Another Woman

Plot synopsis:
Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is a New York philosophy professor past the age of 50 on a leave of absence to write a new book. Due to construction work in their building, she sublets a furnished flat downtown to have peace and quiet.
Her work there is interrupted by voices from a neighboring office in the building where a therapist conducts his analysis. She quickly realizes that she is privy to the despairing sessions of another woman (Mia Farrow) who is disturbed by a growing feeling that her life is false and empty. Her words strike a chord in Marion, who begins to question herself in the same way.
She comes to realize that, like her father (John Houseman), she has been unfair, unkind and judgmental to many of the people closest to her: her brother Paul (Harris Yulin) and his fragile wife Lynn (Frances Conroy), her best friend from high school Claire (Sandy Dennis), her first husband Sam (Philip Bosco), and her stepdaughter Laura (Martha Plimpton).
She also realizes that her marriage to her second husband, Ken (Ian Holm), is unfulfilling and that she missed her one chance at love with his best friend Larry (Gene Hackman). She finally manages to meet the woman in therapy as she contemplates a Klimt painting called "Hope". Although she wants to know more about the woman, she ends up talking more about herself, realizing that she made a mistake by having an abortion years ago and that at her age there are many things in life she will not have anymore.
By the end of the film, Marion resolves to change her life for the better.

Tags: flashback

Review:
It's worth noting that in 1978, ten years before he made "Another Woman," Woody Allen created another quiet film, a drama with prominent Bergmanesque influences.
The film essentially detailed the fall of "interiors," or illusory worlds created by the dominant mother in the face of tragedy and loneliness."Another Woman," made ten years later, shares similar themes with "Interiors," but it is more akin to Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" than to "Cries and Whispers." It is a story of a university professor, played spectacularly by Gena Rowlands, in whom something stirs when she overhears a therapy session with a young 30-something woman who is discontent with her life.
But the cure for her malaise is not rational resolution and she, realizing that her strongest characteristic (namely her rational intelligence) is not enough to untangle what worries her, finds herself entirely helpless in the face of an unraveling existence.Her drama is very much like the drama of Professor Isak Borg from Bergman's film, a man on his way to receive a medal for his lifetime achievements.
There must, in other words, be something else to life than strictly intellectual work, however satisfying it may be.In Bergman (both "Cries and Whispers" and "Wild Strawberries") and in Allen (both "Interiors" and "Another Woman") life falls under question.
Woody Allen's "Another Woman" is, upon rediscovery, a film of great power and feeling.
Sadly, not many people will be open to rediscovery after the initial viewing.Gena Rowlands stars as Marion Post, a 50ish philosophy professor whose life is in order.
This film is another venture into Bergmanesque cinema and "Another Woman" can compare with the very best Bergman.Gena Rowlands hasn't had a role this good since the films of her late husband John Cassavetes.
In his final film, John Houseman allows himself to appear weak and frail; quite a change from the pillar of strength in "The Paper Chase" and a good cap to a great career.I mentioned at the beginning that not many people will be open to rediscovering "Another Woman".
It comes as a shock to Gena Rowlands character that she is not what she thought she was, that people do not view her in the way she thought they did.She takes a journey through her life to see what went wrong with the unwitting aid of a psychiatrist and patient in the apartment next door.
It's the Ingmar-Bergman type of film, like Interiors`, much more serious and thoughtful than all of Woody Allen's other movies, not at all typical for him.
But, even in such a crowded field of great performances, it is not difficult to pick out Gena Rowlands, who gives an unforgettably nuanced performance as Marion, the film's central character.
This is by far my favorite Woody Allen straight drama (most of his other "serious" films, like Crimes and Misdemeanors and Husbands & Wives, have comedic moments).
Another Woman is a riff on Bergman's Wild Strawberries: a college professor, played by Gena Rowlands, is past fifty and looking back on and reliving key events in her life as her present life is falling apart.
In Woody Allen's "Another Woman", Marion (Gena Rowlands) is the head of a university department of philosophy and also a member of several important committees.
