Zelig

Plot synopsis:
Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film focuses on Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), a nondescript man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him. He is first observed at a party by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who notes that Zelig related to the affluent guests in a refined Boston accent and shared their Republican sympathies, but while in the kitchen with the servants he adopted a ruder tone, and seemed to be more of a Democrat. He soon gains international fame as a "human chameleon".
Interviewed in one of the witness shots, Bruno Bettelheim makes the following comment:
The question of whether Zelig was a psychotic or merely extremely neurotic was a question that was endlessly discussed among his doctors. Now I myself felt his feelings were really not all that different from the normal, what one would call the well-adjusted, normal person, only carried to an extreme degree, to an extreme extent. I myself felt that one could really think of him as the ultimate conformist.
Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow) is a psychiatrist who wants to help Zelig with this strange disorder when he is admitted to her hospital. Through the use of hypnotism, she discovers Zelig yearns for approval so strongly he physically changes to fit in with those around him. Dr. Fletcher's determination allows her to cure Zelig, but not without complications; she lifts Zelig's self-esteem but much too high and thus he temporarily develops a personality which is violently intolerant of other people's opinions.
Dr. Fletcher realizes she is falling in love with Zelig. Because of the media coverage of the case, both patient and doctor become part of the popular culture of their time. However, fame is the main cause of their division; the same society that made Zelig a hero destroys him.
Zelig's illness returns, and he tries to fit in once more. Numerous women claim he married them, and he disappears. Dr. Fletcher finds him in Germany working with the Nazis before the outbreak of World War II. Together they escape and return to America, where they are proclaimed heroes (after Zelig, using his ability to imitate one more time, mimics Fletcher's piloting skills and flies back home across the Atlantic upside down).

Tags: entertaining, psychological, satire, depressing

Review:
The entire premise of the movie is wildly original, even coming from WOODY ALLEN who continually cranks out one interesting film after another to this day.
Using photo stills, mixing real footage with his, and providing exposition via modern-day "historians" and aged characters, he gave this innovative film such an authenticity that if one didn't know any better, you would swear there had been an actual Leonard Zelig.Allen plays Leonard, a man so devoid of identity, so eager to assimilate, that he literally takes on the appearance or, at least, the attributes of anyone he comes in contact with.
Eventually, Dr. Fletcher is able to cure him, and with his newfound personality, he and Eudora fall in love.Allen also introduces the idea of Zelig's story being filmed as a movie, so he inter cuts some of the news sources with scenes from the film (very funny).
And when Woody's clever AND funny, you get "Zelig".Telling the story of Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen, who else?) who transforms himself chameleon-like into anyone just to get people to like him, he finds himself the object of on-going observation from a kind doctor (Farrow), who eventually falls for him.
But lest you think this is simply a love story, there are also pot-shots at fame, fads, the 1930s (!!), medical conventions, product cash-ins and the joys and pitfalls of celebrity.Then there's the sheer joy of the technical wizardry that allows Woody's Zelig to stand alongside such figures as Josephine Baker, Brickhouse, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, "Red" Grange, Al Capone, F.
One of the most sophisticated, cleverest, funniest, exquisitely shot and edited, scored, and acted movies ever made, "Zelig" is a masterpiece and astounding work even for Woody Allen whose mediocre movies are way above the regular Hollywood fares.
Using special lenses to give the movie the old style, mixing his own footage with the real documentaries, including his favorite music, dances, feeling perfectly forever gone era, Woody recreates The Roaring 20Th with breathtaking authenticity.
He has to make jokes, as a character and as a writer, and it would be hard not to when having a 'chameleon' like the one Leonard Zelig is in the film, going from scene to scene, place to place, historical event to celebrity to circus act to scandal-celeb and, finally, anti-Nazi hero.But there's more to the piece than I remembered first seeing the film when I was younger.
We see how Zelig, who first got this gift/curse to be a human chameleon after being beat up as a child (there's a funny story to that, by the way, if you can believe it), does this trick with some people not quite noticing at first, then it spreads like wildfire that this guy can go along with any group he's in.
