Another Woman Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Woody plays Ingmar again

This is the third 'serious' Woody Allan film that I have watched relatively recently (the other two were 'September' & 'Interiors') and it is the best in my view. It tells the story of a successful middle aged woman (beautifully acted by Gena Rowlands) who is forced to examine her life (I won't reveal how) and finds that her lack of connection to her feelings and those of people close to her have led her to make mistakes in her personal life. It makes for a wonderful voyage of self discovery that is very carefully constructed by Allan in the writing and direction.

Here he has the assistance on Bergman's cinematographer, Sven Nykist, who realises beautiful images of New York interiors and exteriors. The acting is uniformly very good and, as usual, Allan has chosen a rich and varied musical soudtrack.

If your sense of humour can survive the rather gloomy direction the plot line takes you may find some jokes along the way at the expense of our human frailties.

A significant film that examines how the choices we make dictate the kind of life that opens out for us.

Weighty subject matter on a subject rarely explored

I enjoyed the movie, most of all because the script was excellent and put the 'professional intellectual' personality under a critical microscope with insight. The fact that the professional intellectual was a woman only made it more interesting and compelling. I was moved by the story and empathised with what happened to the lead character, though the way the character was played didn't ring true for me. I couldn't help thinking that the actor had never been close to academic life; her performance was a bit one-dimensional, never quite making it beyond the 'quiet middle class boffin' stereotype. And the style of acting generally was a bit earnest, verging on melodramatic, but hey, it's Woody Allen after all. Not a fast moving film, but thoughtful.