Friday, April 24, 2015

Hannah and Her Sisters

Hannah (Mia Farrow) lives a well-adjusted life,  acting as the center for the rest of her dysfunctional family: stage parents who continue to act out their arguments from forty years prior. her stuffy second husband (Michael Caine) who longs for her younger sister (Barbara Hershey) and who herself is ensnared in loveless marriage to a tortured and much older artist (Max von Sydow). Her hypochondriac ex-husband (Woody Allen), who quits his job, seeks a major life change, and stumbles into the orbit of her other scatterbrained sister (Dianne Wiest). Hannah and Her Sisters is one of Woody’s finest achievements, a disparate group of stories deftly woven together and presented with warmth, humor, and depth. The cast is impeccable with Farrow, patient and lovely, Woody crafting one of his most neurotic and perfectly situated roles, and Oscar winners Caine and Wiest plus Hershey and von Sydow absolutely riveting in support.
**** out of ****