Allen loves this time period, and the footage he puts together (what he filmed exactly and what wasn't is hard to spot, making it all the more masterful and exquisite, aside from the laugh factor) is infectious in its spirit.
Often, I was laughing at the specific photos, the way people are put together, and Allen's wit as Zelig that I wouldn't bother to notice its "fake" elements.But beneath its satire on society and what it means to fit in, or not, and the trappings of fame and the fun with psychology ("Freud and I disagreed on Penis Envy," says Zelig as a "Psychologist", "he said it only worked for women"), is a heart.
And it's a good thing.Allen, who brought the world such fresh comedy ideas like film stars stepping out of the screen, characters sensing that they might be out of focus, writers lost between fiction and reality to name just a few, created with "Zelig" one of the best mockumentaries to date.
Aside from the comic effect of this premise and its perfect execution via newsreels, photo manipulation and the like containing mystifying historical details that never happened, there's that other level to the film as well: "Zelig" deals head on with the complex relationship between individual and society, poses questions about identity and assimilation, and in bringing up all those serious issues is simply hilarious..
"Zelig" is another terrific film from Woody Allen, about a chameleon who lived earlier in the century and was treated by a psychiatrist to become one, whole person.
It really enhances the quality and the message of the movie.I wonder if the character of Leonard Zelig is motivated by the personality and the performances of Peter Sellers to whom Allen is somehow indebted.
Scenes from the fake 1935 movie telling the Leonard Zelig story, which are shown periodically throughout the film, not only look like a film of that era, but are written and acted as such as well.
This is not the way to make any film, not even a documentary.When it comes to Woody Allen mockumentaries, I much prefer Take the Money and Run. It's not as researched and authentic-looking as Zelig, but it's far funnier, and far more engaging..
While MANHATTAN was breathtaking and ANNIE HALL was good (I still have to see CRIME AND MISDEMEANORS), for ZELIG Woody Allen takes a pass and decides to make a non-movie.The movie starts with a joke in a documentary style.
It's a pseudo-documentary - maybe the first one ever - in which he plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon in the 1920s: he literally changes his personality and physical appearance to accommodate the people in his surroundings.
Mia Farrow plays Dr. Eudora Fletcher, trying to cure him.This has some of the things that we would expect in a Woody Allen movie, namely Leonard's explanation of the kind of class that he teaches.
As far as I can recall, none of Allen's other films use the technique of inserting a character(in this case Leonard Zelig) into existing footage like newsreels and archive photos, and so cleverly.
In conclusion, a great film that deserves more attention, despite the high rating and reviews holding it in great esteem elsewhere people talk about Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours and Manhattan as well as more recent stuff like Midnight in Paris and Match Point but Zelig is rarely talked about and that's a shame because people are missing out on Woody Allen at his most unique.
"Zelig", Woody Allen's follow-up to his "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", is a hilarious faux documentary focusing on Leonard Zelig, a man capable of transforming himself, and his bizarre adventures.
"Zelig" is a successful film not just because it's a remarkably funny movie with, hands down, some of the best dialogue Woody Allen has ever written, but because it reaches past its premise (which would have been amusing only as a half-hour short or something of the sort) to become yet another Allen film with psychological preoccupations.
It's still an excellent film, but I definitely feel sorry that it wasn't mind-bogglingly brilliant as it definitely had the potential to be.It's shot as and looks like most documentaries do, but the archive footage, thanks to Allen and Gordon Willis, looks absolutely spot-on and just about completely convincing, and the film's best visual moments come with faux footage of a 1935 Warner Bros.
Those scenes are among the funniest in the film as well.With its typical preoccupations with psychology and psychoanalysis, "Zelig" is a look at familiar subject matter from Woody Allen, but through a fresh and different perspective.
I enjoy this type of "fantasy" movie (like Purple Rose of Cairo, but I didn't like the documentary style in which it was brought to us in.Mia Farrow plays a psychiatrist who tries to "wean" Leonard off of his changing ways by giving him more self-confidence.
Really strange mock documentray that takes place in America in the 1920s--a man, Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen) is a human chameleon--he takes on the physical characteristics of any man he is with.
