Oct. 12, 1992
At the start of Annie Hall, the comedian, Alvy Singer directly addresses the audience in a short but witty monologue. In this monologue, he delivers two jokes which, although they are clichés, are underlying themes to Alvy’s personality and his inability to commit to relationships. His monologue seems to apply only to himself, but in a deeper fashion it could apply to all people’s relationships. Woody Allen, the director, starts a simple character study of an unsteady relationship between two average individuals and turns it into a fascinating insight into human behavior.
The main focus of the film is Alvy Singer’s (Woody Allen’s) relationship with a struggling singer, Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton. Usually, their relationship consists of talking with each other. They talk about their careers, their therapy, and their almost non-existent sex life, but hardly about each one’s feelings towards the other. The only action that takes place is limited to Alvy’s flight to California to bring back Annie to New York. Towards the end he sees within himself a struggle to make a commitment to Annie.
Throughout the film, they go from being a couple to being disillusioned lovers to simply being two people living in the same big city. Their up and down relationship culminates in a somber ending when they walk away from each other.
Allen, as director and co-writer of Annie Hall, revitalizes the often done tale of the love lives of men and women with new power and vigor. With the introduction of original and very quirky characters, Allen jazzes up a rather mundane subject. The characters change the film’s focus from a love story to an individual’s relationship that makes the film thoroughly enjoyable. Alvy Singer isn’t just the main character looking for a relationship, but is also a neurotic comedian with a false sense that everyone is anti-Semitic. In a very hilarious scene, Alvy tells his friend Rob (Tony Roberts) about mistakenly overhearing someone say “did Jew” not “did you.” His paranoid fears come to the fore when he has to meet Annie’s family. When Annie tells Alvy that her Grammy Hall is suspicious of Jewish people,
Alvy immediately becomes self-conscious and dreads meeting her. And when they do meet at her parent’s house, he literally sees himself turn into an orthodox Jew under Grammy’s stare.
Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) is the ultimate quirky individual who adds much to the comedy in the film. Her mannerisms are unique to her. She drives her car at breakneck speeds through crowded city streets that frightens Alvy whenever he’s in the car. She uses childish language to sum up her feelings at the time, which amazes Alvy that a grown woman would use such language. In the scene of their first meeting, she comes across as a bubbly woman eager to spend some time with him. She makes her plans incredibly flexible that Alvy can only accept her offer of a ride home, even though she has said that she was going the opposite way. It is her charm that makes Alvy fall in love with her.
Other interesting minor characters add life to the story making it more fun and amusing. They are not just additions to the story, but they also contribute much to the comedic nature of the film. The use of the other characters as a sound board for jokes spices up the film. Rob, Alvie’s best friend, is an actor and a womanizer. Alvy turns to him for advice, but besides the fact he points out that Alvy needs to get laid, Rob offers no solid guidance for Alvy’s love life. Duane Hall (Christopher Walken) has one line in the film about how he wants to crash his car whenever he drives which ends up being entertaining in the scene when he drives Alvy and Annie to the airport. Alvy sits with a nervous face, while Annie and Duane act as if he never contemplated crashing the car. The humor in this scene is subtle, but it is also very amusing.
The casting of Shelley Duvall in the role of Pam is a good choice. The physical characteristics of Duvall make her fit perfectly into Pam’s role as a terrible one-night stand for Alvy to have to get over his breakup with Annie. Pam is an awkward and somewhat unattractive person, and Alvy hardly gets along with her. On their first, and only date, Alvy acts uncomfortable with her. They hardly engage in conversation, and when they finally end up in bed, the look on Alvy’s face as he listens to her talk is a mixture of regret and of boredom that is truly hilarious in the context that they just finished doing it.
The essence of Annie Hall is human relationships, and Woody Allen directs the cast to an almost perfect performance that the story of two individual’s relationship stands as being universal. You can almost sympathize with the characters, because they could be you. There are hardly any flaws in Allen’s direction. What little action enhances the story, and everyone says what you would expect them to say in context with their character. The characters and what they say elevate the film to its funniest moments. It’s what these strange individuals say that make the film hilarious. The dialogue is comical as it is flawless. The people in Annie Hall turn the most basic human problems into a pleasant experience to watch someone go through.
