Husbands and Wives (1992) is my favorite Woody Allen film. The writing, the photography, the performances (particularly Judy Davis’), the faux-documentary feel -- almost everything about it is sublime. I was twenty years old when I first watched it, and I can still remember feeling exhilarated as I left the theater. I’ve since seen it fifty thousand times, and I’m continually amazed by it after each viewing.
Nothing’s perfect, but Husbands and Wives comes pretty damned close. -- daveyhoule
(Note: The film synopsis and conversations were lifted from Conversations with Woody Allen (Knopf, 2007) by Eric Lax and slightly edited for clarity by me.)
A complicatedly made film using a variety of cinematic techniques including a handheld camera and choppy cuts between characters that add an unsettled edge, Husbands and Wives details the disintegration of a marriage that seems perfectly sound and the rehabilitation of another that in the first scene is declared to be over. Jack and Sally (Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis) arrive at the home of their good friends Gabe and Judy (Woody Allen and Mia Farrow), and cheerfully say they are getting divorced. Gabe and Judy are at first shocked, then Judy become furious. A handheld camera follows the action, giving the film the jumpy feel of a documentary (and the look of a film in which none of the camera moves or even much of what the actors did was either rehearsed or even spelled out beforehand), and that sense is enhanced by the narration by an unseen observer and interviews by what is assumed to be the director of a film within the film.
Opening scene (Note: turn up your volume--this video is a bit quiet)
The characters all become involved with other people: Judy introduces Sally to Michael (Liam Neeson), an editor, who falls for her, to Judy's unhappiness because she desires him. Jack becomes involved with his aerobics instructor, Sam (Lysette Anthony), whose beauty (and youth) is matched by her lack of intellectual depth. Gabe, a novelist who also teaches at Columbia University, teeters toward involvement with Rain (Juliette Lewis), one of his students. And in the end, it is Jack and Sally who are reunited while Gabe and Judy divorce.
On Making Husband and Wives
WA: Husbands and Wives was a fun experiment. That was a picture that I wanted to be ugly. I didn't want anything to match on it or be refined or cut well. I wanted it to be an unattractive picture to see.
EL: When you were writing it, I assume you were thinking of shooting it this way. The look matches the subject matter.
WA: Yeah, I was thinking I wanted to make this picture just herky-jerky and unmatched and unrefined in every way.
EL: There was a big change from Shadows and Fog -- a black-and-white German expressionist comedy-drama -- to Husbands and Wives, with the camera moving all the time.
WA: Yes, I wanted to make a picture with no relation to beauty or any rules. I wanted just to do whatever I needed to do, like cut in the middle of scenes. It was one of those pictures that worked like a charm because I decided before I made it that it would be crude-looking and anything goes. I wouldn't care about cutting, I wouldn't care about angles, I wouldn't care about matching. And so we just shot it and if I was playing a scene with someone or someone was playing a scene and the scene was very good and then it got boring and then got very good again, we just cut the middle out [claps hands] and stuck them together.
Once asked why he shot Husbands and Wives like that, Allen flippantly replied, "I'm lazy. I wanted to do a film where we didn't have to wait. We had a handheld camera and we just used it. I cut when I wanted to cut and stuck anything on I wanted. I didn't care about the niceties of it. I did it with no sense of having to make a film properly. I did it fast and effortlessly and unconscientiously."
Woody Allen On Judy Davis
WA: Judy Davis is a special case. She and I never had any communication at all because there was no need for it. I would think we haven't exchanged a hundred words in our lifetime, and we've done three or four pictures [Alice, Husbands and Wives, Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity]. Now, if we were thrown together on a location, sitting around a house or something, we may have exchanged a few awkward words for sixty seconds. But I've never had to give her any direction at all. She comes to the set a truly great actress -- intimidatingly great for me.
EL: How so?
WA: I'm afraid to say anything to her because I don't want to tamper with her work, I don't want to misdirect her, I don't want to get her angry with me, I don't want to bother her [starts to laugh], I don't want to make noise. She comes to the set great. She does her thing great. She's always ten times greater than how I wrote the part. She goes back to her camper and I don't see her again or speak to her until she comes to the set the next time.
EL: Is this by mutual consent?
WA: We can't consent because we don't talk. [He laughs.] I think she's happy not to be bothered by a director and I'm [laughs] scared to death of her. She's intense.
Marisa Tomei won the 1992 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for My Cousin Vinnie, although many considered Davis’ turn as Sally the best performance of the year.
The Scandal
Perhaps the least interesting aspect of Husbands and Wives is that its release coincided with the very public breakup of Allen’s twelve-year relationship with Mia Farrow (Allen later married Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn). There’re a couple of links on the H&W Wikipedia page if anyone’s interested in further reading on the subject.
When asked if Husbands and Wives reflected the turmoil that surrounded his breakup with Farrow, Allen replied, "Husbands and Wives was written two years before things happened with Mia. There's no correlation. I was experimenting. I felt that with the documentary style it should be open, sexually and cinematically."