This film is a documentary about the story of one Leonard Zelig, a man who came to prominence in the 1920's when police found him living as a convincing Chinese man and, on arrest, his personality and appearance changed again.
I feel so lucky to found a gigantic mind that reveals the exact things happened in his own life, in fact Woody's most fans were having the same problems as he shows in his films and i couldn't agree he really did these movies In that time of ages.
The soundtrack with those uproarious songs such as "Leonard the Lizard," "Doin' the Chameleon," "Chameleon Days" by Dick Hyman blends in as well and passes of a genuine thing of having made in pre WW-Two.This film is a convergence of Mr. Allen's brilliance of different skills sets that showcases his mastery of the cinematic medium: directing, acting (the most iconic Woody Allen on display here), and writing.Only criticism that can be thrown in this film is that it would have been better if it ended at the halfway mark, the point where Zelig mutters that pancakes quote under a hypnotic trance.
In the style of a mockumentary, Woody Allen starred as a man who was a literal human chameleon, appearing in the background newsreel footage through many different periods of history as he assumed the role of the context he was in.
Whereas Beatty's Reds was a film about idealistic Americans during the Russian Revolution in a documentary framework, this treads a similar path with comedic effect.Woody Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon who assimilates with the people around him.
Eventually Zelig is cured and he and Eudora fall in love.Allen's film which is mostly in black and white also successfully integrated the concept of splicing characters into old footage such as Zelig sitting behind Hitler in a rally but really they are well staged re-enactments.
I am not a Woody Allen fan--yet two films he made are remarkably good--"Match Point" and "Zelig.""Zelig" is quasi-documentary at its best.
"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.I found this film clever and the filming techniques are inspired, but it is far from Woody Allen's best.
It is extremely clever, extremely innovative, and way ahead of its time using special effects that later movie makers borrowed.It slows down every now and then with too much narrative, but when Zelig becomes intertwined with the personalities of the '20s and '30s you don't know whether to sit there and be intrigued of just laugh like a loon, so you do both.To say the least, Woody Allen has always been offbeat.
In its own odd way, it may be Woody's most personal film, this mockumentary about a meek man who wanted to be liked so much that he physically changes himself to be like the people he is around.
Changes had happened on main characters, especially the hero.Actor The director shaped a little cute and a bit confused public person who was actually a morbid man.Photography Normal The virtual parts had been done to old style and speeded, so it could look like historical data more and could be called ''documentary''.
It's filmed as a mockumentary, which in itself is a very tricky genre to master.Woody Allen plays the title character, and Mia Farrow, his at-the-time sweetie pie, plays his psychiatrist.
This level of perfectionism is vital because the format chosen by Allen wouldn't have allowed a fake look; it's precisely because it looks real that the gags work.And the more I see "Zelig", the more I realize that the movie works on a self-reflexive way as if it was deliberately trying to embody the very condition of its titular character, a man who tries so hard to fit into every human group, to be liked by everybody that he mysteriously develop the same physical characteristics and mannerisms of the personalities around him.
It's as if for the first time, Allen abandoned his self-absorbed neurotic lovable loser character to let express the most hidden part of his personality, a man uncomfortable with what he is, lost in an era where everything is dramatized for the sake of it.Mia Farrow enriches the story with her part as Dr. Eudora Fletcher, the psychoanalyst who wants to understand Leonard Zelig with the well-intentioned motive to help him to overcome his condition.
Jewish, socially rejected, and then a enigmatic figure coming out of the mind of Woody Allen, Leonard Zelig, the main character in one of the first mockumentaries ever made (I believe it is the first) is a chamaleonic guy who transforms himself with the same clothes and personal characteristics of the person he talks or appears at his side.
And of course, there's a love story between them.Helped with a excellent and complex cinematography by Gordon Willis evoking the memorable News Obituary from "Citizen Kane", "Zelig" tells the story of its character with a grained but very stylish photography, making the film with a realistic look of the 1920's and 1930's, where Allen has the chance to be closer to many personalities of the time, or attending a Nazi party while Hitler's speeching.
