Customer Reviews

Interiors (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pleased to see so many positive comments here about Woody Allen's underrated first drama. I was getting tired of the odd looks I'd get when telling people I liked this film.

A totally serious, almost theatrical examination of the meltdown of a rich, WASPy family might seem worlds away from anything Allen's earlier films prepared us for, but for the most part he's very up to the task, creating a gallery of disturbing and unforgettable moments and characters.

Yes, it's derivative of Bergman, but it's also pretty damn good. Beautifully photographed by Gordon Willis, with amazing performances (Geraldine Page, Mary Beth Hurt, Maureen Stapleton in particular are brilliant, but everyone is strong). The script does border on cliché at moments, and some specific dialogue is clunky, but there's something deeply moving and hard to shake in it's overall final effect. Under appreciated in its time, it's faults now seem very forgivable, and there's excitement in watching a great filmmaker stretch his talent in a new direction.

On the other hand, it's very disturbing to see yet another important film listed as only available used, as are a number of Allen films. I can only hope this means upgraded re-releases (blu-ray?) are on the way. But you might want to grab a used copy now, just in case. It's also currently available new on PAL at the Amazon UK site, if you have a region free machine.

This emotional film may appeal to refugees from nauseating and intelligence-insulting Hollywood tear-jerkers. The film exposes expression and suppression of emotion in the educated upper middle class family of origin. The emotional tension rises higher and breaks down more hysterically than in his films that address marriage and the sexual relationship.

Modern interiors gut-hardeningly frame the confrontations and evasions. The interiors on their own would make it worth watching.

Revisiting INTERIORS written and directed by Woody Allen in 1978 it becomes apparent that this is one of the most important American films made. In this time of video art and digital manipulation of images, both in real time and in fixed entities, INTERIORS exemplifies the finest in what film can achieve. Without manipulation of scenery, without (gratefully) a senses-asaulting musical score, without GIMMICKRY - here is a film of brilliant writing, stunningly and beautifully subtle sets and costumes, and acting of the first degree. The angst so present in our society's family relationships is gently observed and explored and the results are a paean of understated simplicity and pain. It is difficult to single out any of the outstanding cast as 'best' and that is yet another proof of ensemble acting and directing at a zenith. Yes, it is unimaginable to leave behind the characters created by Geraldine Page, H.G. Marshall, Diane Keaton, and Maureen Stapleton, but again this is an indicator of how well and cohesive the experience provided by this movie is.

I have never been a Woody Allen fan: I find his comedies overwrought, self-absorbed, and frustratingly tedious. Seeing INTERIORS on a DVD, in the quiet of home, has altered my respect for this man. A dazzingly brilliant, thoughtful, elegy of a film.

Woody Allen threw the film world a curveball in 1978 when he released not only his first straight dramatic film, but also the first film he directed that he didn't appear in. Although the film confused and possibly enraged some fans, it holds up today as, in my opinion, one of his most strikingly daring films.

It's obvious to anyone watching "Interiors" that this is an homage to Allen's favorite director, the great Ingmar Bergman. The quiet, the seriousness, the dysfunction -- it's "Cries and Whispers" for the Manhattan intelligentsia. While the film obviously pays tribute to Bergman, it's no mere copy. It has a life and style of its own, mainly due to the performances.

The film deals with a wealthy, successful man (E.G. Marshall) who decides to separate from his unstable wife (Geraldine Page). The wife is thrown into depression and suicide attempts. Her three daughters are there to help, but can only do so much. Diane Keaton plays the stable, earthy Renata. Her husband is a failed writer and an alcoholic (played by Richard Jordan). Joey (Mary Beth Hurt) is the neurotic, stuffy, moody one who can't seem to find happiness in any profession she attempts. Her husband is played by Sam Waterston, and he's probably the one normal person in the whole film. The third daughter, Flynn, is played by Kristin Griffith as a TV-movie actress whose films are always panned by her family, both in and out of her presence. Maureen Stapleton plays the role of Pearl, the feisty woman Marshall begins dating soon after his separation. His children are surprised that he wants to remarry so soon, and Joey shows open contempt for his choice of a new wife.

This is not "Bananas," "Sleeper," or even "Annie Hall." This is Woody Allen showing the dark recesses of family dysfunction. Geraldine Page is simply outstanding as the mentally unstable middle-aged woman. The scene where she "prepares" for her first suicide attempt is extremely dark and sad. Her final "beach" scene is beautifully shot. The rest of the cast does a great job, but she is head and shoulders above the rest.

It's interesting to see Allen stretch out with this style of filmmaking, and I think it works very well. He has obviously studied Bergman's works carefully. This is no mere copy, it's a beautiful homage.

The picture quality is good but not excellent for a DVD transfer. And as with all of Allen's discs, there's really not much in the area of extras -- just a trailer. But this is definitely a film to check out.

Giving "Interiors" three stars is a compromise: as a film it rates worse and yet watching it can be, in a rather twisted way, a five-star experience. Just as it's difficult to pass the scene of a car accident without staring, no matter how horrible the spectacle, "Interiors" offers the viewer the same kind of irresistible awfulness. Someone once wrote to the effect that Woody Allen writes about New York WASP intellectuals not the way they are but the way he thinks they are. Not having any experience with that particular segment of society I can only say that I hope, both for their sake and ours, that Allen is wildly off the mark. Whatever emotional pain his characters may be going through, they come across as hopelessly pretentious, self-involved, and unlikeable. Of course, there's nothing to demand that movies be populated with amiable characters, but Allen makes it pretty near impossible to feel for any of these people. If he was trying to present a portrait of obnoxious New York intellectuals, then "Interiors" is a partial success, but somehow I don't think that was his desired goal.

