BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
dierregi I watched this movie at the time of its release when I was in my twenties and found it unremarkable. After many years and a serious relationship, this finally hit home.In documentary-style, Allen shows us what most middle aged couples fear to face: the dissolution of their marriages, due to habit, boredom and frustration. The kind of situation that arises simply by living with someone for many years, without any major dramatic event occurring.Allen and Farrow plays Gabe and Judy. Since the movie was the last before their acrimonious split, most of their dialogue sounds uncomfortably realistic. Pollack and Davis are their friends Jack and Sally, who set the story in motion with their "trial" separation.Soon all four friends are entangled in new relationship or fantasize about one. Sally and then Judy are attracted to romantic Michael (Neeson), while Gabe is infatuated with Rain (Juliette Lewis) a student, who reciprocates.However, Rain is "just" a serial older-men lover with the most annoying nasal voice and this indiscretion ends nowhere. On a side note, I never liked Lewis, who once again plays a lascivious nymphet with little energy.I am not a big fan of Farrow, either. With her oversize, thick sweaters, long skirts and super-short hair Farrow is at her most unattractive in this movie. Her character is also whiny and pushy, making her my least favorite of the quartet.The movie ends with a twist that I found hard to believe, and a lot of ambiguity about the future of the characters that I found a lot more believable. Not for the romantics, but definitely worthy.
Gideon24 One of Woody Allen's strongest films was the caustic and brilliant Husbands and Wives, a 1992 black comedy that doesn't provide a lot of belly laughs, but had me riveted to the screen with its scathingly accurate examination of the institution of marriage and the work and commitment that the institution constitutes.One of Woody's strongest outings as a writer and director, the film is shot in the form of a documentary that features an offscreen narrator who not only narrates the story but interviews the central characters as well. The film introduces us to Gabe (Woody) and Judy (Mia Farrow) a supposedly happily married couple, who are rocked by the calmly- delivered news that their best friends Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are planning to divorce. What we then get is a Bergman- esque transformation between the two couples as Jack and Sally fail at new relationships and Gabe and Judy realize that they are not as happy as they think they are.There's a strong Ingmar Bergman influence here, not surprising considering that Bergman is one of Allen's few cinematic idols, as we watch two couples who are basically in the same place but don't even realize it, but end up traveling journeys that mirror each other to the point that their lives have done a complete 180 by the time closing credits roll without them realizing what has happened until after it's happened. I found myself having Personna flashbacks, the Bergman film about the actress and her nurse who gradually exchange personalities.Woody has put together an intensely personal story here that, despite the documentary film technique, still has a creepily voyeuristic feel to it. The scenes we are privy to all come off as intensely private and make the viewer feel like they are watching private moments that they are really not supposed to be seeing.As usual, Woody has assembled a first rate cast...he and Farrow are a well-oiled machine here, despite the fact that this was the final film they made together before the Soon-Yi explosion and the tension between them is apparent on screen, but it works for this story. The late Sydney Pollack once again proves that he was one of the few directors out there who could also act with his explosive performance as Jack and Judy Davis's crisp and unpredictable Sally actually earned her an Oscar nomination for Best ing Actress. Davis is just riveting here in a performance that burns a hole through the camera and makes it impossible to take your eyes off the woman and when Davis is not on screen, the movie is just a little bit slower. LOVE the scene where Sally asks a blind date to use his phone twice so that she can yell at Jack about moving in with someone else.Liam Neesom is sexy and vulnerable as a co-worker of Farrow's who comes between her and Davis and Juliette Lewis, in a role I kept picturing Winona Ryder in, scores as a student in Gabe's writing class who he eventually leaves Judy for. Lysette Anthony also makes an impression as the woman Jack moves in with after leaving Sally. The scene where where Pollack and Anthony make a very noisy exit from a party is almost frightening in its realism.This is not your usual Woody Allen fare and if you're looking for something with a lot of fall on the floor laughter, you will be disappointed, but if you're dedicated Woody-phile looking to experience his finest work as a writer and director, Husbands and Wives should be at the top of your viewing list. This is a masterpiece, right up there with Hannah and her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors
jackasstrange I am a big fan of Woody Allen works, no surprise here. I even find some of his weakest efforts to be above average films. Husband and Wives is far from being one of his weakest efforts though, pretty like the opposite actually. It depiction of the people relationships is spot on here. Worth Noting that he clearly had a tendency to write about 'old man relationship with young girl' and relationships breaking up. Sounds like interesting subjects, being said I'm not a old man nor a young girl, but the dialogs and the characters make it feel so interesting, and above all, real, that's hard to not be interested at all. The separation thing is so true, and so surreal at same time…that is probably why it's so interesting. The metaphor is what is worthy, after all, so thumbs up.But anyway, Woody shows here a history about two couples: one of them going through a difficult time of separation, and the other pretending that are well, but very instable and weak, even weaker than the marriage of their friendly couple. And of course, there is always a lot of discussions (typical of Allen's films), comic reliefs, and there is also an apparently 'psychologist' talking to each character, inter called with their actions. What I like the most in Allen's films is the character development. Is so beautifully made, and so simple at the same time. He in fact has a unique way to do it. In my opinion, he is better than his biggest idol on cinema, Ingmar Bergman, which also was excellent. The editing also makes it looks like a found footage film, and the cinematography may be comparable to an actual sitcom, like The Office, for example(being said Husband and Wives was released ten years before the aforementioned TV-show), full of zoom-ins and shaky camera, looking like an amateurish thing. Interesting choice. And no, it not abuses at all of that so 'controversial' techniques.There are a few recognizable faces in the film, Woody Allen himself, Mia Farrow, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson…they all gave average to good performances, what is usual in Allen films(for some reason). If you are a Allen fan, you cannot skip that film. 8.5/10
Vihren Mitev My rating for this movie is high when I mean the shooting and the hardening interests of Woody. The plot is well known and the style - the same. But the movie succeeded in carrying you into his idea and to make you ask yourself which protagonist of its are you or which protagonist I am in life.Even we can generalize the moments in the movie to the total moments which the producer and the script-writer are showing recently. Here we speak about the people who stay with us, who helps us get up when we fall, with who we live easily or even we love. More, the movie shows the inability to tore with our past, not to be the therefore in the concluding, to change our life when we are grown ups. Or shows the derail of the present into the unknown future.So, this film is good but it is a modified version of other Allen's pieces of art. Made a little like a documentary and on moments like a staging.http://vihrenmitevmovies.blogspot.com/