It has the same quality that made "Forrest Gump" a interesting and remarkable film where a character passes decades meeting famous people in unusual events.But "Zelig" is a comedy and being so it has some of the funniest lines of a film written and directed by Allen.
In fact, I've never seen a single Woody Allen movie which I wouldn't have enjoyed if he'd made 50% longer.Everything about this movie is outstanding: the humor, both oral and visual, the superb film artistry in creating a complete feel for the period of the film, and the technical expertise displayed without any disturbance of the impression of this being filmed with earlier, more primitive resources.If somebody placed a gun to my head and insisted on a criticism, it could only be that I'd wish that he place the names of the real-life personalities, portrayed as commenting on Leonard Zelig, on-screen every time they were shown, and leave them on-screen a bit longer.My liking of Allen films is so complete that if I were to rate all in order, the lowest on the list wouldn't be below a "9.9," and I can't think of any I wouldn't accord a "10." My personal favorites (both with Mia Farrow, and both black-and-white with the intentionally "grainy" filming technique) - this film, and the equally- and delightfully-quirky "Broadway Danny Rose.".
Woody Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon who becomes the person he's with.He can be black, Native American, a shrink, even a Nazi.People go nuts about Zelig in the 1920's.Mia Farrow is his doctor Eudora Fletcher who tries to cure him.
Leonard Zelig's relationship to other people, worldly events, "identity" & the "otherness" in society exactly expresses the the points of view of Joseph K, Gregor Samsa, the Hunger Artist & the rest of their brethren.On a personal level one can view the "chameleon" message of the film as Mr. Allen's gentle explanation of how & why he makes so many different kinds of films, imitations to some, homages to others, to great authors, directors.
You need to be out of your mind to think of something like this.It is a mockumentary on life and times of Leonard Zelig, played by Woody Allen, a conformist to such level that he becomes and assumes the shape of his surroundings.
The fake documentary about 'the chameleon man' takes places in the jazz era in the 1930's and counts with great acting by Woody himself and Mia Farrow, who plays Dr. Fletcher, a psychiatrist that will take a great part in Zelig's life.
If not for this third level, "Zelig" would be just another in a long line of good, funny, solidly enjoyable Woody Allen movies.
(Not that some parts are not funny - the Nazi rally scene is a hoot.)Good support from Mia Farrow as the psychiatrist that Allen falls in love with, but this plays like an amusing Saturday Night Live sketch dragged out to cover a whole movie.
Zelig is a movie best enjoyed by those 35 and older and by Woody Allen fans.
In this extremely clever "Mockumentary", comedian Woody Allen plays fictional character Leonard Zelig, a remarkable man who can fit anywhere in society because he can change his appearance at will.The laughs come fast and furious in this account of Zelig's adventures in the 1920s and 1930s, when he became all the rage and hung out with the likes of Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Fanny Brice, Pope Pius XI, and Adolph Hitler, to name but a few.Woody Allen seamlessly weds old, black and white newsreel footage with his humorous tale, allowing Zelig to be right there in the thick of history.Zelig, from 1983, is a remarkably well-executed Comedy that holds the viewer's rapt attention from start to finish.A big hand goes to Cinematographer Gordon Willis for his painstaking work in this film..
"Zelig" is a fake documentary done by Woody Allen, which is set mostly in the '20's and '30's of the last century, about a man who is known as the human chameleon because he can transform himself psychically into every person that gets close to him.
This fictional biography of Leonard Zelig, a man who can change his appearance to an equivalent of the people around him, is in many ways the best movie Allen directed (and acted) in during the 80s.
Woody Allen's "pseudo-documentary" about the chameleon life of Leonard Zelig..
Zelig is a Woody Allen film with an original style.
Zelig is an excellent film that is enjoyable to watch both for its idea, its subtle comedy (it would harldy be Woody Allen any other way) and its technical aspects..
Zelig is, I think, my favorite Woody Allen movie.
Clever, indeed.ZELIG falls short of being one of Woody Allen's great films for the reason it's a mockumentary; it barely has his presence and that of Mia Farrow as familiar faces and is a visual attack of archive footage and old jazz tunes.
First, I need to point out that I generally don't like Woody Allen movies.