Even if they meditate on the same theme, each artist uses his unique tools, and brings his unique vision and talent.In "Another Woman" Allen created an excellent character study which is on par with his best and more famous films.
It leaned maybe a little too much on narration when it could have utilized her talent as an actress instead, but that's a small complaint when the final result is so powerful.Rowlands' Marion Post rents an apartment in order to work on her novel and, through hearing the patients of the psychiatrist's office next door, slowly begins to examine her life and the choices that she has made.
Over the years she has isolated herself from everyone around her and examines them rather than interacts, and Rowlands plays this with a knowledge so fitting and serene.There's an extended dream sequence a little over halfway through the picture that is one of the most surreal, emotional and illuminating experiences I've had in a Woody Allen picture and one of my favorite moments in the twenty or so films of his I've seen.
She gives a performance for the ages here, working mostly from the inside out, although there are a few devastating scenes of her letting herself fall apart.I was surprised at how little Mia Farrow was in it, given that she's on the cover for it and the plot synopsis makes her part seem a lot more major, but she manages to leave an impression, although the most surprising of the supporting cast was Gene Hackman.
In this movie, Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) starts to reexamine her life when she overhears Hope (Mia Farrow) speaking with her analyst.Of course, a one sentence synopsis cannot even begin to do justice to this masterpiece's depth.
This morally complex, quietly devastating tale about a woman in her fifties (Gena Rowlands, extraordinary as always) who overhears the conversations between her next door neighbour, a psychiatrist, and his patient, 'Hope' (Mia Farrow, in a role similar to the one she played in "September" - continuation of the same character, maybe?), a younger pregnant woman.
Voices in fact come into play a lot in this picture, from the sad stark voice of Mia Farrow whom Rowlands accidentally overhears in therapy, to the soft voice of John Houseman recalling his life, to the harsh voices of Sandy Dennis and Betty Buckley, in both real and flashback time.
The film does have a clever conceit: the always marvelous Gena Rowlands plays Marion Post, a professor of philosophy, who sublets an apartment to serve as an office where she can write her latest book.
The same basic story is approached from opposite directions.It's dangerous to speculate, but it seems that Allen made ANOTHER WOMAN during a time in his life when he was hugely admired for his accomplishments and he was deeply involved in a relationship with Mia Farrow and her extended family.
She is describing her life as accomplished and reasonably well settled.She rents an apartment downtown to work on her book without distraction and discovers that she is able to overhear the conversation between a patient (Mia Farrow) and her psychiatrist through the heating vents coming from the adjoining apartment.
Her name ironically is Hope.This conversation gets Marion to thinking about her own life and through series of coincidences, ruminations and, flashbacks, she encounters people from previous times in her life and she discovers she is not as happy as she thought she was.This is a film of introspection and marvelous performances.
Gena Rowlands gives a spectacular performance in this introspective, insightful and intuitive Woody Allen film.
No one can really write films like Woody Allen, where less is more.
Gena Rowlands gives a marvelous performance as a woman coming face to face with her reality in "Another Woman," a 1988 Woody Allen film also starring Mia Farrow, Ian Holm, Blythe Danner, John Housman,Sandy Dennis, Gene Hackman, Betty Buckley, Martha Plimpton, Gretchen Conroy, and Harris Yulin.Rowlands narrates as well as stars as Marion Post, a brilliant woman and expert in German literature who is on sabbatical from teaching to write a book.
This is a character study, and while the film moves slowly, it manages to keep one's attention.Allen does a beautiful job with this - Marion lives in a world where she hasn't allowed herself much real passion and feeling; therefore, he always has her dressed in gray."Another Woman" here actually has several meanings - Marion herself was another woman when she and her husband (Ian Holm) first met, as he was married; the Farrow character represents another woman; and Marion realizes that there is "another woman" inside her who hasn't quite emerged.
