Subtitles:

English (SDH), none

Extras:

In Another Woman, Gena Rowlands plays Marion Post, a middle aged woman who appears to have it all. She is a successful professor at a women's college, is married to a cardiologist, and has many friends. Marion comes to realize, however, that her life and relationships aren't as perfect as she thought. This realization begins when Marion rents an apartment to use as an office while she writes her new book. Due to some kind of acoustic anomaly, she is able to hear conversations in the apartment next door where an analyst has his office. Marion becomes intrigued by the sessions of a young pregnant woman considering suicide (Mia Farrow). The woman is never named in the film until the end credits where she is identified as "Hope." Through HopeÕs story and a series of encounters with her family and friends, Marion begins to see that she has lead a cold and detached life. Marion's childhood and first marriage are seen in realistic dream sequences and flashbacks. According to Baxter, Allen later described Marion as "the character...who of all those in his work most resembled him intellectually."

A reflective drama about a college professor in her fifties. On sabbatical to write a book on German philosophy, Marion (Rowlands) rents an apartment for the necessary solitude. There she starts overhearing sessions in the psychologist's office next door, in particular the disclosures of Hope (Farrow), who has cause to question her marriage, the meaning of life and death, etc. Marion gets to thinking, and is appalled to realise that so many assumptions about her own life and marriage are largely unfounded: in her desire for a controlled existence, she has evaded the emotional truth about relationships with her best friend (Dennis), brother (Yulin) and husband (Holm). The film shows a refinement and development of recurrent Allen themes, particularly in the characterisation of what is arguably his most complex female character to date. But in choosing a stylised approach, Allen too often obscures points in overstatement and intellectual posturing. Where the film gains considerable momentum and richness is in the marvellous performances: Rowlands' perfectly pitched approach to a demanding role is particularly stunning.

Gary Tooze

January 26th, 2017

Arrow Academy's Woody Allen: Seven Films - 1986-1991 Blu-rays