One of the truest representations of a relationship on film.

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2009)

The film asks many questions, one of the biggest is, is it right to think you should "improve" your partner? Allen's character, Alvy Singer, meets Keaton's character, Annie Hall, through some friends. Alvy is much more of the intellectual type than Annie is and when they start dating he insists on her attending classes, and read books he suggests, and brings her up to his level. Once he is no longer dominant, he begins to feel threatened by her new found self, and she gets sick of his same old self. Which brings up another question, after your partner has "improved" you, do you owe them anything?
The acting is impressive, Keaton, who was awarded the "Best Actress" Academy Award for her role as Annie, deserves it 100%, she fills her character with a multitude of interesting emotions, and ideas. Allen, as usual, plays a fictionalized version of himself, and even though he is portraying "himself" he does a great job of it, filling his character with just as much emotion as Keaton does for hers. Something interesting to me, the film is filled with many jokes, many punch lines and comedic reactions, but there is at least one dramatic moment for every one of those funny moments. The film-making here is also top notch, the cinematography interesting and pleasing to the eye, the music is really well chosen, the production design creatively changes over time to subtly assist the plot, and the editing pretty much makes the film what it is.
I think that two jokes Allen tells in the film perfectly summarizes what he wanted to say. The first is "I would never want to join a club that would have me as a member." and "Two old ladies are at a catskills resort, one turns to the other and says "Boy this food is terrible!" and the other says "and such little portions!". According to Allen that sums up his opinion on life, and relationships, its all full of misery and awfulness, and its all over much too soon.