Allen was the overall comic relief character in a film that is otherwise quite depressing film, and his attempts the convert to Catholicism (and his parent’s reactions to it) was absolutely brilliant. Special shout out to the actor who played Mickey’s dad, who, in the 5 minutes he was in it, completely stole the scene.

Every single character in this film was played incredibly by the actors - there was absolutely no weak link in the cast.

There is a scene in a cafe in which the three sisters - Hannah, Holly, and Lee (Barbara Hershey) - meet for lunch, and it is just so incredibly acted, that you can just feel the tension between them.

Side note: It is impossible to talk about Woody Allen films with out sounding INCREDIBLY pretentious. Trust me. I’ve tried.

All in all, which is a horrible way to finish a piece of writing, I would absolutely buy this on DVD when i get the chance/money, and also recommend this to people who… like films.

Also: Probably the happiest ending I’ve seen in a film written by Woody Allen.