For all its faults, however, "Interiors" will remain one of those Woody Allen movies that draws me back from time to time. As Allen's deadly serious movies go, "Interiors" is not as bad as the nearly unwatchable "September" but not as good as "Another Woman". His real problem is the dialogue. The ostentatious intellectualism is tolerable, even an asset, in his comedies but in his serious films it is fairly ridiculous. One need hardly point out that real people don't talk that way. But it is precisely that quality that draws me back. It's awfulness is delicious.

Woody Allen follows in the steps on Ingmar Bergman in filming the falling apart of women and sisters. The sisters are all very much different from each other. Joey [played by Mary Beth Hurt in a performace that makes me want to gag.] is the sister who can not find herself, even though we're told she has so many talents. You just feel like smaking her and saying, "Hey, there's people who have it a lot rougher than you out in the world." The two best things about this film are Geraldine Page and Maureen Stapleton, who were both nominated for Oscars. Stapleton plays the fathers new love interest who isn't like by the whole family, but ends up winning them over. Page brilliantly plays the fragile and distraught mother who is on the verge of suicide. The ending scenes are unavoidable as the story progresses. A great film to watch if your a fan of Allen's or Bergman's. It's also a great film to watch if your a fan of Geraldine Pages.
5 1978 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS:
BEST ACTRESS-GERALDINE PAGE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS-MAUREEN STAPLETON
BEST DIRECTOR-WOODY ALLEN
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY-WOODY ALLEN
BEST ART DIRECTION

Simply dazzling in its understated way. And the dialogue is lot less stilted than most Bergman subtitles. There's no camp howler in this film that can even touch the godawful line in Persona where the ostensible nurse says to her ostensible patient: "Thank you for teaching me how to smoke."

Woody leaves Ingmar in the dust, period. And I feel grateful that we have this film, flaws and all. 2002-era Woody could not possibly craft a film like Interiors; it isn't in him anymore.

Why Mary Beth Hurt wasn't even nominated for an Oscar is yet another instance of Academy lack of taste. Perhaps her performance is a little too real. God knows she nearly made me leap from my skin in discomfort when I first saw the film in 1981. Watching it again after 20 years, Hurt is the most alive and vivid person on screen. She captures the frustration of having an artist's temperament with no outlet for expression --a condition that haunts many of us. It is interesting, in Allen studies, to compare this character with the flailing indecisive women (also of artistic temperament in search of a form) that Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest would portray in the later Hannah and her Sisters.

Interiors also gives us one of Geraldine Page's most inspired variations on the coming-apart archetype in which she specialized. Page's Eve is so fragile that you want to hold her, even though she would most likely reject that reassurance. The scene between Page and E.G. Marshall in the church unnerves me to even think about; it is the most harrowing portrait of hopelessness I can recall seeing in a movie.

Diane Keaton is arch but good. True, her character isn't likable, but Keaton's take on the chilly academic hits bullseye. There are women like Renata in any university English or Comparative Literature department. Marshall is terrific as the dad who just wants an uncomplicated woman. Sam Waterston is an engaging presence; he was still young and cute and nice to look at in 1978 (a far cry from that insulting blind rabbi role Woody later stuck him with in the execrable Crimes and Misdemeanors) . On the debit side, Richard Jordan is undistinguished and Kristin Griffith as the actress sister is just plain awful.

The finale sequence, Eve's suicide, is unquestionably the most powerful closing statement Allen has ever put on film. Page returns late at night to the seaside house that rightfully, aesthetically, belongs to her; listens in silence to Hurt's recounting of "willful perversion" she endured from her mother while growing up; and walks out in the ocean and drowns. What happens next is both brilliantly audacious and more true to life than we'd care to admit. Hurt runs into the pounding waves to save Page; Waterston runs in after Hurt; Waterston brings Hurt back and drops her unconscious on the shore. Maureen Stapleton, the new stepmother whom Hurt openly despises, has followed them down to the beach and stood anxiously watching. Stapleton then gives Hurt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Hurt revives, realizes that the woman she hates has just saved her life --and she reaches out to embrace Waterston. Even in a life/death situation, Hurt still rejects Stapleton. Has there ever, ever, ever been a kick-in-the-seat-of-the-pants finale as electrifyingly human as this?

This is a very beautiful movie: He'll probably never make another movie like this as there's not much market for it but I wish a lot more movies of it's ilk were made. Yes there's plenty of Bergman influence but it's at least as much in the spirit of Checkhov (high compliment). Most of the characters are bright, preening, self absorbed people cut of from the flow of life, that enjoy wallowing in the pain of their magnified personal issues. It's not historionic like Bergman, the film is dispassionate and measured although it deals with depression and suicide. There is no musical soundtrack (including the opening and closing credits), except when the characters are dancing: it plays very much like theater. The central character Eve is an interior decorator and she shapes the lives of the other characters through upbringing or their response to her, hence: Interiors.

Very highly recommended. This is a carefully nuanced work of art that needs time and exposure to be appreciated. The acting, the writing and the visuals are all stunning. "Interiors" is a gifted examination of the crippling effects of perfectionism, and the vacuity of life lived only in the head.

Please. I am probably stating the obvious, but isn't this film so embarrassingly copied from several of Ingmar Berman's films, "Persona" especially, that it qualifies as a remake? Allen fans know of Woody's regard for the Swedish director's films, but does Allen have to go so far as to borrow emotional landscapes and intellectual situations from Bergman as well? The American film audiences are completely unaware of the similarities, and perhaps that's why he is able to get away with it, but critics and especially Nordic audiences have no excuse.