There's one more "another woman," but that's all I'll say.Reminiscent of Bergman, Allen here has done an American take on him, so it just feels a little lighter than, say, "Autumn Sonata" (what doesn't?).Very special film about choices, regrets, aging, and hope..
In particular, this one focuses through the parameters of Marion, brilliantly played by Gena Rowlands as an icy cold woman who has managed for years to shield her true feelings and emotions from practically everyone close to her.Unfortunately, this begins to fall back into her lap as she talks with her step-daughter, husband and old friends and family who tell her that she is nearly impossible to communicate with and not very feeling.
Yet, what it does have is terrific performances by Rowland, Ian Holm, Mia Farrow and Gene Hackman as well as a solid script and direction by Allen.
This was the first time for most of the cast of well know actors to be in a Woody Allen film and their performances were excellent.
"Another Woman" was the first in a decade of gems in Woody Allen's film-making canon, nearly all of them small dramas with very precise stories.
When Marion's real warmth and humanity pulses to life in "Another Woman", it has a hopefulness and naivety that redeems all of her blathery intellectualism, much like we must forgive some of Allen's dialogue which must read better in subtitles overseas than it sounds to us (much less so in this film than of its butterscotchy predecessor, "September").Indeed, in "Another Woman" -- much like in the small-and-golden films that followed like "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "Shadows and Fog," "Alice", and finally, with a gush of fully re-realized wonderful sentimentality in "Everybody Says I Love You" -- Allen doesn't hide so much behind his shtick and comes right out and says how he feels.Added in are some really fantastic cameo performances.
And John Houseman, in his last moments on screen, brings a sort of brave, memorable rawness to his speech about the end of life -- Allen owes a great debt to him for this.If you have someone like Marion in your life, someone intelligent whom you love yet you find maddeningly introverted and remote -- go onto Amazon and quietly send them "Another Woman" with a very sparing note.
One of them (Mia Farrow, in a peripheral role) begins to obsess her, but, again as with most of Allen's characters, the obsession is not so much with another human being but with her own reactions, moods and memories; Farrow merely primes the pump.Rowlands' life is replayed through her own voice-over narrative, flashbacks, and dreams (in which staged theatrical productions are mounted).
Farrow is good and the support cast are generally strong as well as being well known respected actors such as Holm, Hackman, Plimpton (!), Stiers and others.Overall Allen fans who love his comedy but have difficulties with some of his serious work (ie  me!) should check this out as it is one of his best totally-straight films that I have seen.
Woody Allen likes his big ensemble dramas ("Hannah and Her Sisters," "Crimes and Misdemeanors") and is largely successful with them, but it's refreshing when he concentrates on one central character -- as he does in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and again here with Marion.
Played by the fantastic Gena Rowlands, with a great supporting cast, this is just a lovely little film worth seeing.
This has got to be one of Woody Allen's very best.Rowlands is perfect as a mature woman who has lived a lonely life without even realizing it.
Unlike so many of Allen's films it does not star Allen in at least a subplot where he is a neurotic failure or at least a success at something nobody else cares about that practically talks his love interest (usually played by Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow) into rejecting him over the course of the movie.Instead, and probably because Mia Farrow was pregnant at the time, it stars Gena Rowlands as Marion, the dean of philosophy at a woman's college who is taking a sabbatical to write her latest book.
She peeks out the door as the patient leaves and sees that she is a woman who is in the last stages of pregnancy (Mia Farrow).The rest of the film is Marion basically examining her own life in light of what the female patient is saying about her own.
Right now, it's just as if I was experiencing the same mental block than the main protagonist, Marion, played by Gena Rowlands in Woody Allen's "Another Woman".I guess I don't want to pollute the review with formulaic superlatives, to make it sound like some pompous intellectual movie, when it's more than that  and while my brain is trying to pull thoughts together, I can't get off my mid the enigma of Marion.
I did feel for the main character, whose played by Gena Rowland, because she didn't really feel loved by her husband and she lusted over Gene Hackman, but the film seemed to drag from one scene to the next.