Woody Allen’s Satisfaction With Husbands and Wives
Husbands and Wives remains one of the few films that Allen’s directed (and that’s 46 films and counting) that he considers a personal favorite.
EL: On a couple of occasions you’ve told me that The Purple Rose of Cairo, Husbands and Wives, and Match Point are the three films you like best. Does that still hold?
WA: Yes, if I had to pick three. All these appraisals could change if I actually saw the films again. A lot of people still think my best films were around the era of Annie Hall and Manhattan, but while those movies might hold a warm place in their hearts -- for which I'm delighted -- they're wrong. Movies like Husbands and Wives, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Bullets Over Broadway, Match Point, Zelig, even Manhattan Murder Mystery and Sweet and Lowdown, are far superior. Of course these things are matters of opinion, but I go by my own just as others go by theirs.
Links
Husbands and Wives on IMDB -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104466/
Husbands and Wives on Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husbands_and_Wives
Husbands and Wives in the New York Times -- http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/23953/Husbands-and-Wives/overview
Husbands and Wives on Amazon -- http://www.amazon.com/Husbands-Wives-Woody-Allen/dp/B000062XE6
“Conversations with Woody Allen” by Eric Lax on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Woody-Allen-Moviemaking-Vintage/dp/1400031494/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295570542&sr=1-1-catcorr
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p.s. Hey. Peculiarly, to me at least, the blog has never had a Woody Allen-focused post until today, when d.l. Daveyhoule draws attention to Allen's 'Husbands and Wives' for the duration of the weekend. Please explore and react/ discuss, please, and maybe it's an opportunity to talk about Allen's work in general, I don't know. That's up to you. Thanks, and thanks most of all to Davey for his fine work and generosity. ** Misanthrope, Hey, G. Actually, I like Wahlberg's acting. His range is pretty tight, but I like what he does. It's like old school, stiff jaw acting a la Gary Cooper or Humphrey Bogart or whoever, and I like his tone and the minimalism of his performances. ** Empty Frame, I would have liked that apartment, you're right. I adore that kind of stuff, obviously. Ha ha, my names isn't James. That was a joke. I can't imagine it would be that hard to find out my real first name if some honestly wanted to. It's not a carefully hidden thing except in this case because I think it's kind of funny that people want to know. Yeah, Purdy's pretty darn good. Not always, for my money, but frequently. Me, I'd say go with 'Eustace Chisholm and the Works' next. It's probably his darkest and perviest. Do you mean John Hawkes? If so, yeah, he's really good. What are you reading by him, if we're talking about the same guy? I quite like his fiction of the late '60's and '70s. The visa problem initially was that Yury is Russian, but the big problem now is that he's had three denials, and the embassy people could see them and decide there's something wrong with him and not want to take the risk. If he hadn't had those denials, he'd get the visa in a heartbeat, but they're a huge problem that we can't do anything about, and we just have to hope his current legitimacy will outweigh them. ** Pilgarlic, You got me with that banana cupcake. Cake plus banana is a no lose situation for me. Atlanta must have lost some pretty cool buildings, no? I didn't find any in my search, but there has to be some. ** Scunnard, Oh, the Smith building, that's interesting. I was wondering what the deal was on it when I found that photo. It had that 'formerly big deal' vibe about it. ** David Ehrenstein, There's been chatter about 'The Other Side of the Wind' finally getting released for so long now that I can't get my hopes up yet. I've been hearing that since the early '80s. It sure would be massively monumental if the rumors are true this time. I'm sure I told you that I saw three scenes from it at a Directors Guild event in the early '80s where Welles showed the clips and talked about the film. They looked really amazing. Got your emails. Thank you! I'm just waiting to see how big the Joy Division Day is going to be and where it'll need to go, and then I'll be able to figure out the schedule for your posts and others. I'm Proustian? Interesting. People have fairly often drawn parallels between George Miles in my work and Angelique in Robbe-Grillet's. I can sort of see that. I know of Xavier Dolan, but I don't believe I've seen his work. There are pretty divided opinions about him among people I know here. I've heard him called the French Araki more than once. ** MANCY, Yeah, 'Writing on the Edge'. I'll check that book out again and, if there's a 'Sluts' thing, maybe I can scan it and put it here in some future context. Thanks, pal. ** Steevee, Try not to stress too much between now and Tuesday. Sounds like it'll be a pretty standard report to me. ** Alan, Hi. I skipped Penn Station just because I thought that example might overly familiar. Oh, cool, thanks for the Rimbaud/ Ashbery link. May is soon. That's very exciting! ** Math, I love that story about your friend's dad, no surprise. When I was in high school, it was common for my fellow students to take summer jobs at Disneyland, and the accounts were wild. Yeah, that Japanese theme park was right next to the 5 freeway just about where the offramp to Knotts Berry Farm is. I went once. It was too family-oriented and rides-deprived for me, but it was pretty looking. Awesome about the SF homeyness. And interesting to see who or 'who' fiddles with my Wiki page, not that any of those people or addresses ring a bell. I didn't know you