Neurotic Analysis

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2003)

We all have moments where we are disheartened by the mundane nature of life and the lack of any clear directive of what to do. The world is a very large place and we wonder if our actions are of any consequence, or is it all for naught. While most of us are able to get past this depression and focus on pursuing a self-fulfilling existence, Woody Allen finds himself mired in morose thoughts and constant pessimism. He has used this to craft a successful career as a director/actor, usually portraying characters as miserable as he. Annie Hall was his breakthrough film which shows a philosophy of life uncommon to modern film and freshly unique. It is full of characters that are endearingly flawed and presents a story easily identified with by the audience. Annie Hall is a love story without all of the syrup pervasive in most `romantic comedies.' Diane Keaton plays the title character, a slightly aloof Wisconsin woman living in New York who seems to be in the process of `finding herself.' Allen is known for his references to philosophers/psychologists such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Freud, and the Hall character seems to be pursuing self-actualization as often described by these men. Allen's character, Alvy Singer, helps her along in this by setting her up with a therapist and giving her books on death. Indeed, as the movie progresses Annie Hall grows from an insecure/nervous type into someone who is comfortable with herself and feels a need for independence and self-determination. The theories of Freud and existential philosophy are present in most Woody Allen films, yet they are particularly emphasized in Annie Hall. Perhaps because it is the story of a woman who is completing herself dating a man who has come to terms with the fact that he never will that introspective issues are so evident. You can't really understand the story without at least thinking about the internal forces these characters are dealing with, and it's no coincidence that a courting scene features subtitles of the characters inner-thoughts. This is a story as much about two people's relationship with themselves as with each other. Part of Kierkegaard's book Either/Or is set up as the journal of a ficticous character who is struggling to deal with life as a daily mundane journey. There is a series of seemingly random statements that appear to have the general theme of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. To borrow Allen's style and paraphrase Kierkegaard, it goes roughly; `If you give your love to a woman, you will regret it. If you don't give your love to a woman, you will regret it. If you either give your love to a woman or don't give your love to a woman, you will regret it. If you laugh at the world's follies, you will regret it. If you weep at the world's follies, you will regret it. If you either laugh or weep at the world's follies, you will regret it.'
It goes on like that for many more pages, but I think that's enough to show the similarities between Allen's films and the existentialist philosophies of the 19th Century. Somehow, Allen's stories alert us to the fact that the world is full of despair and sorrow, yet we don't become saddened by this fact but rather contented. This may be due to the sharp humor of Allen but likely playing into it is the audience's realization that other people have the same general worries and insecurities as them. Allen's slightly exaggerated character indeed presents an insight into all of our neuroses and, at the very least, it encourages us by portraying someone even more messed up than we are. He reaffirms the doubts and fears we all have yet at the same time shows how ludicrous and insignificant they are. The use of humor in telling the story is key to this.
Allen's comedic style is one of dry wit and quick humor, and one quickly realizes that his films would be completely unwatchable without it. It would make many people nervous to watch a humorless, insecure, paranoid man struggle unhappily through the daily grind of life. At the very least Allen's sense of humor shows him as a charming rather than pathetic character. A man who goes through life feeling sorrow for himself won't receive much sympathy from others, while a man who goes through life making fun of his self-pity will. Annie Hall seems to be representative of the baby-boomer generation and their coming of age in the 1970's. Drug use and casual sex are constant issues in the film, yet it neither glamorizes nor vilifies them. They're simply there. Family and childhood are core themes of the movie with numerous flashbacks to Singer's life growing up under a Coney Island roller coaster and a visit to Hall's family in Wisconsin. In a split-scene the families of Singer and Hall are compared eating dinner around a table and the importance Allen places on heritage, background and experience is obvious. Here he is, dating a woman not as well-read as he, who comes from a rural family in Wisconsin. He turns to the camera and he can't seem to believe it. He's the complete opposite of this woman, yet he loves her. This really personifies Alvy Singer and portrays him as a realistic character to the audience. The realism of the movie is really one of its stronger attractions. Romantic comedies to that point seem to have been glamorized stories of two almost-perfect people falling in love. Annie Hall took this convention and turned it around. Every individual in the movie has at least one major flaw and their common insecurities allow the audience to make a connection not present in many films. It is then, with the viewers drawn in by the `everyman/woman' characters, that Allen can get into deep existential philosophies without fear of polarizing the audience.