Woody Allen was born Allan Konisberg to a working-class Jewish family in Brooklyn in 1935. His parents were argumentative, and his discovery of cinema proved an escape. He visited comedy shows in New York, and took notes. While still in high school, he began sending jokes to newspapers, many of which were printed. An agent contacted him and after school he was paid to write one-liners for celebrity clients, for which they would take credit.
Accidental Discovery
Allen went to New York University, majoring in film, but failed to show up for class. By then he was working in comedy writing rooms. He performed stand up in Greenwich Village, where he developed his famous public persona that he has always maintained is different to the private man: self-deprecating, flawed, intellectual, anxious, passive-aggressive, with a predilection for self-obsessed monologue – Woody Allen was born. He carried this character into his films, where it proved remarkably successful with beautiful, smart, although sometimes very young, fictional women.
INTUITIVE
Allen’s early movies, such as Bananas (1971), were slapstick comedies. A dramatic shift came in the late 1970s beginning with Annie Hall (1977), starring long-time friend Diane Keaton, who won an Oscar for the role. Inspired by the work of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Allen created nostalgic audio-visual homages to New York, most famously epitomised in Manhattan (1979), with its bittersweet George Gershwin soundtrack. Allen almost never held rehearsals, many scenes were improvised, and he rarely shot multiple takes; this was demanding of the actors, and its success can also be attributed to the first-class film crew with which he worked.
DARK MATERIAL
Allen’s tragicomedies came in the mid-1980s to 1990s with Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Husbands and Wives (1992), which saw him work extensively with his then partner, Mia Farrow. Again, it was an idealised if satirised world he portrayed, one distinct from that he grew up in. In apartments with views of skyscrapers, privileged people had the time and financial independence to endlessly question themselves and their personal relationships.
NOTORIOUS
The revelation of an affair between Allen and twenty-two-year-old Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his long-term partner and her former husband, the musician André Previn, was followed months later by a serious allegation of sexual abuse by his and Farrow’s seven-year-old daughter Dylan. An investigation was put to rest given the lack of provable evidence and the trauma of placing a young girl in court, and with Soon Yi and Woody Allen now married, it seemed the whole thing was forgotten. Financing his films, however, became more difficult, although actors still competed to be in them despite receiving minimum wages. The cast of Deconstructing Harry (1993) included Robin Williams and Judy Davis; Sweet and Lowdown (1999) starred Sean Penn in a mockumentary about the real-life jazz star Django Reinhardt. More recently, Allen has filmed in other cities: Match Point (2005) in London and Blue Jasmine (2013) in San Francisco. Lighter films Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Midnight in Paris (2011) and To Rome With Love (2012) revelled in their romantic European settings.
ME TOO
The accusations have resurfaced in recent years, however, aided by an article written by Allen’s estranged son, the investigative journalist Ronan Farrow. Six years ago Allen was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes, but post #MeToo he is a self-named “toxic pariah” and Hollywood, shocked and ashamed by the Harvey Weinstein cover-up, wants nothing to do with him. In Spain, on the other hand, he is making a new film; Rifkin’s Festival premieres in September.
LIFE VERSUS ART
Now more than ever, radical division afflicts the US, where the argument over Allen and his films also continues. Its first publisher destroyed all copies of Allen’s memoir Apropos of Nothing after a walk-out by staff, provoking accusations of censorship. Published by another firm, in his book Allen dismisses the allegations against him as laughable – although many now find his tone inappropriate. Times have changed. But while we are unlikely to ever find consensus on who the real Woody Allen is, his films can be seen as brilliant collaborative achievements in which unorthodox, self-aware women and men were placed at the centre of the action.
Top 5 Woody Allen's Movies
1. Husbands and Wives (1992)
With its Manhattan setting and theme of upper middle-class couples in crisis, this film is a ‘classic Allen.’ As it was made during the breakdown of his and Farrow’s decade-long relationship, viewers are placed in an uncomfortable ifalluring position. It features phenomenal performances by the women, Mia Farrow and Judy Davis in particular.
2. Love and Death (1975)
Sex, death and revolution were themes of Allen’s early comedies, which explored how the hopeless individual is caught up in epic historical events. In this satire of and homage to great 19th century Russian literature, Allen plays Boris Grushenko, a simple man whose patriotic wife Sonja (Diane Keaton) urges to take part in a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
3. Another Woman (1988)
Allen’s admiration for Ingmar Bergman is exemplified in this dramatic film with many echoes of the Swedish filmmaker’s Wild Strawberries (1957). Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is a New York philosophy professor who accidentally overhears the therapy sessions of another woman. This leads her to realisations about her own life.
4. Zelig (1983)
This mockumentary documents the life, in 1920s newsreel style, of Leonard Zelig, a man who suffers from ‘chameleon disorder’ in that he morphs into the characters and appearances of others, losing his own identity in the process. The film is a reflection on Jewish American identity in cinema, and on race and identity in America in general.
5. Midnight in Paris (2011)
The most commercially successful film of Allen’s career is an ode to art over materialism! Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a disillusioned screenwriter with a wealthy yet superficial fiancée. On a romantic trip to Paris, each night at midnight Pender finds himself travelling back in time to the 1920s where he encounters notable figures from the past.