could see who contributed. Strange. ** Sypha, Hope your day off was pleasurable in some way. Cool, I'll pass on your link and I'll check the blog out myself later. Everyone, here's Sypha, and please give him your attention: 'To everyone on here, an old friend of mine from college, Kevin, has started up a blog about his experiences growing up as a gay man in a woman's body, his sexual reassignment surgery, and other topics related to transgenderism. You can read it here.' Thanks, James. ** David, It seems to me that if there's a worry about the post-Mubarak Egypt, it's that the military government isn't going to change things there much at all. Alan posted a link to a really good piece explaining the differences between the situations in Egypt and Iran, but I didn't save the link. It's way too early to tell what's going to happen. For now, just the fact that the revolution succeeded is huge. ** Wolf, Ha ha, like I said, the James thing was a joke. All my nicknames are derived from my middle name Dennis because no one in my entire life has ever called me by my first name. Dude, you gotta send me a JDD thing. You're its reason. Cool about 'True Grit'. I'm chomping for it. I think she got nominated for Supporting because whoever was behind the Oscars campaign for the movie decided she had a better shot in that category and strongly suggested she be given that berth in ads and stuff. That's usually how that stuff seems to work. ** Statictick, Yeah, I didn't even do Detroit, for unknown reasons, and it must be a treasure trove of the architectural and demolished. Aw, gosh, thanks for the kind words, man. The importance is mutual, for sure. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Oh, yeah, 'Trash Humpers' is really something, right? I like your idea for the YnY piece, yeah. Do you have the 'someone else' re: the discussion in mind? Yeah, watching Mubarak topple yesterday was so beautiful, whoa. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. See, I thought Bieber was a Disney Channel star. Shows you how little I know. I bet that cookie incident was the most exciting thing that happened to the barista all day. And, even if not, I bet it made a man out of him. It sounds like your friend wants to make a quilt, but it doesn't seem like your friends would be quilt-making types, hm. I suppose I should listen to that Lady Gaga single today and see what the big deal is. Maybe it'll help prepare me for my 'Black Swan' experience, which might be happening tomorrow. Oh, thanks about 'MLT', man. You're sweet. My day or days: I played a lot of 'Epic Mickey'. I'm liking it more and more. If one is at all into the history of Disney animation, it's pretty cool because most of the game takes place in this grim world where all the Disney cartoon characters who no one remembers anymore live, and they're always trying to schmooze Mickey and say 'don't you remember me, I was in this or that cartoon', and he never does, and they get depressed. And they are real and recognizable obscure Disney characters. Anyway, I did that a lot. I'm about a third of the way through the game now. I did visa-related stuff, asking people to give us letters and documents that we need and stuff. I may have mentioned this already, but it sucks because we have to buy the plane tickets now because Yury needs to have a ticket at the embassy meeting to prove he'll return, and two round trip tickets to LA are not cheap, obviously, and, if he doesn't get the visa, I'll have to try to get them changed for later since that 'LA time' is Yury's work vacation, so I'm not going to go to LA solo but will rather take a vacation with him here in Europe or something if necessary. Anyway, visa stuff. I went with Kiddiepunk and Oscar to the opening of the General Idea retrospective Thursday night, and it was fun, and show is really terrific. Someone in Recollets vandalized the laundry room, and the Recollets has now closed it indefinitely, and that's, uh, inconvenient. I watched the Egypt stuff a lot and Mubarak's resignation and the celebrations. Uh, ate and stuff. I can't remember what else. That'll do, I guess, Here's to a splendid weekend for you, and I await your report. ** Postitbreakup, I think you did say you have no sense of smell before. That's so curious. It seems like it would make having sex like having porn. Well, I guess having porn with a higher temperature. Cherries don't smell, I don't think, unless they're cooked, I guess. Strawberries are better. I'm a boysenberry man myself. Boysenberry pie. Yum. ** L@rstonovich, Ha ha, on the resume of the Welles vocalist. Yeah, Wahlberg's cool in movies, right? I think so too. ** Bollo, That's some good reading you've got going on there, man, obviously. You have a great weekend too. Definitely. ** Schlix, That's so true about taking care of yourself. That's easy to forget, and that's when things go haywire. I know. I've been there. Oh, cool, about them seeing 'TIHYWD' in Hamburg. I can only imagine that it will get to Berlin. It was going to play there before but there was some issue about it having played in Graz too recently or something. The politics of curators stuff. I'm pretty sure it'll play there. Maybe something's in the works. I'll find out. Have a really good weekend, Uli. ** Little foal, Hey, Darren. Well, porn plus yuck is often times a sign of interesting porn. But I'm weird. Or, if you share my feelings, maybe I'm not. What phone did you get? I remember when I switched from an antique Nokia thing to an iPhone. Wow, it was a burst of freshness. Thanks about visa. You'll get to go through the whole hell with me next week, at least in words, I'm afraid. Best of the best to you, my friend. ** With that, I leave you to Mr. Allen and his minister Mr. Houle. Enjoy, be well, etc., and I'll see you come Monday.
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