Directed by Woody Allen (1977)
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“When I watched Annie Hall for the very first time, I probably missed a great deal of sexism and nihilism of the protagonist”
I think the very first time I was attracted to this film was the style of Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), rocking those men’s wear. I recall being overly obsessing over this one movie still I saw in some magazine, the New York City backdrop, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton where they were having drinks on this rooftop. She is in her unique fashion statement, basic clothes but in the most eccentric way possible. Annie Hall came out in 1977, at that time Diane Keaton was already on the highest journey of her stardom followed by her role in The Godfather and its sequels. When I watched Annie Hall for the very first time, I probably missed a great deal of sexism and nihilism of the protagonist. I liked the film. New York City, romance, comedy, witty remarks, quirks of both the main characters, it is perfect. I still do like the film, but for a different reason now. I have no intention to despise a film, just because the protagonist drives my sanity through a muddy hill over and over again. At least that’s what I keep on telling my conscious mind.
Mise En Scene
What fascinates me is its obvious allure of mise en scene. The quirkiness of the narrative is mainly explained by the way the camera sometimes acts as an unbiased observer present in Alvy’s life. It is more than just a screen but here Woody Allen personified the camera, where he confesses, whines, and, delivers his monologues. He often breaks this facade within the film to talk directly into the camera. It makes me think as if he has created a fine line between his persona among people in the real world and his truer identity. The scene where Alvy and Annie are waiting in a line inside a movie theatre and he brings out Marshall McLuhan behind some signage holder to prove his point to some random stranger. It's not real in Alvy’s reality, he just wishes it was that easy. As soon as he gets a hint of frustration to touch his state of mind like their sexual issues or maybe the stranger’s loud and bold opinion, he immediately switches his presence to the space where he speaks to the screen directly or carries out the narrative the way he wants.
“They meet, talk, have drinks, he finds her odd and sexy and she finds him profound.”
Juxtaposition
It is a simple story. They meet, talk, have drinks, he finds her odd and sexy and she finds him profound. So, they fall in love and go through all those elaborated timelines of romanticized phases just like every other couple. It is pretty straightforward. But why this film is a big deal? Throughout the film, many scenes are delivered in the form of juxtaposition. For example, the one with lobsters, one with Annie, and another with his current lover. The settings of both scenes are exactly the same yet the outcome and essence of the action are simply contrasting. There is another scene of juxtaposition that always makes me wonder about the inevitable twist and turns of any relationship, the individual therapy sessions. When the screen gets divided in half, Annie and Alvy are talking to their own therapist about how their relationship is impossible to carry on and the deliverance of dialogue was very satisfying to the point that it felt like poetry to me.
Alvy
Even If I can go on about how much I am bothered by Alvy Singer’s character and his endless hassle, I consciously can never deny the beauty of the film. Although I can never see the difference between Woody Allen and Alvy Singer.
This makes me think of The Catcher in the Rye. Not because of the angsty protagonist. It is probably because I had a hard time putting myself in the shoes of Alvy Singer. I have heard people complaining and whining like a toddler that Holden (main character of The Catcher in The Rye) is not someone they could ever imagine to be. I will never say that I liked Holden. And for many obvious reasons I will never say, I liked Alvy. The thing is, I am not comparing them. It’s like I am explaining the judgments. This film got an Academy award, so needless to say, how great the film was. But, the greatness of the film and how it made me feel, are very different. And I would not lie, at some angsty phase of life I knew how we tend to realize that our perspective on society, single-handedly comes from the distress of alienation through unreasonable norms made by scared people. And here, it's almost contrasting. Through the beautiful rhythmic montage, the story has turned out to be epic yet the character always gets under my skin. Emotional alienation is quite vivid in Alvy’s character. The way he wanted Annie to be obsessed with death and destruction clearly serves the idea of how much he wants someone to see everything from his point of view. And it becomes selfish at some point, probably that is why the camera or the screen was his immediate safe zone.
Alvy overly romanticized New York City to the point where he doesn’t hesitate to criticize other places and label them as hype culture. Annie wanted a kick of fame and frenzy youth. On the other hand, Alvy would rather sit tight in his safe zone, where he doesn’t have to face his nervousness and social anxiety.
Annie
There is this particular scene where she and Alvy are about to get intimate and they are in their bed. For some self-assurance, Alvy convinced her not to smoke marijuana before sex. Her character makes me feel like, it wants to portray the conflict between her own stable opinion and the egoist man. I had this intense belief that it was purposefully made this way because the protagonist wanted to narrate it in that way. We are looking at Annie from the point of view of Alvy. According to him, she should need him in her life in the way he is better understood. There were conflicts and at some points I expected more turbulence but then hit again, this is the point of view of Alvy. So the rapture point of this relationship always remains intellectually violent. I have always looked at this from the middle ground. Woody Allen always delivers the world through a filter, so romanticized, even the conflicts of the characters are smoothened by the needs of the protagonist. (1) Initially the idea of the script written by Woody Allen And Marshall Brickman was to explore the relationships and lifestyle perspective of the main character through the elements of romance, anxiety, anti-semantic remarks, etc. But soon enough they realized that Annie Hall’s character was the bull's-eye in Alvy Singer’s emotional subplot.
Stranger's Perspective
At the end of the film, the scene Annie and Alvy are seems to say goodbyes standing on the pavement, it looks like just a random moment from the point of view of a complete stranger. The shot is taken from inside a Café from a stranger's perspective. Things that happen in our life, the big deals and big emotions and regrets are actually so insignificant if you watch them from the point of view of a third person.