Brilliantly inventive comedy

Rating: 10/10 (5 December 2011)

Like many peak directorial achievements, Annie Hall was made at an artistic crossroads. It was the point where Woody Allen was coming to the end of his 'funny' period and beginning his comedy-drama one. This movie, is so good because it is a glorious amalgamation of those two strands. While on one hand its a movie that has realistic characters and acute observations about male-female relationships, it also still incorporates much of the visual and narrative invention of his earlier 'funnies'. Its essentially a hybrid film in this respect. Its central drama is played relatively straight but it is enlivened considerably by a fragmented non-linear narrative replete with flash-backs and absurdist moments. Allen often addresses the audience directly and even wheels on Marshall McLuhan in one inspired moment. The style includes standard romantic comedy, slapstick, surrealism and even an animated segment. Characters from past and present speak to each other, split-screen is used to compare and contrast, while subtitles reveal the underlying meanings in the double-talk that men and women subject each other to. Annie Hall is post-modern in a way that always seems to benefit the material. Its an experiment that doesn't break the test tube.
The story-line itself is very simple really with little in the way of major plot developments. Like many great films though the interest lies in the detail that is extracted from this straightforward template. The central narrative is basically about a relationship between a comic Alvy Singer and a part-time cabaret artist Annie Hall. In combining the humour with the autobiographical, Allen's film is by turns hilarious and insightful. And this aligned with the cinematic inventiveness is what makes it a masterpiece. Its not just a romantic comedy of course but a rumination on other Allen concerns such as New York vs. California and his views on contemporary culture. What makes this all so good is that he never gives out simple biased answers to any of this. For example, despite having a number of hilarious digs at California's expense, he has Annie head off to find happiness there anyway; while the central relationship doesn't have a happy ending, although valuable lessons are derived from it. Of course the reason that all of this works on screen so well is due to the performances of everybody involved but special credit has to go to Allen and Diane Keaton who both excel here. They have the requisite chemistry as well as beautiful comic interplay. While it almost goes without saying that the writing is top drawer; equally funny and intelligent, usually both at the same time. Allen has never produced anything better than this.