Another Woman (1988) *** (out of 4) A middle aged, emotionless writer (Gena Rowlands) rents an apartment next to a psychiatrist office where she hears another woman (Mia Farrow) talk about her life and soon the writer begins to take a look at the choices she has made in life.
I think this is Woody Allens best film.
As far as I'm concerned, she (Gena Rowlands) should have taken a leave from this terrible film.Marion, as in the case with too many of Woody's characters, has emotional hangups.
After the unfortunate "September", it was a treat to see Allen in top form on "Another Woman."  His use of mirrors (actual and human), flashbacks, dreams and simple (or not so simple) dinner conversation to examine and amplify Marion's life is without parallel - repeat viewings only deepen one's appreciation of this overlooked film..
Gena Rowlands plays an ordinary person named Marion, a philosophy professor at a university, who decides to write a book in her free time.
It's a movie that we can look to as a reflection of our weaknesses without the thick wall of pretentious intricacy and style many other directors would have cast upon it.Gena Rowlands plays Marion, the emotionally uncommunicative professor, with the timid charm and realistic companionship she brings to all of her films.
Gena Rowlands is brilliant as an austere intellectual looking inward on her life's choices, and seeing Gene Hackman is always wonderful.
Honest and intelligent drama from Woody Allen about a woman  who realizes she has led an unemotional life and must look in the past to find a path to the future.
Superb film with outstanding performances from Gena Rowlands, who is priceless as a passionate woman trying to find herself amidst the madness of the world and Hackman as the one man who truly knows her for the loving woman she has strived her whole life to become..
Woody Allen at his directional best, this film is an amazing accomplishment.
not one of the best of the "serious" Woody Allen films, but it's still underrated, with superb acting.
Another Woman demonstrates Woody Allen at going, perhaps even further than Interiors (and we know how far he went with that), into his Ingmar Bergman homage realm of drama.
In this case Allen has a character that might fit in well with Bergman, or even with one of the old Swedish playwrights Bergman loved so: Marion Post (Rowlands), a philosophy professor on leave to write a book, who started off her relationship with Ken (Holm) as an affair he was having with his wife, who had cancer.
But the style, filled with narration that feels like it would work better in a novel than in a film, starts to make the style feel clunky, leading up to that somewhat predictable climax with Holm and, subsequently in a sense, Hackman.This isn't to say it's not a good, solid drama that tries to pierce the empty spaces of a person like Marion who has loads of intelligence but a confused spirit, tarnished by her affairs and loves lost and her rocky past with her father and brother.
Of all the movies woody's made ,i think this is up there with the best of them .The acting is superb particularrily rowland and hackman and the script one of woody's best,i dont think he has ever written for women better.This is definatly not just a derivative take on bergman's wild strawberries although it does share themes and ideas but it's like saying any love story is derivative of romeo and juliet.It stands on it's own merits as testament to mr.allens cinematic genius my only wish is that he "makes some more of those earlier serious films".
Gena Rowlands plays a troubled woman who overhears the therapy sessions of an anonymous younger woman (Mia Farrow) through the vents in her apartment, and whose life begins to be impacted by what she hears.
The film is a character study that gives Rowlands freedom to act up a storm, which she does, well, and it gives an ensemble cast of recognizable faces juicy little parts as the people who come in and out of Rowlands' life.The biggest problem with Allen's dramas is that they're oppressive.
As the "other woman", whose life parallels Gena's, Mia Farrow has very little on-screen time but her plaintive voice and sensitive face are just right for this brief role.
Given that Woody Allen is my favorite filmmaker, I feel like I must address what my favorite film of his would be...You probably wanted to know at some point...
It's about a philosophy professor Marion played by Gena Rowlands, who narrates the film, is on a brief leave of absence to write a new book.
Gena Rowlands stars as Marion, the Dean of Philosophy at a woman's college on sabbatical as she writes a new book on the subject.
"Another Woman" is not the easiest Woody Allen film to get into.